Best games released at SPIEL 2024 in Essen 2026

A dark rumor arises from Mordor, and the time has come for the Fellowship to unite once more. Players can choose to defend the free peoples as the Fellowship of the Ring or pursue Frodo and Sam as Sauron, deploying their hordes at enemy city gates. The fate of Middle-earth rests in your hands as you navigate the three chapters of the game, strengthening your skills and gathering resources to achieve one of the victory conditions.

Players build landscapes by placing colored tiles to create habitats for their animals. To score the most points and win, they must cleverly integrate these habitats into their landscapes and attract as many animals as possible.

In Bomb Busters, you and your team play a squad of bomb-disposal experts. A bomb full of wires is ticking, and only together will you defuse it in time. A cooperative deduction game whose tension climbs across 66 missions.

Castle Combo is a quick, clever card game from the studio behind Faraway. You spend coins to draw nine cards, little by little, from two open markets, then build them into a 3x3 tableau whose residents interact in smart ways.

Agent Avenue is a competitive card game about retired spies in a suburban neighborhood. Players bluff, collect sets, and use an I-split-you-choose mechanism to outmaneuver rivals and reveal their identities first.

Flip 7 is a brisk push-your-luck card game: flip the deck one card at a time, but never turn up the same number twice. It sounds simple, yet it has real bite. A great fit for families and party groups after a fast thrill.

Ahoy, Captain! Raise your flag, recruit a crew, and fill your coffers with shiny gold coins. The game is simple and can be explained faster than a cannon shot. On your turn, draw a tile from the bag; if you like it, keep it, and if not, flip it over. Place it on your board to build your crew. With nine characters and four boards featuring different tactics, it offers an engaging and fun experience.

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 move through the seasons and encounter tiny creatures that emerge from flowers or hide in tree hollows. Choose one of the revealed cards carefully, as you must consider which ones to leave for your opponents. Cards will be stacked and scored at the end of the round, along with your largest color zone and spirals.

Welcome to Alula, a mysterious continent whose geography shifts with the seasons. In Faraway, you roam the land, meet its inhabitants and catalogue its wonders to earn more glory than your rivals. A clever card game built around an unusual way to score.

Rebirth is an elegant tile-laying area-control game by Reiner Knizia for 2 to 4 players. In a hopeful future you rebuild a scarred land: farms spread, communities take root, and castles change hands.

River Valley Glassworks is a cozy family-weight game about collecting colorful glass from the river and arranging it in your workshop. Players draft pieces, manage rows and columns, and score through a compact set-collection puzzle.

A fast-paced word-association game for 4 to 7 players aged 10 and up: everyone writes an answer to a prompt at the same time, hoping to match the others. Match exactly one other person and you score a JINX for bonus points; match no one and you score nothing. JinxO is a 2026 Spiel des Jahres nominee.

Players are transported to the idyllic landscapes of Japan in this standalone successor to the award-winning board game. With the introduction of cherry blossoms as a new element and over 40 achievements to unlock, there's plenty of exciting challenges to face. Numerous surprises await as players explore the world of Dorfromantik - Sakura.

Caution Signs is a fast sketching party game where you warn people of hazards that don't really exist.

Spotlight (German edition: Team Adlerauge) is a cooperative hidden-object game in which players use a “magic” flashlight to spot wacky characters and items in darkened scenes. Find as many hidden pictures as possible to move your pawns to the finish line before the chasing Moon pawn catches up.

Duck & Cover is a fast, goofy family card game for 2–7 players in which you try to end up with the least “water” around your bathtub. Over three rounds you either move your ducks around your grid or cover duck cards with other ducks, aiming for the lowest score.

Immerse yourself in the world of Everdell with the Complete Collection. Build a city filled with animal inhabitants, explore diverse regions, and celebrate events like the Bellfaire. The collection features 23 unique Critter Meeples, player powers for asymmetric gameplay, and luxurious components, making it the ultimate Everdell experience.

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.

Players are travelers planning and experiencing their dream vacation in Japan. The game consists of thirteen rounds where they draw activity cards illustrated by Japanese artists and strategically place them on different days of their week-long itinerary. The player with the most points at the end of their journey wins.

Endeavor: Deep Sea takes you into the modern era, where the ocean is one of the last great frontiers left to explore. As the successor to the hit Endeavor: Age of Sail, you run a research institute and probe an ever-changing sea.

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 take on the role of monsters battling for supremacy in a standalone game designed for newcomers. It features four new monsters, a mix of power cards, energy dice, and special yellow dice. The objective is to be the first to reach 20 points or be the last monster standing. Players roll six dice to gain points, energy, heal, or attack others, with various strategic options for each turn.

Compile is a dueling card game for two players in which you embody competing artificial intelligences trying to understand the world. Each side selects three Protocols — concepts ranging from Darkness to Gravity to Water — and plays cards into their command lines to breach thresholds and “compile” a Protocol.

Four large foldable maps feature a 3D scene with hidden objects, each showing the scene from a different perspective. Players see only one map at a time, making communication essential for piecing together information. The game includes 160 puzzle cards with various challenges, requiring intense discussion about what players see and don't see, alongside abstract thinking and clever combinations to solve each chapter's mysteries.

A card game filled with humor, it features 72 cards illustrated by various artists. The rules are straightforward: the first player to lay down the phrase "I am done" wins—well, maybe. On their turn, players can either draw a card or play one from their hand, with certain card texts taking precedence over the standard rules.

Foundations of Metropolis is a city-building game for 2 to 4 players ages 14 and up. Over roughly 60 minutes you buy up empty lots, raise ever grander buildings, and compete to be named the city's greatest architect.

Star Realms Academy is the kid-friendly take on the popular spaceship deck-builder Star Realms, made for 2 players ages 7 and up. In about 20 minutes two fleets duel it out, with no reading required and far less math.

A magical fairy tale book contains three chapters. In 3 Chapters, a trick-taking game with three phases, players experience the story:

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.

River of Gold is a mid-weight Eurogame in which you play river merchants in feudal Japan competing for wealth, glory, and wisdom. Along a busy river you ally with legendary samurai clans and try to exploit the trade route for yourself. Despite real strategic depth, play stays brisk and runs about an hour.