Spiel des Jahres 2026 is around the corner! As with the previous six years, I’ll try to predict what games have the best shot at ending up on the longlist (aka recommendations) and the shortlist (aka nominations) when the jury announces their picks on May 19th.

As every year, I’ll let the algorithms speak, and I’m once again using the methodology established last year: 50% of the weight goes on the individual recommendations for the 14 jury members, and 50% on the “recommendations to the jury”. This way, I was able to calculate a score for all eligible¹ games using our recommendation algorithm to fill in gaps where jury members haven’t rated a game. Our very own Kennerspiel score is then used to sort those into the respective top 10 lists for each award. As always, you can find the complete code on GitLab and the complete results here.

This year might be the most open field since I started doing these predictions. In the past six years, there’s always been at least one clear favourite who went on to win an award, but this year I don’t see any real frontrunners. My predictions weren’t great last year, so none of this bodes particularly well… 😅

Anyway, without further ado, here are the favourite games to win Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel des Jahres 2026.

Candidates for Spiel des Jahres 2026

#1: Meister Makatsu

2–6 players, 20–30 minutes, 8+ years, light (1.3), 97% Spiel

Play your ninjas wisely so that they go unnoticed.

#2: Toy Battle

2 players, 15 minutes, 8+ years, light (1.5), 99% Spiel

Send forth an army of toys to conquer territories.

#3: 2 Win

2–6 players, 15 minutes, 7+ years, light (1.2), 98% Spiel

Play the right balance of cards to get more cards and keep playing.

#4: Take Time

2–4 players, 30 minutes, 10+ years, medium light (1.8), 73% Spiel

Time beckons you to discover a multitude of challenging universes.

#5: Under the Mango Tree

2–4 players, 15–20 minutes, 7+ years, medium light (1.5), 100% Spiel

Revive your own little patch of Australian wilderness by drafting two-part cards.

#6: Wilmot’s Warehouse

2–6 players, 30 minutes, 8+ years, light (1.2), 100% Spiel

Stack products in the warehouse, telling a story to remember where to find them.

#7: Volle Kanne!

1–4 players, 20 minutes, 8+ years, light (1.3), 99% Spiel

Manage your random water supply to satisfy your plants.

#8: 13 Leaves

3–6 players, 20 minutes, 8+ years, light (1.2), 98% Spiel

Play into the row to empty your hand.

#9: Behind

1–99 players, 45–90 minutes, 10+ years, medium light (1.6), 93% Spiel

Solve the three scenes In this puzzle/deduction/observation game.

#10: Easy Peasy

2–6 players, 15 minutes, 8+ years, medium light (1.7), 73% Spiel

Get rid of your cards and end the round when you think you have the lowest score.

Candidates for Kennerspiel des Jahres 2026

#1: Rebirth

2–4 players, 45–60 minutes, 10+ years, medium light (2.0), 70% Kennerspiel

Rebuild old lands in a lush, hopeful future.

#2: Fromage

1–4 players, 30–45 minutes, 14+ years, medium light (2.4), 97% Kennerspiel

Cheesemakers compete to run the most prosperous creamery in France.

#3: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship

1–5 players, 60–150 minutes, 14+ years, medium (3.1), 100% Kennerspiel

As members of The Fellowship, embark on a journey to save—or doom—Middle-earth.

#4: Abroad

1–5 players, 90 minutes, 12+ years, medium (2.7), 100% Kennerspiel

Travel through Europe for 28 days to showcase your abilities.

#5: Finspan

1–5 players, 45–60 minutes, 10+ years, medium light (2.3), 98% Kennerspiel

Dive into the watery depths to find and observe a vast array of aquatic life.

#6: Wondrous Creatures

1–4 players, 40–80 minutes, 14+ years, medium (3.0), 100% Kennerspiel

Build the best reserve in the world for 100+ fantastic creatures!

#7: Saltfjord

1–4 players, 45–90 minutes, 14+ years, medium (3.0), 100% Kennerspiel

Lead your fishing village through the harsh Nordic winters.

#8: Tea Garden

2–4 players, 90–120 minutes, 12+ years, medium (3.0), 100% Kennerspiel

Witness the birth of tea culture in ancient China.

#9: Skyrise

2–4 players, 30–90 minutes, 14+ years, medium light (2.2), 92% Kennerspiel

Visionary architects build a glorious new city in the sky.

#10: Explorers of Navoria

2–4 players, 40–80 minutes, 12+ years, medium light (2.3), 96% Kennerspiel

Explore new and strange continents that have emerged from the sea.

My two cents

It’s time for my picks for the nominations. The algorithms determined the longlist predictions, but my gut feeling takes over from here on.

My predictions for nominees for Spiel des Jahres 2026

My predictions for nominees for Kennerspiel des Jahres 2026

Honourable mentions

This year, there are quite a few games with strong buzz and good chances of a place on the longlist (or more), but which were missed by the algorithm, so I like to squeeze them into this section.

Conclusion

Another year full of wonderful games – let’s enjoy being spoiled for choice before the AI-generated slop drowns it all out. 🙈

Also, let’s not forget Kinderspiel des Jahres – my daughters are now 5 and 6 years old, and we’ve already played through most of the back catalogue of past winners, so the whole family is looking forward to more great recommendations. 🥰 I even have an idea for predicting the Kinderspiel des Jahres winner once the nominations are announced!

Stay tuned for May 19th! 🤩

As every year, it’s not straightforward to determine what games are eligible for the awards. Generally speaking, it’d be those games released between April 2025 and March 2026 into German retail. Hence, filtering by BGG release year will exclude games that were released earlier elsewhere, but only recently in Germany, and likewise let some games pass that have not seen a German release in that time window. I did my best to catch what I could, but there’s always some that get away. ↩︎