The man who invented an entire genre is back on the awards ballot with one of the year's strangest titles. Moon Colony Bloodbath, the new game from Donald X. Vaccarino, is a nominee for the 2026 Kennerspiel des Jahres, the German prize for hobby games. If the name rings a bell, Vaccarino is the designer of Dominion, the 2009 Spiel des Jahres winner that kicked off the deckbuilding craze.
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See how it worksThis one is a very different beast. Moon Colony Bloodbath is a simultaneous-action strategy game for one to five players in which everyone builds a lunar colony at the same time, then watches it slowly come apart through malfunctioning robots, starvation and bureaucratic blunders. Because all players act at once, there is no downtime waiting for your turn, and a full game runs around 45 minutes.
The blackly comic title is doing real work. The Spiel des Jahres jury noted the game carries "a surprising amount of social criticism," describing a feeling of "steering toward the abyss with our eyes wide open" even as you optimise your doomed little outpost. It is published by Alea, with Rio Grande Games handling the English-language edition.
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Set up your group for freeThere is a nice symmetry to the nomination. Vaccarino took the main family award in 2009 with Dominion, and now, 17 years on, he is in the running for its connoisseur sibling with something far stranger. The 2026 winners are revealed on 12 July.
Fancy a colony of your own? It is the kind of game that rewards a regular group. Find players near you.
Sources: Spiel des Jahres | Dominion (Wikipedia) | BoardGameWire
