Best games released at SPIEL 2013 in Essen 2026

Crokinole is a traditional action and dexterity game that has been enjoyed for generations. Played on a circular wooden board, it combines skill, strategy, and a touch of luck.

In Love Letter, you must compete with other suitors to deliver a romantic letter to Princess Annette, who has secluded herself in the palace.

Skull is a pure bluffing game: players lay face-down cards of roses and skulls, then bid on how many they can flip without hitting a skull. Two successful challenges win the game — a steady poker face does the rest.

Dixit: Origins (also known as Dixit 4) is a captivating expansion to the award-winning Dixit game, renowned for its creative and whimsical gameplay. This expansion introduces 84 new cards adorned with surreal and imaginative artwork that enriches the core game, providing fresh inspiration for the storytellers and adding to the game's vast replayability.

Las Vegas is a lively, dice-based game that combines luck, strategy, and the joy of thwarting your opponents. Developed by Stefan Brück at alea, it's designed to be an easy and interactive game, full of schadenfreude moments.

Coconuts is a lively dexterity game inspired by the "Monkey King" character from Chinese mythology. In this engaging and playful game, players take turns launching coconuts towards cups positioned in the center of the play area. Successfully landing a coconut in a cup allows you to stack it on your board. Even more strategically, if you land a coconut in an opponent's cup, you can claim it and move it to your board. The game also features "Monkey King Magic" cards, which add a twist by allowing players to disrupt their opponents' shots in various ways. The first player to build a pyramid of six cups on their board is the winner.

Qwixx is a fast-paced and engaging dice game that involves all players actively, regardless of whose turn it is. It combines simple mechanics with a need for strategic decision-making, making it a fun and interactive game for all involved.

Players form teams to participate in a charades-based party game. Each player selects cards featuring famous historical or fictional characters, which are then shuffled into a common set for three rounds. Team members take turns giving clues to help each other guess as many names as possible within a time limit, using varying rules for hints and responses in each round.

BANG! The Dice Game transports players to the U.S. wild west, where the classic confrontation between the law and outlaws unfolds with an added threat of Indian attacks. This dice game adaptation retains the essence of the original Bang! card game while introducing new dynamics and challenges.

Time is up! Academy is a team-based party game that relies on charades, best enjoyed with pairs. Players select cards featuring old TV shows, music, and movies, which are then shuffled into a deck for three rounds of play, with varying rules for giving clues. In each round, team members take turns getting their teammates to guess as many names and titles as possible within 30 seconds, using increasingly limited clues.

Coup: Reformation is an engaging expansion to the popular game Coup: City State. This expansion from La Mame Games introduces additional cards and exciting new rules for factions and team play, enriching the original game's bluffing and strategy elements. Designed to increase tension and interaction, especially in games with four or more players, it also expands the game's capacity to accommodate up to ten players.

Hanabi, named after the Japanese word for "fireworks," invites players to collaboratively create the perfect fireworks display. In this cooperative game, the goal is to arrange cards on the table in the correct order to achieve a stunning pyrotechnic spectacle. However, there's a catch - players must hold their cards so that they are visible only to their teammates. To succeed, you'll need to provide hints to your fellow players about the numbers and colors of their cards, working together to avoid mistakes and complete the fireworks show before running out of cards.

In Concept, the challenge is to convey words using a network of icons. A pair of players, seated as neighbors, collaborate to select a word or phrase that others must deduce. Working in tandem, they strategically place markers on the available icons on the game board.

King of Tokyo: Halloween is an exciting expansion to the popular King of Tokyo game. It brings a spooky twist to the city-smashing monster battles, perfect for Halloween or any fans of horror-themed fun.

Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, also known as Geister, Geister, Schatzsuchmeister!, is an award-winning cooperative board game where players embark on an eerie adventure to collect treasures from a haunted house.

Takenoko is a charming board game set in the Japanese Imperial court, revolving around the care of a giant panda gifted by the Chinese Emperor. Players, as court members, are tasked with managing a bamboo garden for the panda.

Zombie Dice 2: Double Feature is an expansion to the popular game Zombie Dice, adding a cinematic twist with three new thematic dice that enhance gameplay and offer fresh challenges. This expansion is cleverly divided into two thematic "movies," each introducing unique characters and mechanics, and can be combined for an even more engaging gameplay experience.

Tokaido: Crossroads introduces new treasures for the most dedicated travelers. Experience cherry blossoms, luxurious bathhouses, lucky charms, calligraphy, legendary items, and even secret game halls. This expansion opens new avenues and strategies to enhance your journey.

The fast-paced game adds new shapes and challenges. Five wooden objects sit on the table, with players competing to grab the correct one based on the current card showing three items. The game escalates as players must navigate various rules involving color, shape, and special scenarios like identifying times or naming objects, all while aiming to collect the most cards by the end.

