One of board gaming's most quietly prestigious honours has its 2026 shortlist, and a game about queer life in Georgian London is on it. Molly House, a strategy game of secret havens and looming persecution, is one of five finalists for this year's Diana Jones Award, the prize that celebrates "everything that's the best about gaming."
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See how it worksIf the name Molly House hasn't reached your table yet, here's the pitch. It's a 1-5 player game for ages 14 and up, designed by Jo Kelly with Cole Wehrle and Ricky Royal and published by Wehrlegig Games. Players take the roles of mollies, gender-defying Londoners of the early 1700s, building moments of joy in safe houses around the city while the Society for the Reformation of Manners hunts them down, and while betrayal lurks at the table. Cole Wehrle is a familiar name to strategy fans as the designer of Root, Oath and Arcs, so this is heady company.
The rest of the shortlist shows how broad the award is. Alongside Molly House sit the miniatures game Trench Crusade, Minnesota games shop Mischief Toy Store, the late designer and journalist Rob Wieland (a posthumous nod), and Cephalofair Games CEO Price Johnson, recognised for explaining how US tariffs threaten the hobby. Past honourees range from designer Eric Lang to the actual-play livestreaming movement.
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Find events near youThe winner is announced on 29 July in Indianapolis, the unofficial kick-off to Gen Con. In the meantime, Molly House is exactly the kind of weighty, talk-about-it game worth gathering people for. Round up a group and give it a go.
Sources: Diana Jones Award | BoardGameWire | Wehrlegig Games | Wikipedia
