Best games released at SPIEL 2023 in Essen 2026

The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition revitalizes Stefan Feld's classic strategy game for 1-4 players, where participants embody aristocrats managing their princedoms. This special edition, a collaboration between Ravensburger and Awaken Realms, elevates the game with a full art redesign, premium materials, and enhanced components, offering a luxurious playing experience as players build their settlements, castles, and engage in trade.

Trio is a card game where players search for triplets. The deck consists of 36 cards, numbered from 1 to 12 three times. Players sort their hands from low to high and take turns revealing cards, aiming to collect sets of three matching cards.

Players take on the roles of a pilot and a co-pilot in a cooperative game for two. The objective is to work together to land your airplane at various airports around the world. Successful landing requires silently coordinating dice placement in your cockpit to balance the aircraft, control speed, deploy flaps, and even brew coffee to enhance focus. Each airport presents unique challenges, so stay alert for turbulence—it could be a bumpy ride!

Players and their friends head to the races to cheer and bet on their favorite horses, with outcomes determined by dice rolls. The game is played over four rounds, each consisting of a race followed by a betting resolution. Players can place their betting tokens freely on the board during the race and earn money based on their bets, with a chance to gain a VIP club card for greater winnings in subsequent races. The player with the most money after four rounds wins.

Sea Salt & Paper is a set collection card game that combines strategic decision-making with the excitement of timing your moves just right. Similar to Rummy in gameplay, it involves collecting sets of cards to score points, while also navigating the timing of when to end the round for optimal advantage.

Showdown is the fourth and final installment of the MicroMacro: Crime City series, featuring a new city map and brand-new criminal cases. The 16 cases included can be played independently of the previous games. Players work together to solve tricky cases, investigate motives, find evidence, and catch the culprits, relying on sharp observation and creative deduction skills.

Players embark on twelve journeys through North America as 19th-century pioneers. Starting on the East Coast, they face challenges while aiming to complete ticket objectives and develop new skills to overcome unexpected events and rivals. As the campaign progresses, players unlock new rules and content, creating a uniquely tailored experience that evolves with their choices, resulting in a game that can be enjoyed for a lifetime.

Renowned mediums compete to decipher a secret object and prove their connection to the "spirit world." The first team to identify the secret object wins.

Each round features a storyteller who selects one of six cards and creates a sentence based on its imagery, without revealing it to others. Other players then choose a card from their own hand that fits the sentence and submit it anonymously to the storyteller. Points are awarded based on how many players guess the storyteller's card correctly, while the game concludes when the card stack is exhausted or a player reaches 30 points, with victory going to the player with the highest score. The game includes 84 cards representing various Disney and Pixar films.

On Nekojima, the "Island of Cats" in Japan, players build an electrical grid to supply various lively districts. Installing power poles becomes increasingly challenging due to the limited space and the curious cats that roam the cables.

Players embark on a three-day journey through human history, traveling through time to experience significant moments from the past. Each day represents a round in which players choose historical events to spend hours on, gaining advantages like ticking off points on their itinerary and collecting time crystals to manipulate the space-time continuum in future turns. Points are also earned for visiting events in chronological order, and the player with the most points after three rounds wins.

The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and it's time to gather your friends to fly some kites! Players collaborate to keep all their kites, represented by colorful hourglasses, in the air by playing cards, flipping the hourglasses, and coordinating with each other. If any hourglass runs out, a kite crashes, adding a fun challenge to the game. Play all the kite cards in the stack to achieve a collective victory!

Forest Shuffle is a strategic and environmentally themed card game where players vie to create the most ecologically rich and balanced forest habitat. By gathering valuable trees and attracting diverse species, players work towards building a vibrant ecosystem, all while keeping an eye on the changing seasons that signal the game's end.

The Guild of Merchant Explorers is a unique and engaging strategy game that blends exploration with city-building elements. Players begin with a single city on their personal map and must skillfully expand their territory by placing cubes based on terrain cards drawn from a shuffled deck. The game emphasizes strategic planning and adaptability, with players aiming to efficiently complete areas, connect cities, and maximize their score through various means.

