Board gaming's most coveted award has a new home. Dito!, a cheeky word-association party game from designer Martin Ang, has been named the Spiel des Jahres 2026 winner, crowned at the ceremony in Berlin on 12 July. If you run game nights, this is the title your group will be asking about all autumn.
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Set up your group for freeEnglish-speaking players may know it better as JinxO, the name it first launched under with publisher Tabletoys before Game Factory's German edition put the Dito! title in the spotlight. Either way, it is a game about reading your friends rather than the rulebook. Three to seven players work through task cards, pulled from a deck of some 400 topics with prompts ranging from "countries with good cuisine" to "things people would sell their soul for", then try to match the answers their opponents quietly jot down. The clever twist is the scoring: land on the same word as exactly one other player and you both bank points, so it pays to think about who you are sitting across from. It plays in about half an hour and suits ages 10 and up, easy to teach and a hit with mixed groups.
The jury singled out that social heart. Beneath the points race, they said, the game only rewards you for correctly guessing what you have in common, and it asks for "understanding the perspective of others" rather than raw knowledge. You end up knowing your fellow players a little better every round.
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Find events near youIt saw off two well-liked nominees: Cozy Sticker Ville, Corey Konieczka's relaxing sticker-placement game from Unexpected Games, and Morty Sorty Magic Shop by Markus Slawitscheck. The red Spiel des Jahres pawn is the most powerful sales badge a game can carry, so expect Dito! (and JinxO) to keep selling out and restocking through the autumn.
It is the perfect filler for a mixed table, so pull a group together and find out who reads the room best.
Sources: Spiel des Jahres | Spiel des Jahres: Dito! | Board's Eye View
