The best games from Bruno Cathala 🇫🇷👨 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.

Embark on a noble quest to expand your kingdom in Kingdomino. As a lord, your mission is to explore vast lands filled with wheat fields, serene lakes, and towering mountains. Competing with fellow lords, you must identify the choicest plots to claim as your own.

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.

7 Wonders Duel takes the essence of the classic 7 Wonders and refines it for an intense two-player experience. It retains the thematic elements of building a civilization through acquiring various types of cards, but it introduces unique mechanics suited for a duel.

Splendor Duel is an intriguing two-player game that builds upon the foundation of its predecessor, Splendor, enhancing it with new layers of strategy and competitiveness. Designed specifically for two players, this standalone game maintains the core elements of Splendor while introducing novel twists and mechanics, making it more dynamic and interactive.

The big moment has arrived. You have been appointed as a "Dragon Trainer" with the chance to encounter dragons on a mysterious island. Compete with other trainers to discover the most baby dragons while searching for dragon eggs.

In the swashbuckling world of 1675 Jamaica, Captain Henry Morgan, after a notorious career in piracy, becomes the Governor of Jamaica. In a surprising turn of events, he invites his former pirate comrades to join him in retirement, celebrating their plundered treasures in the annual Great Challenge – a thrilling race around the island. The cunning Captain with the most gold at the end of the race claims the title of Grand Winner. Jamaica is a pirate-themed tactical race game that combines strategic ship movement, treasure hunting, and player interaction.

Travel back to the prehistoric era of Kingdomino. Players will experience familiar gameplay with new components that introduce additional actions and scoring opportunities. Regions in your territory earn points when they contain fire, which can be gained either through terrain or by adding dominoes with volcanoes. The game features three play modes that incorporate fire, wood resources, and cave people tiles, allowing for varied strategies and rewards.

A Game of Thrones: Hand of the King is a fast-paced card game set in the world of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Players are thrust into the heart of King's Landing's court, where they must use cunning and strategy to outmaneuver their opponents in a quest to become the Hand of the King. This game for two to four players is filled with conspiracies and unexpected turns of fate, where influencing key characters from the series is crucial to gaining power.

Velonimo is a card game that immerses players in the intense struggle of the animal world for the coveted "petits pois-carottes" jersey awarded to the best climber. Players race to the top, aiming to accumulate points and win the hidden jersey by getting rid of all their cards first.

Conspiracy: Abyss Universe is an intriguing card game that delves into the rich and vibrant world of Abyss. Players find themselves crafting a strategic reverse pyramid from a deck composed of cards across five colors, ranging in value from 0 to 6. The game's core revolves around drafting cards, with a clever twist on traditional mechanics. Each turn presents the opportunity to draw cards from the deck, select one to add to your pyramid, and strategically position the rest, fostering a dynamic play environment that challenges players to think ahead and adapt their strategies on the fly.

Mission: Red Planet (Second Edition) is a strategic board game set in a Victorian-era Earth, where players head mining corporations competing to exploit Mars' newfound resources.

The Little Prince: Make Me a Planet challenges players to craft their own planets in the whimsical universe of The Little Prince. The goal is to create a harmonious world for iconic characters while avoiding an excess of baobabs and volcanoes.

Dice Town is a lively game where players step into the wild west with five poker dice and eight dollars in hand. Each turn, you'll assemble a poker hand from your dice rolls, vying for control of various key locations in Dice Town, each offering unique actions.

Raptor is an engaging, card-driven board game that offers a blend of tactical maneuvers and strategic planning, set in a thrilling scenario where science clashes with nature.

Players engage in a dice and writing game with progressive difficulty levels. They aim to create chains of consecutive numbers from 0 to 12 and areas with the same number to score points.

Players arrange game pieces to gain the favor of the emperor in Okiya, also known as Niya. They can also block opponents from placing their tokens in the imperial garden to show more control.

Five Tribes: The Djinns of Naqala is a strategy board game set in the mystical land of Naqala. Designed by Bruno Cathala, it puts a unique spin on the traditional German-style worker placement games.

Young Diplodocuses (Diplos) love the tasty leaves offered by the nearby willows. To win, your Diplo team must eat more leaves than your opponent’s team, unless one of you decides to call the wild T. Rex to chase away all of the opponent's Diplos.

Abyss plunges players into a deep-sea realm of power struggles, where they aim to ascend the throne and rule the underwater city. This game intertwines development, combination, and collection strategies in a captivating underwater setting.

Kanagawa is a beautifully crafted board game set in 1840 in the bay of Tokyo. In this game, players become disciples of the famed Master Hokusai, striving to learn and excel in the art of painting. As disciples, players must expand their studios, choose their subjects carefully, and pay keen attention to the seasons to create the most harmonious and compelling print, aspiring to produce their lifetime's masterpiece.

A temple dedicated to Sobek is under construction, accompanied by a bustling market supplied by boats on the Nile. Players act as rival traders, collecting and selling goods while trying to outmaneuver each other to earn victory points. Timing is crucial, as players must strategically analyze their moves and the choices they leave for their opponent to secure the win.

Mr. Jack Pocket is a compact and strategic card game adaptation of the well-regarded board game Mr. Jack. Designed by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc, this game transforms the original board game's concept into a more portable format. It involves deduction and strategy, set against the backdrop of a Victorian-era mystery. The game cleverly uses a grid of street cards, with characters like Holmes, Watson, and a dog maneuvering around to catch the elusive Mr. Jack.

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.

As the leader of an international archaeological team, you must establish camps worldwide and uncover the long-lost golden scarabs. Scarabya is a puzzle game where the goal is to find scarabs by positioning your game pieces to form closed zones of 1 to 4 squares. Each scarab in a closed zone is worth points equal to the number of squares in that zone, and players take turns playing the same pieces simultaneously, ending the game once all 12 pieces are drawn.

In Frosted Blooms, children and adults create their own tulip garden in a gentle Dutch spring landscape. This family game for ages 8 and up combines calm planning with colorful tile placement. Round by round, a garden of flowers, paths, and special features takes shape, with every turn offering small decisions and fresh opportunities.

Players roll shooting stars that always look different. They can choose to finish the game quickly or take their time, with each decision crucial for multiplying their points. It's a short dice game where players must make the best choices to maximize their score by collecting dice of the same color or value.

Cows and flies are the main characters in this new card game. It is a simple game for 2-5 players, illustrated by Sandra Tagliabue, and published by Hurrican. Players collect points by forming a herd while trying to avoid accumulating too many flies, which can significantly reduce their total score.