Tickets for SPIEL Essen 2025—the world’s largest tabletop game exhibition in Germany—sold out this year, drawing roughly 220,000 visitors who got early looks at more than 1,700 upcoming games from 948 exhibitors across 50 countries. For context, Gen Con, North America’s largest board game convention, typically attracts about 72,000 attendees with roughly 575 exhibitors. Many high-profile releases vanished from shelves quickly, and crowds formed just to watch fully booked demos of games not expected to reach consumer tables until 2027, such as Don’t Starve: The Board Game.
I spent four intense days wandering the halls and still felt I’d only skimmed what was on offer. I sampled a broad cross-section of titles from newcomers and established designers alike, including Elizabeth Hargrave (of Wingspan) and Reiner Knizia. Below are the ten standouts I played at SPIEL Essen 2025.
10
7 Wonders Dice
Antoine Bauza’s original 7 Wonders is a modern classic with numerous expansions and a two-player spin-off. 7 Wonders Dice reimagines the familiar drafting experience as a lean, write-and-roll game for two to seven players. A shared dice reservoir keeps turns simultaneous and brisk; dice unlock upgrades on personal player sheets and can be exchanged for stronger dice later on. It captures the satisfying economic choices of the original while feeling crisp and new.
Available now — $32.99 at Asmodee
9
Ants
I was relieved that the playtime printed on the box matched reality: I finished a full session of Ants in about 90 minutes. Each player manages an ant colony, expanding the workforce by hatching specialized ants and drafting cards that serve immediate, midgame, or endgame purposes. Direct combat is absent—victory comes from anticipating future needs, adapting to opponents’ moves, and pivoting from buildup to a fast dash for points.
Available now for $69 at Cranio Creations
8
Cosmolancer
Reiner Knizia’s abstract framework gets a neon sci‑fi makeover in Cosmolancer. Players place photo‑op tiles, hazards, and camera markers as they try to line up striking cosmic shots while sabotaging rival setups. It’s fast, chaotic, and accessible—easy enough for families but with meaningful tactical decisions about resource management and spatial positioning.
Available now for $22.40 at Amazon
7
Don’t Starve: The Board Game
Glass Cannon Unplugged’s Kickstarter for Don’t Starve raised more than $4.8 million, and the board game adaptation is faithful to Klei Entertainment’s survival original. Up to four players cooperate to explore, gather resources, craft equipment, and fend off monsters and harsh conditions. The components are attractive, combat flows smoothly, and hunting recipes in the reference booklet felt genuinely rewarding as you cobble together tools to survive.
Expected release date: March 2027
6
Fateforge: Kin of the Wild
The app‑assisted dungeon crawler Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan already stood out for brisk, inventive combat; the Kin of the Wild expansion adds charming animal companions. Pets bring unique abilities via small boards and miniatures—hunting foes, guarding allies, or granting extra actions—without bloating complexity. They absorb damage and return healed after encounters, letting players experiment more aggressively with tactics.
Expected release date: Late November 2025
5
Heroes: Write & Conquer
Heroes: Write & Conquer channels classic fantasy strategy—building armies, erecting structures, and vying for territory—into a remarkably compact format. Instead of miniatures and a sprawling map, each faction uses a personal sheet and tech tree. Six asymmetric factions deliver distinct playstyles, and the lack of dice puts emphasis on deliberate planning and hidden information rather than luck.
Expected release date: TBD
4
Origin Story
Origin Story is a trick‑taking game where you build a superhero—or a supervillain—over five rounds. You augment a starting power with allies, events, and gear that can change your abilities for a round or the whole game. Some routes reward taking tricks (the hero path), while others reward avoiding them (the villain path), and event cards periodically upend expectations by altering the rules or encouraging temporary alliances. The visual design is gorgeous and the variety of builds promises strong replay value.
Available now for $27 at Stonemaier Games
3
Sanibel
Elizabeth Hargrave’s next nature‑themed design swaps birdwatching for beachcombing. While Sanibel shares the calm aesthetic of Wingspan, its gameplay is distinct: players move meeples along a shoreline to collect shells and shark teeth, then place those items onto a personal bag‑board to fulfill scoring patterns. Strategy hinges on timing and placement—race forward to secure prized tokens or methodically build the combos that score best.
Expected release date: January 2026
2
Take Time
From the creators of Dixit and Mysterium, Take Time is a cooperative puzzle about limited communication. Players simultaneously place cards around a clock so values increase clockwise; you can reveal a few cards as clues, but most plays are hidden, so you must infer teammates’ intentions. Forty challenge cards introduce constraints that keep each puzzle feeling fresh and force tighter coordination.
Available now for $32.99 at Amazon
1
Wispwood
Reed Ambrose’s Wispwood is a tile‑laying puzzle for fans of Cascadia who prefer a moodier, feline-forward aesthetic. Players expand a forest by placing colorful wisps and Tetris-like tree tiles; each wisp type scores differently and the board resets in stages, creating evolving patterns to optimize. It’s easy to learn, quick to play, and offers thoughtful placement decisions that reward long-term planning.
Expected release date: Late November/early December (EU); U.S. release TBD
Source: Polygon
