The best games with "Highest-Lowest" scoring 2026

Ingenious, also known as Einfach Genial, is a strategic tile-placement game that challenges players to think tactically about color scoring. It's a game that balances individual progress with the need to perform well across different areas.

Between Two Cities is a collaborative, tile-drafting board game set in the early 1800s, a period of significant urban development. Players take on the role of master city planners, working in partnership to design two distinct cities.

Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a distinctive tile-drafting game where players take on the role of master builders, collaboratively designing grand castles for the whimsical and demanding King Ludwig. This game is a unique collaboration between Stonemaier Games and Bezier Games, blending elements of creativity, strategy, and cooperation.

This is the two-player travel edition of a classic game. Players compete on a hex board using 57 game pieces made up of two connected fields, each featuring various symbols. The objective is to strategically place pieces to score points based on matching symbols, with players tracking their scores on a point tracker. The game ends when no more pieces can be placed on the board, and the winner is determined by the highest score in the category with the fewest points.

Nile DeLuxor is a revised edition of the card game Nile, featuring a new expansion that adds several new cards, including two new crop types, monuments, and action count cards. The game accommodates up to 6 players, and it is available as a published version as well as a print-and-play edition from Minion Games. The published version includes the original game and the expansion.

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.

Players take turns adding tiles to a shared game area. Each time a tile is placed, points are earned for matching symbols in rows extending from the newly placed tile. At the end of the game, players calculate their scores based on the lowest value among their symbols, and the player with the highest of these lowest scores wins.

Players take turns placing colored domino stones on a game board, scoring points for each row of symbols they expand. The catch is that a player's score is determined by their lowest color, requiring balanced play across all colors. Ingenious Extreme builds on this concept with more colors and a new tile shape, creating more complexity as players aim to score while blocking opponents.

Manipulate the political landscape of King's Landing in this fast-paced card game for 3 to 6 players. Players embody one of nine iconic characters from A Song of Ice and Fire, using their influence to gain allies and shift the loyalties of others. Be cautious with your alliances, as betrayal can come when you least expect it!

Lords of Xidit is a high-stakes strategy game set in the mythical kingdom of Xidit. Players take on the roles of Idrakys, noble heirs tasked with recruiting soldiers, reclaiming cities, and battling the corrupted creatures unleashed by the Black Southern Host.

Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends is a captivating game of magical strategy and tactics, where two to four players assume the roles of summoners in an epic arena battle. Each summoner, either working alone or in teams, demonstrates their mastery of magic by deploying minions to create complex patterns, summoning powerful beings, and outmaneuvering their opponents.

Fields of Arle is a strategic farming simulation board game designed by Uwe Rosenberg. Set in the small East Frisian town of Arle, it allows one to two players to experience the life of farmers during a period of prosperity, focusing on the cultivation of flax and other agricultural ventures.

Crown of Emara cleverly blends elements of card management and worker placement into a strategic board game set in a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. Players compete to become the successor of the benevolent King Thedorius by proving their ability to care for the citizens of Emara. The game challenges players to balance the demands of building homes and meeting the needs of the citizens, all while navigating their counselors around two separate roundabouts to maximize the efficiency of their actions.

Centerville is a relatively easy board game for 2-4 players that abstractly models the growth and management of a small city. Players assume the roles of entrepreneurs, tycoons, politicians, and local makers working on modern urban development, accumulating wealth and fame along the way. The game's mechanics involve rolling dice to implement various actions, leading to the development of a vibrant community, with only the player who balances wealth and prestige emerging as the winner.

The tribe is ready to leave its refuge and embark on a journey to new lands. As the head of your clan, guide your prehistoric people through the valley by utilizing the environment, hunting for food, and discovering safe caves for winter. Players build their personal boards by placing tiles that represent their journey, aiming to gather habitats and protection points while facing intriguing choices and dilemmas along the way.

**Rush to the ship! Twelve houses in our city have already burned down!” Life on our planet is being scorched by increasing sunlight, forcing everyone to relocate people and factories from the "old" planet to a new one in just four rounds.

Professor Eisstein has invented the best penguin food ever, but he accidentally lost his new food pellets on ice floes in the sea. Players help the professor find all the pellets and feed the penguins. This is a simplified, child-friendly version of Knizia's classic Ingenious, where players score points by collecting penguin food tiles and feeding them to their penguins.