The best games by Scott Almes 🇺🇸👨 2026

In Tiny Epic Galaxies, each player commands a galactic empire, striving to expand their influence by acquiring contested planets and strengthening their cosmic armada. The game features an innovative dice-rolling combo mechanic, where the number of rolled dice corresponds to your galaxy's strength. These dice display symbols representing actions such as spaceship movement, resource acquisition, and the advancement of political or economic influence over newly discovered planets.

Claim is a captivating card game set in a realm thrown into chaos by the sudden death of its king. Players compete to win the support of five factions and claim the throne for themselves. The game is played in two phases: first, recruiting followers, and then using those followers to win over the factions. Each faction possesses unique powers that can influence the game, and these powers may vary between the phases. The goal is to secure the majority of followers in at least three of the five factions to win the game and ascend to the throne.

Explore the amazing landscapes of Australia in this new "draft & write" game version. Visit its beautiful locations, encounter native animals, and engage in tourist activities like hiking and swimming. Compete to be the best visitor, collecting sets of activities and animal sightings to score the most points while designing locations across the continent.

Martian Dice offers a light-hearted and engaging dice game where you play as Martians on a mission to abduct Earth's inhabitants. The goal is simple: collect as many Chickens, Cows, and Humans as possible while avoiding the planet's military defenses. It's a game of risk, reward, and strategy packaged in quick, fun turns perfect for family game night or as a warm-up for a longer gaming session.

Players conquer the rocky slopes of an ever-changing mountain. They must carefully place the next path section to complete their ascent while tackling various round objectives. This puzzle is filled with pitfalls that keep players engaged and challenged.

It's a perfect day for a picnic! Families are spreading out their blankets and setting up colorful plates with delicious treats in the park, but uninvited guests are about... ANTS!

Tiny Epic Galaxies BLAST OFF! is a streamlined successor that allows players to learn and teach the game faster than ever. Players roll Galaxy Dice and perform simple actions, leading to an epic gameplay experience. With a unique following mechanic, players maintain a constant turn sequence while creating cosmic combos and colonizing planets for new abilities and victory points. Collect the most points by the end of the game to be crowned the supreme leader of the universe!

Players dream of building the best treehouse in the world. In this game, they compete to create impressive spaces while ensuring their tree remains standing. Over the course of three rounds, players strategically add rooms using card play and spatial thinking, keeping an eye on their opponents' designs to maximize their points. The player with the most extraordinary treehouse at the end wins!

Players take on the role of leaders from two villages that have maintained the tradition of brewing beer and baking bread. They share resources and fields while competing to outdo each other's products. Over six alternating years of good and bad harvests, players must manage tasks related to harvesting, production, sales, and facility upgrades, while balancing their goods to ensure victory based on the lesser earnings of either beer or bread.

You own the only inn within a hundred miles: the questionable and prestigious Ugly Gryphon. Guests are rude and uncivil, yet they are the only ones you have. Manage their needs to ensure they get a good night's sleep and avoid trouble, as failing to do so could lead to unrest.

Claim Kingdoms is a strategic tile-laying game for two players set in the Claim universe. Players govern a small region and aim to expand their influence by collaborating with various characters such as brave knights and friendly gnomes. The game involves selecting factions, placing cards, and controlling areas to earn victory points, with the player controlling the most factions ultimately winning.

Ultra-Tiny Epic Galaxies is a complete and unabridged version housed in a box the size of a deck of cards. It accommodates 1 to 5 players, features all 40 original planets, and even includes the Satellites & Superweapons mini-expansion!

Players journey through the vast southern land, aiming to see and do as much as possible while hoping the cards they desire will return to them. The game combines elements of drawing cards with a roll-and-write mechanic. Each turn, players select a card from their hand and pass the remaining cards to the next player, deciding whether to keep what they want or deny another player a valuable card. At the end of each round, players score points based on the attractions visited and items collected, with the player amassing the most points after five rounds declared the winner.