Northern Pacific is a railway construction game for 3-5 players, lasting about twenty minutes. Players start with a mix of investment dice and build tracks across the United States from Minnesota to Washington, beginning in Minneapolis-St. Paul. When the railway reaches Seattle, the round ends, and players compare their investment successes to determine the winner, who is either the one with the most good investments or, in case of a tie, the fewest bad investments.

Machi Koro is a light and fast-paced city-building board game, where players take on the role of mayor of a small town, striving to develop it into a thriving city.

Dominion: Guilds is a clever and engaging expansion to the widely beloved deck-building game, Dominion. This expansion, the eighth addition to the series, introduces players to the bustling world of guilds, where artisans from various professions—ranging from the whimsical to the essential—hone their crafts and vie for dominance. With a humorous nod to the complexities of the economy and job market, Guilds adds depth and variety to the Dominion universe through its thematic focus on guild membership, craftsmanship, and the pursuit of masterpieces.

Compact Curling is a board game version of curling designed for two players, or more if played in teams. Each team has four stones and begins in a starting zone at one edge of the board, aiming to slide their stones across to the house on the opposite side. The goal is to have as many stones as possible closest to the center of the house.

Players take on the role of Nanuks navigating global warming challenges while trying to survive with a limited supply of canned fish. The game involves matching cards with various attributes and offers two gameplay variants that introduce exciting bonus rounds and strategic decisions. The player with the most collected cards at the end wins.

Players strive to become as strong, brave, and glorious as the knight Brandon the Brave. To achieve knighthood, they must complete royal tasks and demonstrate good intuition. The player who skillfully arranges the tiles to conquer these challenges will emerge as the shining champion at the end of the game.

Join a brave group of adventurers and explore a dungeon filled with monsters, traps, and treasures! Each player assumes the role of a different adventurer, working together to survive the dungeon. However, only one will escape with the greatest treasure to win the game, with each playthrough offering new surprises and challenges.

Martian Dice offers a light-hearted and engaging dice game where you play as Martians on a mission to abduct Earth's inhabitants. The goal is simple: collect as many Chickens, Cows, and Humans as possible while avoiding the planet's military defenses. It's a game of risk, reward, and strategy packaged in quick, fun turns perfect for family game night or as a warm-up for a longer gaming session.

Carcassonne: South Seas brings the classic tile-laying charm of the original Carcassonne to a vibrant, tropical setting. This standalone game, the first in the "Carcassonne Around the World" series, offers players the task of building island landscapes filled with inviting seas and lush islands. Instead of the traditional cities, roads, and fields, players work to gather bananas, shellfish, and fish, trading these resources for points with various traders. The familiar mechanics of placing tiles and meeples blend seamlessly with this refreshing maritime theme, offering both seasoned Carcassonne fans and newcomers a delightful new variant to explore.

Players collect ingredients to prepare the best possible sandwiches, or at least the least unappetizing ones. Each player starts with nine face-down ingredient cards, which include both traditional and unusual options. After selecting ingredients and creating sandwiches to share with neighbors, players taste each other's creations and score them based on their appeal. The player with the most points after three rounds wins.

Haim Shafir's renowned game features a bell that players love to ring after discovering winning combinations. Each player has a set of five colored plastic cups and tries to replicate a colored sequence shown on a card drawn from a shuffled deck. The first to ring the bell correctly claims the card, and play continues until all cards are collected, with the player holding the most cards declared the winner.

Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 4 - Nederland adds an innovative twist to the classic Ticket to Ride gameplay, focusing on the picturesque landscapes and intricate waterways of the Netherlands. This expansion not only brings a fresh geographical setting to the game but also introduces new strategic elements that significantly impact how players approach the game.

Once Upon a Time: The Storytelling Card Game is a creative and interactive game where players collaboratively weave a fairy tale story. Using cards that depict common fairy tale elements, one player takes on the role of the Storyteller, steering the narrative toward their desired ending, while others interject to redirect the story and become the new Storyteller. The objective is to play all your cards and conclude with your "Happy Ever After" ending.

In the icy frost of the Arctic, Inuit or polar bears engage in their favorite activity: ice fishing. Players punch holes in the "ice" to try to catch fish represented by steel balls of various sizes. The first player to catch ten fish wins, and for children aged six and up, larger fish are worth more points.

Players take turns telling stories based on themes drawn from cards. Before telling a story, they must list five words they expect to hear, earning points for each word mentioned. Asking questions during the story allows them to influence the narrative, but doing so can also cost them points if they ask too many.

