The Best Games from Rio Grande Games 🇺🇸🏢 2026

Dominion: Intrigue is a stand-alone expansion to the original Dominion game, introducing new elements of strategy and card variety to the popular deck-building game.

Moon Colony Bloodbath by Donald X. Vaccarino sends families and gaming groups to a moon colony that was supposed to be perfectly planned. Supplies are packed, robots are ready, and the first buildings are in place, but life beyond Earth quickly proves unstable. This strategic card game is best suited to teens aged 14 and up and adults who enjoy science fiction, dry humor, and smart resource management.

Northern Pacific is a railway construction game for 3-5 players, lasting about twenty minutes. Players start with a mix of investment dice and build tracks across the United States from Minnesota to Washington, beginning in Minneapolis-St. Paul. When the railway reaches Seattle, the round ends, and players compare their investment successes to determine the winner, who is either the one with the most good investments or, in case of a tie, the fewest bad investments.

Samurai is a strategic board game set in medieval Japan. It immerses players in a contest of influence and power among three key factions of the era: samurai, peasants, and priests.

Players use a hedgehog stone to move around the board and collect game pieces. By skillfully positioning their pieces, they can grab rare items while limiting options for their opponents. The player with the most valuable collection at the end wins.

Medici is a classic auction-style board game designed by Reiner Knizia, known for its strategic bidding and set collection mechanics. Players take on the roles of merchants during the Renaissance, aiming to acquire the most valuable cargo through competitive auctions. The game is well-regarded for its ability to accommodate various player counts effectively.

Players compete to collect colorful candies from inside the piñatas. Instead of traditional dice, wooden markers shaped like loops represent the wrapped candies in five colors. Players place their cards on mats and can disrupt opponents' plans by playing on their side; the first to collect three medal cards wins. The game reimplements Balloon Cup, featuring rules like the introduction of wild cards and a revised card value system.

Race for the Galaxy is a captivating card game that immerses players in the challenge of building galactic civilizations. In this race through the cosmos, players use game cards to represent worlds, technologies, and developments as they strive for supremacy. Let's delve into the gameplay and discover what makes Race for the Galaxy unique.

Roll for the Galaxy is a dice-based strategy game for 2-5 players, where dice represent the populace tasked with building a space empire. It's a dice adaptation of the popular card game Race for the Galaxy.

Jump Drive propels players into the vast expanse of the Race for the Galaxy universe through a swift and engaging card game. In this game of galactic expansion, players harness the power of the Jump Drive to explore new worlds, develop advanced technologies, and establish a dominant space empire. Players aim to find potent card combinations that propel their civilizations to prosperity and victory. As a standalone game, Jump Drive offers a more streamlined and quicker gameplay experience compared to its predecessor, Race for the Galaxy, making it accessible to newcomers while still challenging seasoned players with its strategic depth.

Beyond the Sun is a strategic board game that places players at the forefront of humanity's technological advancement into the Spacefaring Era. Here, players shape the progress of human civilization in space while competing to become the dominant faction through scientific development, economic growth, and galactic influence.

Arctic Scavengers: Base Game+HQ+Recon is a comprehensive package offering a complete and immersive deck-building experience set in a post-apocalyptic ice age. This bundle not only includes the core game but enriches gameplay with the HQ and Recon expansions, enhancing strategic depth, player interaction, and replayability.

Yspahan is a strategic board game set in 1598, during the period when Yspahan became the capital of the Persian empire. Players take on the roles of merchants in this flourishing city, aiming to maximize their gains through shrewd trading and development. The game stands out for its unique combination of dice-driven actions and multiple paths to victory.

Tikal is a compelling strategy game set in the dense jungles of Central America, where players embark on an expedition to uncover lost temples and hidden treasures. As explorers, players reveal new parts of the jungle board, discovering temples that need to be excavated and treasures that can be collected. The objective is to score points by controlling these temples and treasures. Notably, Tikal is the first game in the renowned Mask Trilogy.

