The best games by Brett J. Gilbert 🇬🇧👨 2026

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.

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.

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!

Ancient ancestors created images on cave walls to narrate stories about their surroundings and the animals they shared them with. In Great Plains, two players compete for dominance over the plains. Using the help of spiritual animals, they navigate hills, cross lowlands, and invade each other's territory to become the tribe that survives.

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.

Players work together against Daedalus, the spirit of the labyrinth. Round by round, they consult Daedalus's spellbook to discover the obstacles in their path. Success depends on their ability to use magic, shift walls, and find all hidden treasures before the last page is turned.

Welcome to a magical kingdom where a brave princess, a devoted knight, and a fearsome dragon seek adventure. Players help them explore and fulfill their destinies by placing new land tiles and moving characters through mountains, forests, and plains. Complete the tasks in your storybook, and the first to read all the pages wins.

In the jungle of Costa Rica, players take on the role of explorers collecting rare and exotic animals to protect them from poachers while navigating diverse terrains and the constant threat of mosquitoes. Collecting as many specimens of one species is valuable, but having one of each species can also be advantageous. Each turn, players must decide whether to leave the expedition to gather encountered animals or to stay with the group for the chance to collect more later.

On November 17, 1896, the nearly empty streets of London conceal an exciting event happening in a luxurious Bloomsbury hotel. Fifty well-known mediums are participating in an unprecedented tournament to determine the most powerful among them. Players take on the role of these mediums, guessing their opponents' cards based on the divination methods of palmistry, crystalomancy, tasseomancy, and astrology, aiming to accumulate the most points over several rounds.

Life continues undisturbed in the sleepy English countryside. Players traverse the land with railway lines, connecting villages and managing the evolving demands of rural communities. They must strategically place stations and signals while balancing the quirky requests of the locals against limited resources in this challenging tableau-building card game.

Travel back to the time of the Maya and help build their civilization. Cities are rising around the temples on the Yucatán Peninsula. Grow crops like corn, squash, potatoes, and peppers to increase your influence while navigating tough decisions and keeping an eye on your opponents.

Which Egyptian dynasty will be the most glorious? Players will pray to the gods to build monuments in their honor, ensuring their dynasty has a legacy for millennia. The game transports 2 to 5 players to ancient Egypt, where they create a necropolis filled with pyramids, obelisks, and tombs, selecting the best combinations of stones and arranging them for optimal glory.

In the world of international espionage, effective paths for mission completion are crucial. Players travel across Europe to complete their missions as quickly as possible, building routes between depicted locations. Expanding their limited network requires careful planning, as players must remove markers from one area to grow in another. The first to complete seven missions wins.

Elysium is a strategy game set in Mythic Greece, where players take on the roles of demigods striving to gain the favor of the Olympian gods and earn their place in legends.

The old kingdom is in danger due to the Dark Lord, who seeks to bring eternal darkness to the land. Players must assemble troops to collect legendary power stones and complete a magical amulet. Success will save the realm and secure victory, but losing even one area to the Dark Lord means instant defeat.

Professor Evil has a time machine and has stolen the best historical artifacts from the past and future. Your team is tasked with confiscating these items and returning them to their rightful place in time. You must infiltrate the mansion and escape with four items before Professor Evil can hide them from you.

Players sail from island to island to collect Vikings and related items. They compete for valuable positions and battle monsters to earn points. The game lasts four rounds, with players moving along a designated path to claim tiles or engage in confrontations. Collecting runes, goods, or axes increases their chances against monsters, and a majority bonus is awarded at the end of each round based on revealed tiles. The player with the most points after four rounds wins.

Set in the early 20th century, players take on the role of chief chocolatiers experimenting with new ways to create and market chocolates. Chocolate Factory is a Euro game featuring factory building and movement, where players must create the largest assortment of confections to sell to retailers for maximum value. It includes wooden chocolate pieces and a movable conveyor belt, blending physicality with Euro mechanics for a unique experience.

To rebuild the Eternal City, the Roman Emperor has summoned the most talented builders of antiquity. Each builder aims to design the best city, but skill alone isn't enough; gaining the Emperor's favor and strategically managing resources is key for success. Over fourteen rounds, players draw building cards, perform construction and production actions, and must carefully place their cards in a 4x4 grid to maximize points.