The best games presented at the Spiel 2005 game fair in Essen, Germany 2025

Winner's Circle is a thrilling board game that brings the excitement of horse racing to your table. Players get to place bets on various horses and try to accumulate the most money over the course of three races. It’s a game of chance, strategy, and a bit of intuition, making it a great pick for family game nights or gatherings with friends.

Fairy Tale is a fast-paced card game that combines elements of drafting and simultaneous action selection. Players strategically choose cards to score points while also attempting to disrupt their opponents' plans. The game's quick rounds and dynamic card interactions make for an engaging and competitive experience.

Railways of the World, initially released as Railroad Tycoon, is a grand-scale board game where players build and manage their own railroad empire. This 2009 edition revitalizes the original with several improvements and expanded features.

Wings of War: Burning Drachens is the third set in the Wings of War collection. It features iconic World War I aircraft like the Nieuport 17-23 and Albatros D.III, along with optional altitude rules and anti-aircraft guns. The game suggests additional rules for a more dynamic aerial combat simulation, with cardboard observation balloons as targets in solo and two-player scenarios.

A special edition is being created to commemorate this significant and joyful event. It includes Settlers of Catan and Cities & Knights for 3-4 players, featuring 3D hand-painted tiles made from dense, heavy resin and a complete interlocking border. Each player receives a set of hand-painted settlements, cities, metropolises, city walls, knights, and roads, all housed in a hardwood box designed for safety with felt-lined slots for the tiles.

Aton is an intriguing board game set against the backdrop of a tumultuous period in ancient Egyptian history, where theological upheaval and power struggles define the era. As Pharaoh Akhnaton ascends to the throne, he seeks to revolutionize Egyptian worship by replacing the old deity Amon with Aton, sparking a fierce conflict with the entrenched priesthood.

Power Grid: France/Italy is an expansion for the acclaimed board game Power Grid, introducing two new maps and slight rule modifications to enrich the gameplay experience. This expansion requires the base game to play, as it builds on Power Grid's foundation of strategic power supply management and competitive network building.

Mission: Red Planet is a strategic board game set in the year 1888, where Steampunk technology has enabled mankind to reach Mars. Designed by Bruno Faidutti and Bruno Cathala, this game immerses players in a competitive race to colonize Mars and exploit its valuable resources: the explosive element Celerium, the dense material Sylvanite, and water from Martian glaciers, which could potentially terraform the planet.

Heinrich Glumpler is known for his original game ideas. In his latest work, witches have a modern twist; they use high-tech vacuum cleaners called Magical Dust Mops to take to the skies. The complicated technology requires skillful pilots, as programming the flight patterns correctly proves to be a challenge for witches not yet familiar with the new methods.

Carcassonne: The Discovery is a stand-alone game that revisits the core mechanics of the iconic Carcassonne series, transporting players to a newly discovered land filled with meadows, mountains, and seas. This iteration offers a simplified version of the classic gameplay while introducing nuanced strategic depth, making it accessible to newcomers and challenging for veterans alike. The goal of developing a game that retains simplicity in its rules but broadens strategic possibilities has been successfully achieved, offering a fresh and engaging experience.

Caylus is a deeply strategic board game that transports players to the year 1289, where they become master builders tasked with constructing a castle for King Philip the Fair of France and developing the surrounding city.

Hacienda is a strategy board game that transports players to the South American pampas, where they vie for dominance through savvy land and livestock management. With a blend of tile-laying, card buying, and strategic placement, players work to connect their livestock to markets, control valuable land, and accumulate wealth and points through careful planning and execution.

A new board game utilizes the technology of King Arthur. It is an adventure game set on an island with a volcano.

Players are transported to the Florida Keys in 1899, where they search for treasures in shipwrecks before an impending hurricane strikes. The game features a dual mechanics system where players secretly plan their actions each day, such as diving, selling treasures, or hiring divers, while also managing limited resources to grow their wealth. The winner is the player with the most riches when the hurricane arrives and halts all dives.

Antike is a compelling strategy game set in the ancient world, where players lead civilizations to glory through expansion, development, and competition. The game offers a rich historical backdrop, featuring ancient nations like the Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and others. Players focus on building cities, temples, and fleets, while also advancing in science and technology. Military might is crucial, as legions and galleys are needed to defend against enemies and establish new settlements. The board is two-sided, offering different scenarios for gameplay. Victory is achieved not through chance but by acquiring a set number of ancient personalities like kings, scholars, and generals, emphasizing strategic planning and diplomacy.

Shear Panic is a whimsical board game that captures the frolicsome life of a flock of sheep, presented by Fragor Games. Players dive into the pastoral joys and challenges of sheep, aiming to keep their flock in prime positions amidst games of tag, the allure of Roger the Heartthrob Ram, and the looming threat of the shearer.

