Best games released at SPIEL 2019 in Essen

Smart10 is a quiz game where players quickly take their turns. Each question has ten possible answers, and everyone must respond. Players earn answer markers for correct answers, but they risk losing them if they hesitate. It works well in teams, adding to the excitement of decision-making.

Point Salad is a dynamic and engaging card drafting game that is suitable for players of all ages. It stands out for its simplicity and the vast array of scoring strategies it offers.

In Trails of Tucana, players embark on an adventure to connect the mystical island's villages and landmarks through an intricate network of trails. This flip-and-write game, designed by the creators of Avenue and Doodle City, offers a unique challenge with each playthrough thanks to randomized village setups. Players draw trails on their maps, aiming to link together sights and harbors for points, while navigating the island's diverse terrains. Strategic planning and adaptability are key, as the terrain card distribution influences potential pathways and scoring opportunities.

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking game that takes players on an adventurous space journey, filled with challenges and strategic gameplay.

Embark on a collaborative journey of espionage in Codenames Duet, where the familiar elements of Codenames persist – providing one-word clues to unveil your agents among those on the table. This time, however, you and your teammate work together to uncover all your agents, adding a thrilling cooperative dimension to the challenge. The mystery of not knowing your agents from the outset adds an intriguing layer to the mission, raising questions that even Congressional investigators might ponder later!

Project L is a dynamic and visually appealing board game that combines tile-matching with engine-building elements. It's designed to challenge players with its strategic depth, encapsulated within an elegant and simple design. The game features unique triple-layer 3D puzzles and attractive acrylic pieces, making it not only a test of intellect but also a delight to play.

Hanamikoji is a strategic card game set in the historical context of Geisha culture in Japan. The game immerses players in the role of patrons who are competing to gain the favor of seven renowned Geishas by collecting items related to their art and performances.

Cahoots is a cooperative card game where players work together to meet a series of challenging goals. Each player must strategically contribute to four communal piles by matching either the color or the number of the cards. Communication about the contents of one's hand is not allowed, adding a layer of challenge as players must intuitively cooperate to meet the objectives.

Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale transports players to a realm where they take on the roles of mapmakers, tasked by Queen Gimnax to chart the northern territories for the Kingdom of Nalos. This game combines elements of strategy and creativity, challenging players to create the most efficient and aesthetically pleasing maps.

Lands of Galzyr is an adventure game set in an open and persistent world where players' actions have consequences in both current and future sessions. Players take on the roles of cunning adventurers, navigating the lands, completing quests, and striving for fame and prestige. Each game continues from where the last left off, thanks to a clever save and load mechanism, allowing for seamless play even with different players in between sessions.

Similo is a cooperative deduction game where players work together to guess a secret character from a set of twelve displayed in the middle of the table. Each version of Similo - such as Fables, History, or Myths - comes with a deck of thirty beautifully illustrated cards by Naïade, featuring characters that share a common theme.

The Castles of Burgundy is a strategy board game set in the Burgundy region of High Medieval France, where players assume the roles of aristocrats controlling small princedoms. The game combines tile placement and dice rolling mechanics to offer a rich and strategic experience.

Ticket to Ride: London brings the classic gameplay of the Ticket to Ride series to the vibrant city of London in the 1970s. This edition offers a fast-paced, streamlined experience on a condensed map of London, allowing players to complete a game in just about 15 minutes.

PARKS is a visually stunning board game that celebrates the beauty and splendor of U.S. National Parks. With artwork from Fifty-Nine Parks, this game offers players a unique blend of strategy and adventure as they embark on a journey through nature.

Mandala is an intriguing two-player game that combines strategy and contemplation. Players compete to collect valuable cards by building mandalas, but the true value of these cards only becomes clear as the game progresses. It's a delicate balance of strategy and adaptation, set against the backdrop of a symbolic ritual.

Azul: Summer Pavilion takes players back to Portugal to embark on an artistic challenge of crafting a summer pavilion, a task assigned by King Manuel I. As master artisans, players must use their skills to construct the pavilion using the finest materials while efficiently managing their resources.

Planet Unknown is a competitive and strategic game for 1-6 players set in a future where Earth's resources are depleted. Players are tasked with developing the most efficient and habitable planet among a series of newfound worlds. Using polyomino-shaped tiles, each representing vital infrastructure, players work to efficiently cover their planets and build an effective support system for life.

The card collection features a double-sided game board with Japan on one side and Italy on the other. In Japan, players can use routes for the Bullet Train network, allowing all players to utilize these routes for destination tickets. In Italy, the board is divided into regions, and players earn bonus points for connecting multiple regions, with some regions counting as two. New ferry connections are introduced, where gray routes require players to cover wave symbols using specific cards. Players need components from the base game or the Europe edition to play this expansion.