Players engage in a deceptively cute and challenging abstract strategy game for two. Each time a player places a kitten on the bed, it shifts other kittens on the board, creating a dynamic gameplay experience. Align three kittens to transform them, and then align three cats to win. The game features a fabric board that fits over the game box and includes 32 adorable wooden cat figures.

Large predators hunt smaller ones, but they are quick and can easily escape. Use your animal instincts to outsmart other players and discover which animals they send on the hunt. The first player to collect 5 food tokens is crowned the king of prey!

Players lead a group of Vikings to new destinations, managing recruitment and choosing the best areas for exploration. As objectives are achieved, either through trade or influence, players can enhance their reputation and gain more wealth. Each turn allows players to add a new member to their crew, activate effects from matching symbols, and explore new locations for trade opportunities.

Players aim to get rid of their hand cards as quickly as possible, ideally without accumulating penalty points. Each round begins with cards placed in eight colors in the center and players taking turns to lay down cards next to the corresponding row cards. If the number gap between two cards is too large, other players can call out and throw cards at the active player, leading to more penalties. The game ends when a player reaches 18 points, with the winner being the one with the fewest points.

Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition is a unique and innovative quantum trick-taking card game that challenges 2 to 5 players to think strategically about color and number. This deluxe edition of the game enhances the experience with high-quality components and new features.

Players take on the role of tamers hunting various monsters and spirits to train them as servants. In this fantasy world, many creatures live in harmony, with dragons being the most valuable and noble. The player who manages to tame the most exceptional servants wins. Each round consists of three phases: hunting, action, and resolution, where players draw cards, perform actions, and utilize the effects of summoned cards. The game features seventy creatures inspired by myths from around the world.

Players collaborate to defeat one of two villains: Mothman or the Martian Invader. Each villain has a unique battlefield with specific objectives, and if they succeed or defeat the heroes, the players lose. The game introduces four new heroes, each with distinct abilities, and remains compatible with other sets in the Unmatched series.

Players act as the captains of the coast guard. They work together to control buoys and lighthouses to ensure safety along the North Sea coast. The goal is to explore as many tiles as possible by connecting them on all four sides.

Outshine the competition! The cards come in seven colors with values ranging from 01 to 12. Players play a single hand card and draw a new one immediately. When the right number of cards is reached, the strongest combination from all played cards wins. Players who contributed to the winning combination can score points.

Art Society is a new art collection game for 2 to 4 players, featuring easy-to-learn rules. Players assume the role of art connoisseurs, competing to create the most impressive collection by bidding on trendy artworks and arranging them into a stylish gallery. Be cautious, as trends can change quickly, and artworks not acquired might end up in a museum, affecting your collection's value.

Many years after his confrontation with Van Helsing, Dracula has returned to Whitby, England. The citizens seek help from vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing to stop Dracula before he transforms all of them into vampires.

From the creators of the hit game Point Salad, this card-drawing and engine-building game features over 150 unique building cards, allowing players to create a completely different city in each session. Players take two adjacent cards from the dynamic city grid to grow their city, utilizing resource cards and bonuses to construct buildings that require specific combinations. By creating special urban structures, players can multiply their city's points and strive to become the best city planner!

Stalingrad, 1942, is a grueling conflict that affects the entire Eastern Front. Players must use strategy and bravery to secure this pivotal stronghold while every loss in battle decreases their forces for the entire campaign. Through up to fifteen branching scenarios, decisions influence the fate of Stalingrad and possibly the war itself, allowing for varied playthroughs despite the lasting consequences of actions taken. This standalone campaign game features over 300 unique illustrations and 150 vivid mission descriptions, immersing players in a crucial moment of history.

Two new and original heroes battle in this exciting, accessible standalone duel game. Players can choose from a variety of heroes, each offering a unique play style and feel. Attack opponents and activate abilities by rolling the five unique dice of your hero, while collecting combat points to use for cards with various effects, such as permanent upgrades, status effects, or manipulating dice.

Collect balloons, gifts, candles, and mountains of sweets at the birthday party. Players roll dice and select their desired items while others take what's left over. Each color coded area on their scoring sheets has different rules for checking off items, and completing sections will earn them rainbow stars. The game ends once a player marks all items in an area, and the player with the most stars wins.