CATAN, formerly known as The Settlers of Catan, is a highly acclaimed and award-winning strategy board game where players aim to become the dominant force on the island of Catan. The game is renowned for its appeal to both experienced gamers and newcomers to the board game hobby.

Lost Legacy is an official spin-off that includes two sets of 16 cards: The Spaceship and Flying Garden. Players can use either set or combine them in different ways to change the available powers. It is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2-4 players, where each round involves drawing, playing a card, executing its effect, and guessing the location of the "Lost Legacy" card.

In 1887, a vampire awakens and seeks to quench his thirst for blood. Brave men and women unite to destroy him while thwarting the plot of his loyal servant, Renfield.

The tribe's wizard has died, leading aspiring wizards to make predictions for the ostrich race in hopes of becoming the new wizard. Players must forecast the finishing order of racing ostriches, while avoiding obstacles, collecting berries, evading a feared lion, and not waking sleeping crocodiles. Banjooli Xeet is a fast-paced racing game for 2 to 5 players filled with bluffs, wild predictions, and hilarious fun.

Scopa is a traditional Italian card game played for over 400 years. It uses a 40-card Italian deck and can be played by four players in partnerships or individually. Players aim to capture cards from the table based on their values, scoring points for various achievements, such as sweeping the table or collecting the most cards. The game continues until a player or team reaches a specific point total, typically 11 or 21.

Coup: Rebellion G54 is a standalone game that evolves the successful elements of the original "Coup" into a new and exciting format. The game emphasizes strategy, deception, and survival, making it a thrilling challenge for players who enjoy bluffing and deduction.

In the card game, players encounter mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and other ancient animals, aiming to discard them as quickly as possible. The game features asymmetrical play with various animal cards and special dinosaur abilities. Players dispose of cards by claiming they represent a specific type of animal while others can challenge this claim, leading to strategic deception and excitement until someone runs out of cards and wins.

Players act as art critics and gallery owners, working to increase the value of certain artists' works before redeeming them. The game includes masterpieces from five different artists, and players start with a hand of masterpiece cards that let them influence the fate of these artists. The game consists of four rounds where players earn money based on the popularity and representation of the artists’ works.

Red Riding Hood and the pig family live peacefully in the village until a hungry wolf appears, eager to feast on them. Instead of giving in, they plan to trap the wolf and drive him away. In this game, the wolf player tries to eat other players to score points, while the prey players can earn points by catching the wolf. Players secretly choose cards to either rest or set a trap, and outcomes depend on their choices in a round-based system. The game concludes when a player reaches ten or more points, and the one with the most points wins.

Somewhere in the universe, creatures count the hours to let time flow. To make the passage of time more enjoyable, they invented a game with ever-changing rules.

DOG shares similarities with the "Mensch Ärgere Dich nicht" game family but introduces notable twists. Players move their game pieces from home to the target area based on card values, aiming to be the first team to place all eight pieces in the target area.

Trains is a strategic deck-building board game that combines railway development with elements of capitalist competition. Set against the backdrop of the industrial revolution and the subsequent railway boom, players take on the roles of capitalists managing private railway companies in Japan. The game offers a fascinating blend of historical railway development and modern strategic gameplay.

Dungeon Roll is a dice-based adventure game where players explore a fantasy dungeon, battling monsters, acquiring treasures, and ultimately facing the formidable dragon. Each player takes on the role of a hero with unique abilities and aims to amass the most experience points through their daring exploits.

Ligretto Junior features the same gameplay as Ligretto, where players aim to empty their card piles as quickly as possible by placing cards on central stacks. It uses only three card colors per player's stack, allowing up to five players instead of four. While not compatible with other Ligretto games, it can be combined with different themed versions of itself.

Create a flower garden for the world-famous Sanssouci Palace in this tile-laying game. Compete against up to three other landscape architects, building rose gardens and vineyards while meeting specific building requirements. Players manage personal boards divided into rows and columns, drafting tiles to fulfill garden layouts and earn points based on completed rows and columns. The game lasts 18 rounds, with bonus points awarded at the end for completed objectives.

Players aim to get rid of their cards as quickly as possible. The first player with an empty hand wins the game.

Players take on the roles of members from two clans: the brutal warriors of the Beast clan and the graceful members of the Rose clan, along with the human Inquisition if there's an odd number of players. Under secret identities, they aim to capture the opposing clan's Elder or sacrifice themselves for their own. Players must attack, negotiate, and deduce information, revealing ranks or clan affiliations to gain the upper hand, while unique character abilities come into play when revealing ranks. Victory is achieved by capturing the correct Elder of the rival clan, but capturing the wrong one leads to defeat.

The expansion for Seasons introduces 20 new power cards, 10 enchantment cards, and 12 special ability tokens that fit into a player's board. It also includes additional materials, such as two replacement cards that have been updated in newer editions.

