Spiel des Jahres 2026 Award Winners Announced

Spiel des Jahres 2026 Awards… Streamed live worldwide, and with the winners not only getting the giant pawn-shaped award but often seeing 500,000+ sales on the back of winning.

The Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) awards were first created in 1978, celebrating the best in board and card game design. Even being nominated for the award can bring in a massive sales boost for the games. It is one of the few awards in the games industry that has a major effect on sales and exposure. The awards, and nominations, are usually covered in the mainstream news in Germany.

Three categories were being contested at this years event - the main Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), Kennerspiel des Jahres (Connoisseur Game of the Year - which tends to be slightly more involved than the more family friendly main award), and Kinderspiel des Jahres (Children’s Game of the Year).

This years winners were (cue the drum roll…):

Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year)

This years Game of the Year winner is the fast-paced, competitive word-association party game Dito! (published as Jinxo! in English). Designed by Martin Ang and published by Game Factory in German, and Tabletoys Games in English. It’s the first time that an Indonesian designer, and publisher in Tabletoys Games, has been nominated for a Spiel des Jahres, so an extra bit of history was made.

The other two nominated games were Cozy Sticker Ville by Unexpected Games and Morty Sorty Magic Shop by Schmidt.

Kennerspiel des Jahres (Connoisseur Game of the Year)

While it was the first time at the awards for Dito!/Jinxo! designer Martin Ang, the designer behind this years Kennerspiel des Jahres winner is certainly no stranger to the awards, being both a past winner and multi-nominee over a career that has seen over 800 games and expansions published!

Reiner Knizia’s Rebirth by Frosted Games / Mighty Board, is a tile-laying game in which the players are rebuilding Scotland from ruins of a global calamity that left civilization in tatters.

The other two nominated games were Boss Fighters QR by Pegasus Games and Moon Colony Bloodbath by Alea.

Kinderspiel des Jahres (Children’s Game of the Year)

The winner of the Children’s Game of the Year was Die Insel der Mookies by Kosmos, published as Mooki Island by Scorpion Masque in English. The game is a simple 2-player card game for ages 4+ where you collect as many Mookies from each family as possible to win trophies. Mooki Island is designed by French designer Florian Sirieix.

The two other games nominated in this category were Buh Party (Boo Party) by Loki and Verflixt Verzaubert (Curiously Enchanted) by Game Factory.