AI Paolo Mori: Designer of the Year 2026, Profile and Where to Start
· boardgame.tips Editorial Team
Paolo Mori is the Board Game Designer of the Year 2026. The jury of the Lucca Comics & Games award picked the Italian designer over Bruno Cathala, Johannes Goupy, Tomáš Holek and Reiner Knizia (Gioco dell'Anno, September 24, 2026). It is already his second designer-of-the-year title within five months: in May, the public vote of the ioGioco Awards, run by the Italian magazine of the same name, named him Game Designer (BoardGameWire, September 29, 2026). His most visible game of the year is a small duel with toy soldiers: Toy Battle, which he designed with Alessandro Zucchini and which won the French As d'Or in 2026.
Key takeaways
- Award: Paolo Mori is Board Game Designer of the Year 2026. The prize honors a body of work, not a single game.
- Second title this year: At the ioGioco Awards (the 2025 edition, announced in May 2026) he had already been named Game Designer of the year.
- Flagship: Toy Battle (with Alessandro Zucchini) won the 2026 As d'Or and the Golden Geek for two-player games, and it is on the Spiel des Jahres 2026 recommendation list.
- Body of work: Libertalia, Ethnos, Rise of Augustus, Vasco da Gama and Captain Flip range from 20-minute games to a two-hour strategy game.
- Where to start: Toy Battle for two, Captain Flip for families, Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest for bigger groups.
What the Board Game Designer of the Year award recognizes
The prize rewards a designer's body of work, not a single new release. It goes back to Lucca Crea, the organizer of Lucca Comics & Games, and the designers' association SAZ Italia, and it has been awarded since 2024. The jury looks at originality, sensitivity to trends, prolificacy and versatility (BoardGameWire, September 29, 2026). It is presented every year during the festival in Lucca (Gioco dell'Anno, retrieved November 11, 2026). In 2026 the festival ran from October 28 to November 1.
The previous winners show what league this is: Simone Luciani won in 2024, Grégory Grard in 2025 (Gioco dell'Anno, retrieved November 11, 2026). Mori was already a finalist in 2025 and lost to Grard. The 2026 jury included Harald Schrapers, chair of the Spiel des Jahres association, Germany's game of the year award (BoardGameWire, September 29, 2026). The jury describes Mori as a designer who exemplifies "the maturity achieved by Italian game design" (BoardGameWire, September 29, 2026). The French site Ludovox honors him as the Italian designer of Toy Battle, Augustus, Libertalia, Ethnos and Captain Flip (Ludovox, September 30, 2026).
A year full of awards
2026 has been an unusually busy year for Paolo Mori. The table collects the awards we were able to check at the source.
| Announced | Award | For |
|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | As d'Or – Jeu de l'Année (Cannes) | Toy Battle |
| May 2026 | ioGioco Award 2025: Game Designer | Paolo Mori |
| May 2026 | ioGioco Award 2025: Two-player game | Toy Battle |
| May 2026 | Golden Geek (games of 2025): 2-Player Game | Toy Battle |
| July 2026 at the latest | Spiel des Jahres 2026: recommendation list | Toy Battle |
| September 2026 | Board Game Designer of the Year 2026 | Paolo Mori |
Sources: As d'Or per the Festival International des Jeux (retrieved November 11, 2026) and BoardGameWire (February 27, 2026); ioGioco per ioGioco (retrieved November 11, 2026) and BoardGameWire (May 4, 2026); Golden Geek per BoardGameWire (May 12, 2026); Spiel des Jahres per BoardGameWire (July 13, 2026).
The ioGioco award carries the year 2025 because it covers the 2025 crop of games. The public voted from March 14 to April 14, and the result came out in early May (ioGioco, retrieved November 11, 2026). So both the voting public and the Lucca jury put Mori first in the same year.
Twenty years, many formats
Paolo Mori has been publishing board games for about twenty years (BoardGameWire, September 29, 2026). What stands out is the range. Next to light family games there is a heavy strategy game like Vasco da Gama and historical conflict games like Battalion: War of the Ancients and Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. Our list of the best games by Paolo Mori features around twenty of his titles.