It's a Wonderful World is a strategic card drafting and engine-building game, where players take on the role of leaders of expanding empires. The game is designed for 1 to 5 players and offers a compelling blend of careful planning and resource management.

Nova Luna is an abstract tile-laying strategy game that focuses on careful planning and decision-making. Players are tasked with fulfilling objectives by placing tiles strategically, creating a unique and engaging gameplay experience.

As a Ninja apprentice, it's time to prove your skills through challenging and exciting tests. Players engage in collective challenges and duels in a series of randomly drawn tests. Whether challenging the whole group or going head-to-head, the objective is clear: be the best in your trial!

Players guide their mice from the starting point to various goals, with farther goals offering more cheese as points. A cat chases the mice, removing them from the game if caught. Movement is determined by a die, with the added twist that rolls of "1" also move the cat, creating a risk-reward balance as players try to outpace the feline and gather cheese.

Hansa Teutonica: Big Box is an expansive edition of the acclaimed strategy game "Hansa Teutonica," renowned for its deep strategic gameplay and interactive mechanics. This edition not only includes the base game but also all its expansions, offering an enriched experience of the historical Hanseatic League trading theme.

Nine Tiles Panic is a frantic tile-laying game from Oink Games in which everyone simultaneously builds a town from nine double-sided tiles – a town where aliens chase hot dogs and agents chase aliens. For 2 to 5 players aged 7 and up, about 20 minutes.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a cooperative deck-building game set in the beloved world of Harry Potter. Players join forces as Hogwarts students to protect the castle from dark forces.

Three monkeys have started a construction company, and the building plans are coming in fast! They must collaborate to complete their plans before time runs out.

Players take on the role of zombies, competing to collect the most brains while dodging shotgun blasts. Each turn, they roll three custom dice, aiming to gather brain symbols for points while avoiding accumulating too many shotgun blasts, which can end their turn. The game lasts 10 to 20 minutes and includes the base game along with two expansions and accessories for tracking scores.

Palm Island is a uniquely portable and versatile card game that can be played in almost any setting, with no table required. It's designed to be accessible and engaging whether you are sitting, standing, or on the move. The game's innovative mechanics allow players to use just 17 cards to manage resources, upgrade buildings, and shape their island through 8 rounds of play.

The King's Dilemma presents a captivating blend of narrative storytelling and strategy, set in the fictional Kingdom of Ankist. As players, you step into the roles of leaders of various noble houses, each with your own agendas and influence, making critical decisions that shape the fate of the kingdom.

The old general returned to the kingdom on the eve of the heir's tenth birthday, bringing with him something that looked like a book. Inside, they discovered not pages but coins, letters, and wax seals for their game. New influential units can be added to the player's forces, allowing them to use royal proclamations to gain an advantage in this tactical warfare experience.

Oriflamme immerses players in the cutthroat world of medieval politics. After the king's death, players, as leaders of influential families, vie for the throne using strategy and deceit.

The Second World War is coming to an end in the Soviet Union. Players work as a team of field cooks, using scarce ingredients to create meals from whatever is found at the front, even if it looks inedible. The goal is to mix colors to match orders while avoiding toxic ingredients that could harm guests.

Set in the dark and violent world of 1940s Los Angeles, this game is filled with mystery, deception, and investigations for 1-5 players. Most players assume the roles of LAPD murder detectives, eager for fame and willing to do whatever it takes to solve a case, including intimidating suspects and hiring informants. One player, however, takes on the role of The Chisel, whose goal is to thwart the detectives with bluffing and manipulation.

Tiny Towns is a charming and strategic board game where players take on the role of mayors building their own tiny towns in a forest. The game challenges players to manage resources wisely and plan their towns carefully to maximize prosperity.

Players create animals by combining cards to help them escape in cooperative mode or to win the race of the year in competitive mode. The game features specific mechanics where players match three animal tails on the left with three heads on the right, including a llama, panda, turtle, elephant, or lynx. The objective is to find the best combination of these cards to complete the most animals with matching heads and tails.

Players have reached the legendary city of gold and begun to explore it. They can play this game as a standalone or in combination with the 2017 title. What will they find there?

Players take on the role of mice and one player plays as the cat in this semi-cooperative strategy game. Mice must collect ten pieces of cheese while avoiding being caught by the cat. Players roll dice, move their pieces, and perform actions based on the tiles they land on during their turn.

Everdell: Bellfaire is an expansion to the enchanting world of Everdell, celebrating a century of prosperity and peace with the grandest event yet, the Bellfaire. This expansion enriches the base game by introducing new elements that add depth and variety, accommodating more players and introducing new ways to compete and cooperate in building your woodland city. With Bellfaire, the game opens up to larger groups and offers players unique abilities, making the world of Everdell even more vibrant and competitive.

