The best games by Justin D. Jacobson 🇺🇸👨 2026

Unmatched: Cobble & Fog is a captivating expansion to the Unmatched system, featuring a quartet of iconic characters drawn from literary lore, each with their unique playstyle and abilities. This expansion introduces the Invisible Man, Sherlock Holmes with Dr. Watson, Dracula along with the sisters, and the duo of Jekyll & Hyde, all brought to life in a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game.

Thunder Road: Vendetta is Restoration Games' rev-happy remake of Milton Bradley's 1986 cult classic: a dice-driven car-combat game for two to four players, set in a post-apocalyptic landscape of asphalt, junk metal and pitch-black humor. Whoever still has a moving wreck on the road at the end wins.

Downforce is a fast-paced and exhilarating board game that captures the intense world of motor racing. Combining elements of card-driven gameplay, bidding, and betting, it offers a thrilling race experience for 2-6 players.

A crime has just been committed, and players must grab their investigation licenses and sharpen their deductive skills to catch the suspect. As multiple private detectives race to solve the case, only one can handcuff the culprit and claim the reward, which can lead to a sunny retirement on a tropical Caribbean beach.

Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar is a thrilling adventure board game that is a restoration of the classic 1986 game Fireball Island. Players embark on a daring quest on Fireball Island, a place teeming with dangers like volcanic upheavals, feral tigers, lethal trees, and swarms of bees. The goal is to capture snapshots across the island while racing down treacherous paths and avoiding a barrage of hazards, including the iconic fireballs.

"Looking good, darling. One chunk or two?" This is the most coveted invitation of the year: High Tea at Dinoton Abbey. Dressed to impress and ready for tea and chatter, players must identify each other’s dinosaur guest names to avoid social blunders.

An indulgence can be granted to alleviate sins in Catholic teachings. During the dark times, indulgences were sold to anyone willing to make a significant "contribution." Players take on the role of competing families in the Italian Renaissance, choosing edicts that dictate the rules while tempting others to defy them, ultimately seeking to gain indulgences and win the game.

The briefcase lies outdoors as six freelance agents are in play. Players compete to control the agents by secretly bribing them to transport the briefcase across Europe and attempt to bring it to their headquarters. With each agent possessing unique abilities and a new win condition that avoids stalemates, players must balance their immediate and long-term strategies carefully.