The best games presented at the Spiel 1984 game fair in Essen, Germany 2025

Heimlich & Co. is a clever and secretive board game where players maneuver a group of spies around a track to earn points, all while keeping their true identity hidden. The game's unique twist lies in the mystery of each player's color, only revealed at the end, making deduction and misdirection key elements of play. With a simple roll of the dice, players decide how to advance the spies, influencing the scoring but trying to conceal their motives.

The game consists of two phases. First, players create a jungle using game pieces, claiming intersections with their colored stones. In the second phase, players race to remove all their stones from the jungle by following the continuous paths outward, where blocking opponents is key.

Bring your cattle to Abilene while hoping your opponents end up with only your sick cows. If they acquire another one, it's time for a shootout between your cowboys. The player who successfully drives the most herds to Abilene and earns the most money wins. The original edition supports up to 3 players, while the Schmidt Spiele edition accommodates up to 6 players.

Players try to shift the existing structure of game pieces toward their side of the board. If a game piece touches the edge of the board, the player who owns that side wins. When a corner is reached, the two players who own the adjacent sides share the victory.