The second edition of Tiny Epic Defenders offers an engaging cooperative experience for small groups, featuring new graphics, abilities, ITEMeeples, and fresh rules for more exciting gameplay. The land of Aughmoore is in ruins, plagued by darkness that destroys villages and affects all life, creating an urgent need for heroes to rise and unite. New gameplay mechanics include revised rules, new character abilities, and redesigned Epic Foes, enhancing balance and richness in the game.

Players brave the ascent to 29,128 feet on the treacherous Dicey Peaks of Yeti Mountain. The harsh terrain is filled with blinding snow, steep glaciers, and bone-chilling temperatures, but the lurking Yetis present the true danger. This exploration and risk game involves dice and tiles, with players competing to be the first to raise the flag at the mountain's summit.

In Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, you're thrust into a world where dinosaurs and humans coexist, thanks to modern science. This opens up an exciting, albeit risky, opportunity for dino ranching. As a rancher, you're competing to build the most prosperous dinosaur farm. It's a blend of strategy, resource management, and a bit of danger, as you'd expect when dealing with dinosaurs. Designed for 1-4 players, this game promises around 45 minutes of engaging play per session, perfect for a quick yet immersive experience.

Asteroids traverse the cosmos, each offering many possibilities. Players must utilize their workers' unique abilities to gather resources and construct new buildings, all while skillfully expanding their colonies. Each round presents new opportunities and talents, with old workers charging at other players as new ones join your team from orbit!

Players compete to collect bones from the best excavation sites and create new dinosaurs for prestigious museums. They achieve fame by stealing bones, sabotaging sites, and hindering their fellow paleontologists. The game consists of excavation and construction phases where players gather colorful bones and perform actions, with a twist: gaining fame can impact final scoring.

In Tiny Epic Kingdoms, players are plunged into a world of fantasy and strategy where they lead their tiny kingdoms towards greatness amidst fierce competition.

Harbour is a delightful worker placement game that takes players to a bustling harbour town managed by Dockmaster Schlibble and Constable O'Brady. In this immersive game, players collect and trade various resources like Fish, Livestock, Wood, and Stone as they visit different buildings in the town. The objective is to strategically use these resources to purchase buildings, which then become new worker placement spots. The game's charm lies in its dynamic market mechanism and the ever-changing central pool of buildings available for purchase.

Tiny Epic Zombies is a fast-paced, action-packed game set in a modern-day zombie outbreak at the Echo Ridge Mall. Designed for 1-5 players and lasting about 30 minutes, it offers five different modes of play, including both cooperative and competitive options. Players can take on the role of either survivors, desperately trying to complete objectives and fend off zombies, or control the zombie horde themselves.

Tiny Epic Defenders is a dynamic cooperative board game that builds upon the lore of Tiny Epic Kingdoms, plunging players into a fantasy world where unity and strategic defense are key to survival. Designed for 1-4 players and with a playtime of around 30 minutes, it offers a compact yet rich gaming experience filled with challenges and teamwork.

The night is quiet, cloudless, and dark, revealing an oasis of interstellar magic beyond the stratosphere. Countless stars, blazing comets, planets, ivory moons, and possibly a few menacing black holes await your discovery. At the Royal Hinterland Observatory, players must quickly claim stunning celestial formations to build the most impressive portfolio of cosmic curiosities.

Tiny Epic Quest plunges players into a once-peaceful world now under siege by malevolent goblins. A vile portal from the goblin kingdom has shattered the realm's tranquility, with these nasty invaders laying waste to elf groves and villages. In this dire situation, heroes must embark on a quest to restore peace, presenting two paths to victory: sealing the portal or eliminating all goblins. The fate of the world rests on your choice, but time is running out, and your luck may soon run dry.

Heroes of Land, Air & Sea immerses players in a grand 4X-style conflict set in a fantasy world of classic races like orcs, humans, dwarves, and elves. Each player starts with a humble township aiming to explore, expand, exploit, and ultimately, exterminate to forge the greatest kingdom.

Players take on the roles of 19th-century computer pioneers like Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, each with unique abilities and subroutines that create an asymmetrical gameplay experience. They program an early mechanical machine to complete tasks for notable patrons, competing in real-time for personal and shared objectives. The game rewards speed and accuracy, allowing various play styles and skill levels to succeed.