Welcome, kids! You are invited to spend a day at Rattlebones' fantastic dice festival, where you can play games, win prizes, and go on a quest to find Rattlebones.

Players take turns drawing and placing game pieces, adding them to their own monsters or those of their opponents. The goal is to create monsters that are large, but not so large that they become unfinished.

Players take on the role of beekeepers who aim to make their fields bloom to attract bees and produce the most valuable honey. On a turn, they can either take flower tiles from the garden or make a field bloom by filling it with tiles from their supply and beehive tiles. When a player blooms their fifth field, each player takes one last turn before scoring extra points from their beehives based on the bees around them. The player with the highest score wins.

In 1300 AD, West Africa, the demand for goods like ivory in Europe drives the development of trade routes, with caravans of camels delivering goods through the desert landscape. Players use their camels to transport goods to desired locations while managing actions like placing or moving camels, picking up goods, or stealing from opponents. The game ends once the last goods are drawn, with players scoring points based on the rarity and demand for the goods they have collected.

In the 1920s, the US stock market experienced unprecedented growth, turning many into overnight millionaires. Players buy and sell railroad stocks, trying to outsmart both their opponents and the market. The game ends when a crash card is revealed, at which point players tally their wealth based on their depots and remaining shares, aiming for the highest total.

Players assume the role of zoo owners, each starting with some money and a plot of land. Over five years, five zoo tiles featuring different animal species, paths, and possibly trees are auctioned annually to the highest bidder. The aim is to attract as many visitors as possible, as each visitor contributes points at the end of the year, and ultimately, players seek to outperform their opponents.

Taj Mahal is a strategic board game set in northwest India during the early 18th century, a time when the power of the Grand Moguls was declining. This historical setting provides a rich backdrop for a game of influence and palace building.

Cinque Terre features five coastal villages in Liguria, Italy, celebrated for their beauty and culture. Players act as farmers, harvesting and delivering valuable products to sell in these villages while competing for order cards that earn Lira points for fulfilling specific demands.

The Princes of Florence transports players to the Renaissance era, where they take on the roles of heads of influential families in Florence. The goal is to gain prestige by attracting the greatest artists and scholars to their palaces.

Players take on the role of fishermen aiming to catch the most valuable fish and sell them at the best prices. With limited storage space for the catch, they must think strategically about when to bring fish to market. Fulfilling specific wishes can enhance sales value and provide extra storage, making careful planning essential.

New Frontiers is a standalone strategy game that expands the Race for the Galaxy universe into new realms of empire building and exploration. Players vie to construct the most powerful galactic empire by strategically selecting actions that benefit all, but with a special advantage to the chooser.

The goal is to build the most successful underground lines and score the highest points. Points can be collected by connecting lines to various destinations on the board and allowing passengers to travel between stations.

The king lies weakened on his deathbed, with only days to live and no heir. Local dukes and duchesses compete to win the favor of the people and claim the throne. Players must use their specialized emissaries to travel across the kingdom, gather resources, hinder opponents, and gain public support. The first to secure support in each region will become the new monarch!

The hexagonal board features several holes for the game pieces, which are represented by hourglasses. A turn involves moving to an adjacent space and flipping the hourglass. Each space can only be occupied a limited number of times, with central spaces allowing for more traffic. The goal is to move one of your pieces while the opponent's pieces are either stuck or out of sand.

Players select ships from a deck and decide whether to deliver goods to specific ports, each accepting a certain type of goods. They use tokens to increase speed, add goods, or steal another player's ship during a round. At the end, results are calculated based on the fastest ship, the most goods produced, and the highest prestige.

Award-winning quilters meticulously gather fabrics for their stashes, seeking specific colors that seamlessly blend into nuanced, vibrant looks. They enjoy sales for stocking up on materials and may even dye their own fabric if necessary. During the game, players collect fabric cards to trade for block pieces, racing against the clock to combine these into quilts and submit them for prizes at designated times. The player with the highest prize money at the end wins!