Spiel Essen is the largest tabletop convention in the world, and it has grown every year (discounting those awful Covid years) for more than a decade. This year it spanned all eight of Messe Essen’s halls, totalling 81,200 square metres (up from 77,500), and had 230,000 attendees (up from 220,000) over four sold-out days.

The reason for attending? You’re looking at 997 exhibitors from 53 countries who are introducing more than 2,000 new releases to the world. You’ll find everything from Pokémon cards and mead stands to board games, furniture and art. Plus talks, cosplay, RPGs and everything associated with any of the above. It’s an amazing melting pot where the world’s top designers and publishers wander the halls alongside the masses, and I wouldn’t miss its mayhem for anything.

The halls are now at capacity, though, triggering much speculation about the event’s future. Spiel Essen’s organisers have already started to host events outside the halls, while also assuring us that the event’s future remains in one of Germany’s less-well-known cities. But let’s leave that speculation for the future and concentrate on the board games that stood out at Spiel Essen 2026.

IT’S A SELLOUT!

The biggest queues I saw on day one of Spiel Essen 2026 were for the game Lady Alice and at the Czech Games Edition (CGE) stand generally, thanks to a strong roster of Drillers, Codenames: Critical Role Adventures, Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game, and the final (allegedly) Lost Ruins of Arnak expansion, Surprise Shipment. CGE always has plenty of stock at the show, but Lady Alice quickly sold out.

With record numbers attending the event, it was no surprise to see “Sold Out” signs crop up across the halls. While this can sometimes be a sign of publisher or manufacturer incompetence at not bringing enough stock, rather than it being a good game, I heard great things about these sellouts: Dice Arcana (Ludonova), Gaudi and Shugendo from Devir; Wine and Cheese (Pegasus); Nijar (Perro Loko); Microlonies (Fentasy Games); Night at the Zoo (Albi); Drops of Evil (Horrible Guild); and Atrah (CMON).

THE BOARD GAME GEEK GAME TRACKER

According to the Board Game Geek Spiel Essen 2026 tool, 1,410 of its listed games were released at the show. Users can give a thumbs up to games they’re looking forward to checking out, creating a great hotness guide for fellow gamers. This year, only four games made it past 1,000 thumbs:

Queen Alice (Combo Games) Unfortunately, as is so often the case at Spiel Essen, the most wanted game had limited availability at the show and had a massive queue (made up of exhibitors and journalists) before the doors even opened. But we confidently predict that this gorgeous Alice in Wonderland-themed engine-building Euro is going to be a massive hit.
Avalon: The Riven Veil (Shadowborne Games) A monster box, with gorgeous cards and plastic minis, plus a fantasy/mythology theme, equals a licence to print money when done right. Expect area control via battling with asymmetric powers, plus tonnes of variety in the box. Fans of Blood Rage and the like will enjoy this one, which we gave a Must Play award to in Issue 120.
Entropy (Board & Dice) This is the latest from the Luciani/Mangone team (this time with Tommaso Battista) that brought us the hits Newton and Darwin’s Journey, so it was always going to make a splash. It’s a game of the year contender for many mid- to heavyweight Euro fans.
-60° (Nanox Games) Alexander Pfister (Great Western Trail, Port Royal) has joined forces with Peter Prinz (the Crime Story series, Thebes) to create this tense worker-placement and deck-building game where resources are scarce and pushing your luck could make the difference. A deservedly big hit and a return to form for both designers.

THE TOP TABLETOP TOGETHER GAMES AT ESSEN 2026

This Board Game Geek game release information is compiled on a fantastic app/website called the Tabletop Together Tool. The app lets you make notes on each game, and then print maps and lists you can take with you as you wander the halls. It also lets you put each game into categories (Need, Want, Like, Maybe, etc.), which it then uses to compile a top games list.

Just six games finished up with a rating higher than three, with the top two being -60° and Queen Alice, both discussed above. The rest were:

Timespan (Alion)

Designer Kristian Amundsen Østby has been on a hot streak since Santa Maria’s 2017 release, with Revive and Recall both making a splash in the past couple of years. Timespan, designed with Kenneth Minde, is a two-hour civ game that looks highly likely to continue the trend.

Greenwood (Feuerland Spiele)

Feuerland Spiele has an eye for a hit (unsurprising when you think it is co-headed by Uwe Rosenberg), with the likes of Ark Nova, Terra Mystica and A Feast for Odin in its catalogue. Greenwood is another fantasy-themed Euro with plenty of table presence.

Drillers (CGE)

Drillers looks likely to be another big hit for CGE, taking the light deck-building of Arnak and adding a mild push-your-luck element to a streamlined resource management and contract completion Euro.

Carl von Linne (Pink Troubadour)
This was probably my most-anticipated game of the con and I wasn’t alone, as the small Pink Troubadour stand had queues throughout the first few days of Spiel. It’s a historical exploration Euro in the vein of Darwin’s Journey, but with a clever and original take on worker placement.

FAIRPLAY MAGAZINE’S SCOUT CAMPAIGN RESULTS

Fairplay is a popular German board game magazine that encourages its readers to vote on the games they play at Spiel via its Scoutaktion website. It’s a great snapshot of what’s been hitting home with German gamers at the show, with the only downside being that it includes games that are being printed in German for the first time and might not be new to other gamers.

The magazine’s final results are eagerly awaited by those on site, usually being announced around 4pm on the last day of the con....

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