"Fire Away!" is the first of four expansions for Dungeon Fighter, each dedicated to an element: air, earth, water, and fire. This expansion introduces new monsters, weapons, items, and armor, along with a new gameplay mechanic that challenges players with difficult rolling techniques, such as throwing dice through a "burning" fire ring. The goal remains to survive the dungeon and defeat the boss.

"Coal Baron," also known as "Glück Auf" in German, is a strategic and immersive board game that plunges players into the world of coal mining. In this game, players become managers of their own coal mines, sending workers underground to dig tunnels and extract coal of varying quality to fulfill contracts.

Talo is a game for children and families that features many wooden pieces for building. The goal is to be the first player to reach the top. Co-designer Johann Rüttinger notes that it is a great way to learn math without even realizing it.

Players take on the role of witches and wizards, purchasing ingredients for their potions. Their game piece moves around a row of ingredient cards, allowing them to choose one from the row or column they land on, with the card’s number determining their movement for the next turn. To earn points, players must collect sets of four matching ingredients; having only one of a specific ingredient results in penalty points.

Players trade various spices that travel along the Silk Road from Asia to Europe. Each controls three caravans, starting with three cards representing caravan members with unique abilities. Players perform one action on their turn by selecting a card and executing its action, affecting their supply of spices, gold, and mules, while also bringing new members into their caravans or completing delivery cards. The game ends when a player reaches 25 points through collecting character cards and fulfilling delivery requests.

Players attempt to establish a powerful kingdom by expanding their realm with well-maintained territories. The game involves playing cards in turns, where the highest card wins the round, with tiebreakers determined by following the lead color. Cards are added to the winner's kingdom in a specific order, and once placed, they cannot be rearranged for the next round.

The unexpected journey of the Hobbits continues. In Mirkwood, Bilbo and his companions face treacherous spiders and must escape from hostile Wood Elves, but their greatest threat is the dragon Smaug, who relentlessly attacks them. Players must cooperate to reach the Lonely Mountain and succeed in the game.

Cthulhu Fluxx immerses players in the eerie and uncertain world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, where sanity is fleeting and the risk of doom is ever-present. This iteration of the popular Fluxx card game series brings the thematic elements of cosmic horror and the supernatural into the ever-changing rules and gameplay that Fluxx fans adore. Players will navigate through the chaos, attempting to fulfill strange and shifting victory conditions while warding off madness and the disruptive influence of Creepers like Cthulhu itself.

In 1870, the cattle ranching of Longhorns from Northern Mexico booms in Texas, attracting both farmers and outlaws. Players assume the roles of notorious outlaws Eagle Perkins and Jessie Artist Byrd, aiming to steal cattle and gold nuggets to amass the most wealth or get their opponent arrested by the sheriff.

Step into the world of outlaws and gunslingers in the year 1892, as Jack Colty and his gang wreak havoc after robbing a bank in Repentance Springs. Players take on the roles of Colonel Ned McReady and his lawmen or the infamous Colty gang, each featuring unique cards and abilities for a life-or-death showdown. The game's asymmetrical structure leads to intense tactical decisions, with victory hinged on eliminating gang members or ensuring their escape across the Mexican border.

Players acquire cards from a central pool in this deck-building game and use them to enhance their decks. They can also battle creatures to gain victory points and other advantages, such as removing less useful cards from their decks. The game ends when all victory points are claimed or the shared deck is exhausted. New treasure cards introduce energy that players can use to activate special powers on certain cards.

In a local village, a terrible event occurs: werewolves are responsible for the deaths of many villagers. To restore order, master inquisitors are called in to eliminate the chaos before it's too late. However, the inquisitor team has been infiltrated by werewolves, creating a dilemma where players must save the village while outsmarting their own infiltrators.

Rococo immerses players in the lavish Rococo era during the reign of Louis XV, where they take on the role of managing a prestigious ball. The game blends elements of deck-building and resource management, requiring players to skilfully navigate the demands of dressmaking and event planning to gain the most prestige.

A blister pack includes a fully assembled and painted 1200 scale model airplane along with additional maneuver cards.

Koryŏ is set in a politically steampunk universe. Players simultaneously choose a political family from their hand and play as many cards as they wish from that family. Each family has a value from 1 to 9, determining both the number of cards and the victory points earned by the controlling player. The game lasts for eight rounds, with each family providing specific powers that are crucial for success. As players gain influence, the number of cards drawn per round decreases, complicating their choices.

Players join forces in a new expansion that introduces 14 scenario cards, including various difficulty levels, allowing for completely new endings. The expansion also features eight new adventures, five threat cards, and two equipment cards, incorporating cards from the previous Albae expansion.