If your game night needs something loud, quick and just a little bit cruel, Hachette Boardgames has just the thing. The publisher has revealed Omens, a team-versus-team card game arriving in hobby shops this July, and it looks like a perfect filler for the end of a long session.
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Start organising for freeOmens is a shedding game, the family of card games where the goal is to empty your hand before everyone else. The twist here is that you are doing it as a team, racing the opposing side to get one of your players down to a single card. According to Hachette's own product page, you win tricks using the number, colour suit and special conditions printed on your cards, but the titular omens throw chaotic fortunes into the mix that can make shedding far harder than it should be. There are 36 unique cards, each with its own ability, so the table state shifts constantly.
The designer pedigree is what should make euro and family fans sit up. Omens comes from French designer Maxime Rambourg, the mind behind the well-loved cooperative deck-builder The Big Book of Madness (a 6.7 on BoardGameGeek) and the time-twisting co-op The Loop. Omens is actually an English-language release of his French game Presages, illustrated by Ben Renaut, so it has already had a run in front of players across the Channel.
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Find events near youExpect to pay around 19.99 USD (roughly 16 GBP) for a box built for 4 to 6 players, aged 14 and up, with games running about 15 minutes. That price and footprint make it an easy add to a collection or a community games library. If you fancy putting it through its paces with a crowd, Backseat Gamer's events listings are a fine place to round up a table.
Omens is due out on 22 July 2026, alongside Hachette's cooperative party game Shape It.
Sources: Hachette Boardgames | Bleeding Cool | BoardGameGeek