Oltre Mare is a fascinating trading and strategy board game where players step into the shoes of Venetian merchants from the Age of Sail, navigating the Mediterranean to trade goods, avoid pirates, and accumulate wealth.

Indonesia is a strategic economic game for 2-5 players who dive into the competitive world of growing economies in Indonesia. Each player aims to amass the most money by acquiring and developing production and shipping companies. These companies produce and deliver goods such as rice, spices, rubber, and oil to expanding cities, which in turn increases demand. The strategic depth of the game comes from managing production costs and shipping fees, researching advancements, and possibly merging companies to outmaneuver competitors. Players must keep their wealth secret and strategically time their operations, as money earned in the last round counts double. The game unfolds over three eras, each introducing new cities, companies, and goods, culminating in a final tally where the wealthiest player emerges victorious.

The captivating legend of the great hero Beowulf is brought to life in this game. Players accompany the Geatish warrior Beowulf as he aids the Danish king against the terrifying monster Grendel, returns to Geatland to become king, and ultimately faces a dreadful dragon.

The first expansion of the bestselling "War of the Ring" makes this grand strategy game even bigger, adding more figures and exciting rule modifications. "The Ring War – The Battles of the Third Age" introduces new armies and units, including Ents, Dunlendings, and siege towers, along with additional rules for enhanced gameplay. Players can recreate iconic battles like Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith with new mechanics that shift the focus from grand strategy to tactical play, adding a fresh dimension to the experience.

Citizens of the early Roman Empire lack a vital resource: drinking water. Experienced architects and their workers rise to the challenge by constructing monumental aqueducts. Players must plan carefully to build the longest aqueducts and achieve the greatest glory by expanding, closing aqueducts, and collecting points for completed ones. The game concludes when a full round passes without any tiles being played, and the player with the most points is declared the winner.

Players build enormous temples and palaces in the jungles of Southeast Asia, specifically in Angkor. However, the jungle acts as a living entity that grows rapidly, creating obstacles for the architects. Players must navigate these "natural attacks," often instigated by their opponents.

Knights leave their castles to conquer the surrounding land, drawn by the wealth of great cities and their villages. Once they acquire possessions, they are determined to keep them safe, as rival knights are always on the lookout for opportunities to reclaim lost territory. Place your landscape tiles wisely and defend your holdings from enemy knights.

Noah is struggling to finish loading his ark as the storm clouds gather. Players help load animals and supplies onto the ark while adhering to specific placement rules to avoid conflicts among different species. The game features cards, animal tiles, and action discs, with players strategically placing their animal tiles for victory points based on various characteristics.

PÜNCT is a connection game developed as part of the GIPF project. The objective is to connect two opposing sides of the board. On their turn, a player can either introduce a new piece or move an already existing one.

In the center stands the Ziggurat, where players must bring four offering tokens to win. To deliver these offerings, players need to reserve enough Mana by praying in temples that they build. Players construct huts to increase their population and gather stone and wood from quarries and forests to build huts, temples, and Mana. Each turn allows players to move five spaces, lay new stones, and use resources to construct or explore. As players build their clan, they will engage in various activities, including praying at temples and sacrificing messengers to continue growing their population.

Players take on the role of one of three leaders in ancient Rome: Caesar, Pompey, or Crassus. Each leader seeks to dominate the others through military, political, or skill-based victories. The game consists of three phases: supply, movement, and action, and can be played with either two or three players, despite being designed for three. Victory is achieved in one of three ways: by being elected consul twice, conquering nine provinces, or attaining a skill level of VII in both competencies.

Freya, the goddess of fertility and passion, is renowned for her irresistible beauty, partly due to her enchanting necklace, the Brisingamen. Players take on the role of dwarven craftsmen, mining gemstones and crafting them into silver settings to gain prestige. They must complete the Brisingamen for Freya to earn even greater prestige while utilizing magical potions and abilities wisely to meet their quotas.

Eight track cards out of a total of 48 are used to build a racing route. Each player receives five speed cards and plays them simultaneously, aiming to advance on the game board. Six non-player cars, referred to as "Old Pros," are controlled by a set of rules, ensuring that seven cars are always in the race, even with six players. Players earn chips for good maneuvers, which can be used to bluff when attacking other cars.

Players take on the role of caravan leaders, with the number of camels in each caravan determined by the number of players. The goal is to transport goods from the starting point to Timbuktu while managing to protect them from thieves who attack at night. As players receive various clues about the thefts along the journey, they must deduce the situation and relocate camels to ensure that valuable goods are safely delivered to their final destination.