Players step into the role of master architects, acquiring cards to construct the tallest towers. Cards are gained by being willing to take more than others, but since only one tower of each of the five types can be built, taking too many cards at once may limit future possibilities.

Players assemble a team of heroes and allies to face notorious villains. They receive a sheet of seven cards featuring characters, items, or locations from the Marvel universe. By equipping their characters with powerful gear and maneuvers, they can perform epic combos and compete for the highest score to win. The game includes 61 Remix cards, 18 villain cards, a scorepad, and a rulebook, suitable for 2 to 6 players aged 12 and up, with a playtime of about 20 minutes.

Players take on the role of great rulers from the past to build their own ancient city. Each round, players invest gold to construct tiles that enhance their city’s economy. There are five building types that yield resources, helping the city grow, while monuments and wonder tiles provide victory points but require all your gold. Once a player reaches the maximum population, they are declared the winner of the game.

Players lay matching cards on the central stack, similar to Mau Mau or UNO. The round ends when a player has played their last card.

Players take on the role of monsters defending their hard-earned treasures from invading hordes of heroes. Each turn, players draw five cards to move, activate pieces, attack heroes, and manage their units. The goal is to survive three threat levels posed by the heroes while protecting the treasures in each room; if the main treasure is taken, the game ends in defeat, but successfully protecting the treasures leads to victory.

This standalone expansion introduces the Evolve effect on certain cards, allowing for a three-stage evolution line with changing creature abilities. Players summon hybrid creatures to battle against their opponent, but must beware, as the opponent can use one of their Mindbugs to take control. Mindbug blends the accessibility of a simple card game with the strategic depth of a complex one, resulting in a skill-based card duel that offers a unique experience.

Snow White, the Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and other fairy tale princesses celebrate a five-day festival. Uninvited princes will attempt to infiltrate the ball to propose marriage. As a princess, you must avoid proposals and remain single and independent after the festivities.

A job awaits in Amsterdam: you must break into the famous Bachmann Gallery and steal a mysterious painting. Assemble a team from the Amsterdam underworld, scout the gallery, hack security systems, and inspect blueprints. The game integrates real-world apps for gathering information, and players will engage in writing emails, browsing detailed websites, and making phone calls as part of the immersive experience.

Players take on the role of clan leaders and secretly play cards that represent members of their tribe to conquer territories. Strategy and timing are crucial for scoring points. Throughout the game, players explore uncharted areas and establish settled villages using the diverse talents of their tribes, ultimately seeking dominance by the end of nine rounds.

Players start with a row of cards on the table, matching the number of participants. On their turn, they draw a card from their hand and reveal it simultaneously to create a new sequence from the lowest to the highest card. Each player then takes the card from the previous row that corresponds to their played card's position, adding it to their tableau for points at the end of the round, based on color and order drawn.

Players start with the same deck in Mycelia and upgrade their cards throughout the game to be the first to clear their field of dew drops. They need the help of mysterious forest creatures to improve their deck, develop new abilities, and bring the sacred dew drops to the Shrine of Life for the forest goddess's support. The game features double-sided player boards for added variability.

In Bonsai you take on the role of master gardeners patiently growing your own miniature tree. Whoever cultivates the finest bonsai earns the honour of displaying it in the Imperial gardens — a calm, elegant tile-laying and set-collection game for 1 to 4 players.

Players make critical decisions to score as many points as possible at the end of each round in this party game. Each round starts with players receiving six goal cards while colorful chips are added to a bag. Players draw chips, discard goal cards, and score points based on their fulfilled goals, with the game continuing until someone earns four reward tokens.

A cup of coffee relaxes the customer, but for the coffee shop, orders pile up during peak times. Players gather ingredients on a board to fulfill customer orders and improve their ratings. Unfulfilled orders lead to penalty points, while completing three orders allows a player to upgrade their ingredient gathering. The game ends when all order cards are used or when a player receives five penalty cards. The player with the highest score wins!