Letter Jam is a cooperative word game for 2-6 players, focusing on teamwork to create words from visible letters. The catch? You can't see your own letter card – it's only visible to others.

Paris: La Cité de la Lumière is a two-player board game designed by José Antonio Abascal, beautifully illustrated by Oriol Hernández. Set in the enchanting city of Paris during the 1889 "Exposition Universelle," the game captures the era when electricity began illuminating the city, leading to its nickname "La Cité de la Lumière" or the City of Light.

Under the dense canopy of trees, a hedgehog rushes back to its cozy home, but a fox is on the prowl for its next meal. Players roll the cuddly hedgehog across the forest floor to collect apples, leaves, and mushrooms to help advance on the path. The game offers both a competitive mode for head-to-head play and a cooperative mode to team up against the clever fox, with advanced rules for adult players seeking a challenge.

Little Town is a charming and strategic board game where players take on the roles of architects with the goal of developing their own little town over four rounds. Through careful placement of workers on the game board, players gather essential resources, construct buildings, and earn victory points. The game challenges players to make the most out of their workers each round, strategically planning to gather resources, and cleverly positioning themselves in relation to buildings for optimal gain.

Roll Player: Monsters & Minions is an expansion to the game Roll Player, where players not only strive to create the ultimate fantasy characters but also prepare for a climactic battle against a terrifying beast terrorizing the kingdom. This expansion adds a new dimension to the game, combining character creation with the gathering of information and preparation for a final showdown against the monster.

Explore Europe in this exciting travel game where finding the right path is key to success. Players strategically exchange cards to create a continuous route through land, water, or air. The first to meet the travel requirements with all ten game pieces wins.

The Grimm Forest is a strategic and imaginative board game where players enter the world of the legendary Three Little Pigs and other famous Fairy Tale characters. In this game, family members of the Three Little Pigs compete in an epic house-building competition, with various Fairy Tale characters making appearances and impacting the game in different ways.

Players take on the role of a fisherman in historical Japan, navigating the southern regions of the archipelago near the famous Tokaido Road. To win, a successful day at sea is essential, which includes observing sea creatures, fishing with nets or lines, and collecting crustaceans.

Noch mal so gut! is a dice game that adds new rules and options to its popular predecessor. Players can choose a seventh die, which offers unique elements like a bomb that crosses four spaces, a heart that provides bonuses for completed columns, and two stars that allow for crossing two spaces. Additionally, both rows and columns are scored, enhancing the gameplay experience.

Players find themselves on Gouga Island, living in harmony with the famous Dodos. When the volcano erupts, they must escape quickly. As clan leaders, they have 2 minutes to rescue as many Cro-Magnons, Dodos, and eggs as possible before the island is destroyed.

Roll the dice, choose the desired ones, and pair them to create your domino pieces. Fill your card with dominoes while entrusting the regions of your kingdom to loyal dignitaries and collect favors from magicians to cast powerful spells that allow you to reign without sharing. The game retains the essence of the original Kingdomino, but instead of adding dominoes, you select two dice to combine into a single "domino" that must then be placed in your kingdom.

Wonderland's War is an imaginative and strategic board game set in a war-torn Wonderland. Players take on the roles of iconic characters like Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Red Queen, each leading their faction to vie for control in a beautifully chaotic Wonderland.

Coffee Roaster is a unique solitaire pool-building game that immerses players in the art of coffee roasting. Through careful management of a variety of coffee beans, players aim to perfect the roast level of each bean type to achieve the highest quality of coffee. The game challenges players to balance the roasting process, managing not just the desired roast level but also the uniformity of the roast across all beans, while avoiding the pitfalls of smoke and burnt tokens that can spoil the batch.

Players embody characters in an immersive story where their decisions shape their progress. Each character has a sheet that tracks possessions, special abilities, coins, and victory points. The gameplay involves following comic panels filled with clues, puzzles, and traps, while making choices on where to go and what to do. Unlike other graphic novel adventure games, this one is designed for 1-4 players, with each player using their own book representing a character with unique skills. Collaborate with others to navigate islands full of adventures and brainteasers.

Players use rules identical to Qwixx but with the addition of a game board. They move their pawns forward, occupy spaces, tactically cross out numbers, avoid mistakes, and strive to complete the game point by point.

Obscurio is a captivating blend of cooperative gameplay and deception, set against the backdrop of a magical library filled with illusions and a malevolent Sorcerer. Players work together to escape, guided by the Grimoire, which provides visual clues. The twist? Among the players, a traitor seeks to sabotage the escape. As players interpret the images and navigate through traps, they must discern truth from deception, making communication and trust pivotal to their survival.

Dizzle: Level 5-8 includes exactly what it promises: 4 new levels for the base game. Players can expand their gameplay with these additional challenges.