Road to SPIEL 2026: Potemkin Villages - Building a Beautiful Lie, One Trick at a Time

Catherine the Great is coming. Unfortunately, the countryside she’s about to inspect isn’t nearly prosperous enough, and there is only one sensible solution: dismantle the nice-looking villages, move them further down the river and rebuild them before the Empress arrives!

…and preferably without her noticing.

Potemkin Villages, from Czech publisher ALBI, is a fully cooperative trick-taking game designed by Petr Caslava with artwork by Ekaterina Bystron, for 1-4 players. The game, which takes around 30 minutes to play, takes on one of history’s more infamous stories of political stagecraft and turns it into a compact card game.

What is it?

The game is inspired by Catherine the Great’s journey to Crimea in 1787 and the famous legend surrounding her governer, Prince Grigory Potemkin.

According to the story, Potemkin construction impressive-looking facades along the Dnieper River to persuade Catherine that the twrritory was a lot more prosperous than it actually was. The truth of the tale has long been disputed, with historians generally regarding the mos elaborate versions of it as exaggerated, but the expression “Potemkin village” survived down the centuries and is used today as shorthand for an impressive facade disguising a much less impressive reality.

Needless to say, this game enthusiastically embraces the legend.

Players become members of Potemkin’s entourahe, desperately dismantling, relocating, and rebuilding villages as Catherine travels along the river, and your object is simple : Keep the illusion intact until she reaches the end.

How does it play?

Potemkin Villages is a cooperative trick-taking game with asymmetric player powers.

Each player controls a different character, and winning a trick activates that character’s special ability. This results in careful consideration as it won’t be in your best interest to win a trick every turn, and the group needs to try and work out which players character is best placed to carry out the next action.

The Builder, for instance, is responsible for dismantling and reconstructing villages. The Painter can shift trumps to aid allies, while the Governor can amplify the Builder’s strength. Getting the combination right allows the thr group to keep reshaping the landscape ahead of Catherine’s progress , and keeps her none the wiser.

Eventually the cards will run out and, if Catherine can still look across the river and see convincing prosperity, everyone wins!

If she, however, sees through the deception, then everyone loses and, presumably, Pokemkin starts updating his CV.

Why we’re watching it

Cooperative trick-taking games have become pretty popular in recent years, with games such as The Crew even winning the coveted Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2020.

Potemkin Villages theme is a great match to the play style, with evryone participaing to uphold the same decption, but with individual characters needed to win specific tricks at specific times for the whole scheme to work.

The game also came third in BoardGameGeek’s 2025 54-Card Game Design Contest, and at around half an hour playtime is an ideal sort of smaller game for kicking off, or filling in at the end, of game nights.

The Game at SPIEL Essen 2026

ALBI has said that this years SPIEL is going to see the companies largest ever presence at the show, and Potemkin Villages is a big part of that. ALBI has two stands, one in Hall 4, D400 and other in Hall 6, E110, with Potemkin Villages finding its home at the Hall 4 stand.

ALBI is taking advance reservatuions for some of their English and German language games for collection at the show. The English retail release of Potemkin Villages is expected to take place in mid-November,

SPIEL Essen runs from 22nd-25th October 2026.

Potemkin Villages at a glance

Publisher: ALBI

Designers: Petr Caslava

Artists: Ekaterina Bystron

Players: 1-4

Ages: 12+

Playing Time: 30+ minutes

Type: Co-operative / Trick-taking / variable player powers

English edition: Yes

Expected retail release: Autumn 2026 after SPIEL

SPIEL: Hall 4 Stand D400

More information: ALBI - Potemkin Villages

Tomorrow on Road to SPIEL 2026: Medico - Stefan Feld turns his attention to medieval medicine, travelling barber-surgeons, and the long climb towards becoming a respected physician.