Mazescape is a captivating labyrinth game for one player that guarantees intense moments of puzzling as you search for the exit. You fold a card on the table, starting with a pointer at the compass rose, and move it along the marked labyrinth paths without lifting it off the card. You must open and close various parts of the map to find the impossible triangle needed to escape, journeying through distinct areas like the docks, the cemetery, and the mountain, with increasing complexity and secondary objectives to explore.

Travel to the Japanese city of Tokyo and compete to redesign its subway plans for the challenges of tomorrow. In each round, reveal the next station card and draw a subway line on your map. Optimize your network to collect as many stamps as possible while staying connected to the central green loop for maximum points.

Hollywood is calling! By chance, you find yourself in one of the largest film studios of the dream factory, where the set for a new Christmas blockbuster should be buzzing with activity. Instead, it’s dark and deserted, raising questions about the missing film crew and star.

Choose the cards you want in your collection in Ku-Ka-König, and ideally, they will not be discarded.

Penguin Airlines is a quirky airline that requires minimal qualifications from its pilots. Players are split into pairs, with one acting as the control tower and the other as the cabin crew, completing frantic instructions to keep the flight going. The first team to reach 12 points wins, turning every round into a potentially epic experience.

The heron flies over the skies of Himeji while the Daimyo observes the activities of his servants from the castle's summit. Players control a clan to earn victory points by gaining influence at court, managing resources, and strategically placing their workers. The game features resource management, worker placement, and dice placement mechanics, set against the backdrop of Himeji Castle, where players engage in tending gardens, defending the castle, and climbing the social ladder. With accessible rules and a carefully crafted setting, it offers a blend of simplicity and strategic depth.

Every word counts, so players must focus and choose their words wisely. In this challenging cooperative game, players help detectives find a mysterious word by providing hints that start with specific letters. The goal is to use as few hints as possible while guessing more words to achieve a higher score.

Players cooperate in a hidden information game where they aim to decorate their home to please both partners. Each player has different preferences but must keep their criteria secret while negotiating a happy compromise. The game involves placing and rearranging objects within the rooms of a house, tackling unique scenarios, and communicating effectively to achieve a perfectly decorated home.

Players engage in an area-control game by swapping tiles from a large mandala on the table. Each player aims to mark connected areas of color as their territory. At the end, the player with the most points wins.

Challengers! Beach Cup is an interactive deck-management game for 1–8 players that plays in about 45 minutes regardless of player count. Each round you face a new opponent, building a deck of quirky characters — wizards, aliens, cats, gangsters, krakens — and trying to collect the most fans and trophies.

Robot Quest Arena is a deck-building arena combat game featuring beautifully pre-painted robot miniatures. Players use battery cards to move, enhance their weapons, and purchase powerful new cards for their decks. Navigate the dangers of the arena while taking down opponents to score points, as destroyed bots respawn each round, keeping the action continuous.

Welcome to the city of culture, art, and music! Explore Unter den Linden and dive into the vibrant capital of Europe. Players compete to visit the city's most famous locations and complete their destination cards. The victorious player utilizes Berlin's trams and ventures underground to incorporate a subway system into their routes.

Players immerse themselves in a puzzling tile-laying game about current news, set in the charming forest world created by Ian O'Toole. As editors of a local newspaper, they face the challenge of crafting the perfect front page while racing against time to scoop stories, secure photos, and manage advertisements.

Players navigate a captivating labyrinth game designed for solo play, where they seek the exit through intense puzzle-solving moments. This unique concept involves unfolding a map on the table and maneuvering a pointer along white-marked labyrinth paths, all while ensuring the pointer never leaves the map. Set in ancient Crete, players must overcome the challenges of various cards to escape the legendary Labyrinth of Daedalus and help Ariadne flee from the Minotaur.

Players conquer the rocky slopes of an ever-changing mountain. They must carefully place the next path section to complete their ascent while tackling various round objectives. This puzzle is filled with pitfalls that keep players engaged and challenged.

Lecker Lava features a three-dimensional game board where lava chips flow out of a volcano, ideally landing right in your mouth! Players roll dice to draw new lava chips from a bag and place them on the board while positioning their cardboard dragons with open mouths at designated openings. The goal is to catch the most valuable chips while avoiding the gray ones, which cost valuable point chips at the end of the game. The game ends when there aren't enough lava chips left in the bag for the current round.