The early hits: Vasco da Gama and Rise of Augustus
Vasco da Gama came out in 2009 and is still his heaviest game in our catalog. You recruit workers, build ships and open trade routes to East Africa and India. A game takes one to two hours. Rise of Augustus (German title Augustus) from 2013 is a different animal: symbols are drawn from a bag, and everyone fills their objective cards at the same time. With Rise of Augustus, Mori won the first Gioco dell'Anno in its current form in 2013 (BoardGameWire, September 29, 2026).
The classics: Libertalia and Ethnos
Libertalia sends pirate crews out for plunder. In 2022 the new edition Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest (German title Libertalia: Auf den Winden von Galecrest) was released. In Ethnos (2017), players recruit fantasy tribes such as giants, halflings and minotaurs to gain control of the land. BoardGameWire counts both among his best-known works, along with the cooperative Pandemic spin-off Fall of Rome (German title Pandemic: Untergang Roms) (BoardGameWire, September 29, 2026).
The short formats: Caesar!, Captain Flip and Toy Battle
In recent years Mori has released many compact games. Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! (German title Caesar!: Erobere Rom in 20 Minuten!, 2021) is an area control game for two in which Caesar and Pompey fight over Rome. Captain Flip (2024, with Remo Conzadori) was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres in 2024: you draw a tile from the bag, keep it or flip it. And then there is Toy Battle, the shortest of the three at around 15 minutes.
What Mori's games have in common
Put his titles side by side and recurring patterns show up. This is our reading based on the game descriptions, not a statement by the jury:
- The bag as randomizer. In Rise of Augustus, Caesar! and Captain Flip, a reach into the bag decides things. In Rise of Augustus every drawn symbol counts for everyone at once; in Caesar! and Captain Flip you draw tokens or tiles yourself.
- History as theme. Rome in Rise of Augustus, Caesar! and Fall of Rome, the age of exploration in Vasco da Gama.
- Small-format duels. Caesar! and Toy Battle are duels for two that last 15 to 20 minutes.
- Short teach. Captain Flip, according to its description, is explained faster than a cannon shot, and Toy Battle also gets by with few turn options: draw new troops or deploy a unit.
Where to start with Paolo Mori
The best entry point depends on your group:
- For two: Toy Battle is the current flagship and plays in a quarter of an hour. If you like history, go for Caesar!. You'll find more duels among the best board games for two players.
- With family: Captain Flip or Rise of Augustus. Both work from age 8, with up to five and six players respectively.
- With your game group: Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest or Ethnos, both for up to six players. More raids on the high seas are in our list of the best pirate games.
- For heavy gamers: Vasco da Gama is the only truly heavy game in our Mori list.
Bottom line: an award for range
Paolo Mori receives the 2026 Designer of the Year award not for one hit but for twenty years in which he has covered almost every format, from strategy game to fifteen-minute duel. Toy Battle gave him the most visible year of his career, with awards in France, Italy and at BoardGameGeek. If you want to get to know his work, start small: Toy Battle for two or Captain Flip with the family. If you want more after that, you'll find all his titles in our list of the best games by Paolo Mori.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Board Game Designer of the Year 2026?
Paolo Mori. The jury of the Lucca Comics & Games award announced him as the winner on September 24, 2026. The other finalists were Bruno Cathala, Johannes Goupy, Tomáš Holek and Reiner Knizia.
Which games has Paolo Mori designed?
His best-known games include Libertalia, Ethnos, Rise of Augustus, Vasco da Gama, Fall of Rome, Caesar!, Captain Flip (with Remo Conzadori) and Toy Battle (with Alessandro Zucchini).
What awards has Toy Battle won?
In 2026 Toy Battle won the As d'Or – Jeu de l'Année in Cannes, the Golden Geek in the two-player category and the ioGioco Award for two-player games. It is on the Spiel des Jahres 2026 recommendation list.
Which Paolo Mori game is good for beginners?
Captain Flip is one of his lightest games: ages 8 and up, 2 to 5 players, about 20 minutes. For two, Toy Battle is the easiest way in.
Where is Paolo Mori from?
Paolo Mori is an Italian game designer. He has been publishing board games for about twenty years and won the first Gioco dell'Anno in its current form in 2013 with Rise of Augustus.