If it feels like there are more new board games than ever fighting for room on your shelf, the people who hand out the hobby's most influential prize agree. To pick its 2026 shortlist, the Spiel des Jahres jury worked through a record 571 new releases before settling on just 22 standout titles. That is the closest thing board gaming has to an official panel confirming what your wallet already suspected.
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See how it worksThe jury narrows those 22 down to its category nominees each spring, with the winners of the Spiel, Kennerspiel and Kinderspiel des Jahres crowned in Berlin on 12 July. The headline is the sheer volume, with 571 games a record and a reminder of how much harder it has become to keep up, let alone find the gems.
A second number from the same review is tougher to celebrate. Analysis by BoardGameWire found that just 2.3 per cent of the games the jury considered were designed by women, with men responsible for around 94 per cent and the remainder coming from mixed teams. That figure has barely shifted in years, sitting at 2 per cent in 2025 and 2.6 per cent in 2024.
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Set up your group for freeFor players the takeaway pulls in two directions. There has never been more choice, yet the people designing the games on your table look much the same year after year. It is a strange gap given that some of the most loved games of recent years, Elizabeth Hargrave's Wingspan among them, came from women designers. With a record pile of releases to sort through, finding a group that can point you to the good stuff has rarely been more useful.
Sources: Spiel des Jahres | BoardGameWire
