SPIEL 2023 Preview: 15 Games Worth Watching

As hundreds of thousands cross the turnstiles for SPIEL, many more will not be traveling to Essen, Germany, for the biggest board gaming convention in the world. But that doesn’t mean we all can’t watch from afar and start to contemplate what to look forward to. With over 1,000 new games and expansions to choose from, it can all seem a bit daunting. So, here are a few gems worth keeping an eye on when they eventually come to North American shores in the coming weeks and months.

Freaky Frogs from Outaspace

Publisher: 2F-Speile
Designer: Friedemann Friese
1 player | 25-50 minutes | ages 12+

The familiar green packaging, the fascination with an alliterative use of the letter F...Friedemann Friese never shies from his trademarks. However, Freaky Frogs from Outaspace may be the most out-there idea Friese has put into a solitary deck of cards yet. The idea is simple: keep a pinball going for as long as possible by playing your hand of cards — though knowing Friese, there are likely obstacles and ordering involved that isn’t as cut and dry as it may appear.

Cascadia: Landmarks

Publisher: AEG
Designers: Randy Flynn, Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, and Shawn Stankewich
1-6 players | 30-45 minutes | ages 10+

Spiel des Jahres winner Randy Flynn returns to said award-winning game with Landmarks, an expansion to the still popular puzzler. Though the title says much of what’s new – players may now add landmarks to particular tile groupings for new point-earning opportunities – it also adds new scoring cards as well as enough components for up to 6 players to now enjoy the game in one session. Landmarks doesn’t have to reinvent the game’s core and doesn’t seem to want to disturb the meditative yin and brain-burning yang of its plaintive excellence.

Sail

Publisher: AllPlay
Designers: Akiyama Koryo and Korzu Yusei
2 players | 20 minutes | ages 11+

Originally set to debut at Gen Con but delayed due to shipping interruptions, Sail is a two-player-only trick-taking game in what is becoming a renaissance of the genre. Players are trying to navigate a treacherous sea, and what they play and who wins the trick helps steer the ship and handle the obstacles and creatures in their path.

Nucleum

Publisher: Board & Dice
Designers: Simone Luciani and Dávid Turczi
1-4 players | 60-150 minutes | ages 14+

Yes, Nucleum is a big game with a lot of moving parts. But the beauty in Luciani designs is piecing together a bunch of microtransactions into sound game design that helps people slowly ramp up their understanding and strategy. Make no mistake, casual players will take one look at Nucleum’s board and actions and overcomplicate it. Over time, however, the game has more in common with route and engine building that will make those looking for a meatier game than Ticket to Ride or Race for the Galaxy drool. And the retro-futuristic theme with an eye toward sustainability is captured in fantastic and unique art.

Knarr

Publisher: Bombyx
Designer: Thomas Dupont
2-4 players | 30 minutes | ages 8+

The first aspect of Knarr that will gain notice is the art style of Carrion Antoine. The second is the engine building tableau where chaining Vikings together for potentially monster turns and actions will be refreshingly fun for fans of the mechanism.

Footprints

Publisher: Chilifox
Designers: Eilif Svensson, Åsmund Svensson, and Geir André Wahlquist
1-6 players | 30-60 minutes | ages 10+

It’s the end of the Ice Age, and it’s up to you to navigate your clan to safer climes. Footprints uses hand management to achieve the difficult choices of how and where to move across the board, but also in helping players achieve shared and individual goals such as leaving cave paints and artifacts along the way to fulfill these objectives and provide evidence that your clan was there.

Rats of Wistar

Publisher: Cranio Creations
Designers: Simone Luciani and Danilo Sabia
1-4 players | 90 minutes | ages 13+

Another Luciani title, but this one is a bit more accessible and certainly cuter. As if ripped from an episode of Pinky and the Brain, players will take the role as intelligent mice looking to conquer the countryside of an unsuspecting farm dwelling. Collect resources to dig up rooms and create beds for more mice, and adventure into the farmhouse to complete tasks or claim valuable resources and points.

The White Castle

Publisher: Devir
Designers: Isra C. and Shei S.
1-4 players | 80 minutes | ages 12+

The follow-up to Isra and Shei’s hit The Red Cathedral, The White Castle (let’s avoid the easy fast-food puns) has players drafting dice to complete actions, with a clever twist of deciding where to draft from one of three pools, but also which side (left or right) and which color impacting where the action occurs and the potential benefits.

Pirates of Maracaibo

Publisher: dlp
Designers: Ralph Bienert, Ryan Hendrickson, and Alexander Pfister
1-4 players | 25-100 minutes | ages 12+

A reimagination of Pfister’s Maracaibo, this game utilizes a modular board rather than the rondel of the original to create new paths, obstacles, and puzzles as players try to gain gold and gems. As with the source material, there are also benefits to unlocking ship upgrades and playing cards at the optimal time to maximize turns and booty (in this case, points).

20 Strong

Publisher: Chip Theory Games
1 player

Designed in-house by Chip Theory Games, their latest is a trilogy of games (two featuring IPs from Chip Theory’s heavier game worlds, and one brand new sci-fi inspired world) that is just dice and a deck of cards. Players will be battling creatures and trying to advance toward victory in what is Chip Theory’s first three entries into the series. Play times are variable as well, as each deck has its own rulesets and win conditions, providing a lot of variety in an inexpensive package with most of the Chip Theory bells and whistles.

Forest Shuffle

Publisher: Lookout Games
Designer: Kosch
2-5 players | 40-60 minutes | ages 10+

A puzzly game that involves discarding cards to play cards, with elements of push your luck and card positioning, Forest Shuffle is a clever blend of strategy and cute. Players will be building habitats for animals, but need to think carefully about what they play, the costs of playing it, and how it impacts their overall pursuit of victory.

Evenfall

Publisher: Nanox Games
Designer: Stefano Di Silvio
1-4 players | 60-120 minutes | ages 14+

Players will take the role of leading their witchy clans to gain more power by gaining and playing cards in a game of tableau choice. Gaining cards initially will grant resources as players play their novice witches out, but the goal is to find combinations that allow for points by moving those cards into the inner circle where the most seasoned witches of the coven can work their magic.

The A.R.T. Project

Publisher: The Op
Designers: Florian Sirieix and Benoit Turpin
1-6 players | 40 minutes | ages 12+

It’s rare to see The Op dip its toes into this world, but The A.R.T. Project may be the most ambitious game from the publisher yet. This co-op game has players aid in recovering valuable works of art from a rogue brand of thieves known as The White Hand, by not only recapturing the stolen works but fulfilling objectives. With eye-catching art from Vincent Dutrait, The Op may have its first bona fide euro-adjacent hit on its own hands.

Dorfromantik: Das Duell

Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
Designers: Michael Palm and Lukas Zach
2 players | 30-45 minutes | ages 8+

On the heels of a recent Spiel des Jahres win for the board game adaptation of the co-operative Dorfromantik, Das Duell is a two-player head-to-head reimagining of the popular chill tile laying puzzler. Players will be expanding their own land masses, and some of the bits and pieces from Das Duell can be integrated into the regular version of its parent game.

Sky Team

Publisher: Scorpion Masqué
Designer: Luc Remond
2 players | 15 minutes | ages 14+

This limited communication dice placement game is easy to understand, but hard to master. Players will roll their dice behind their screens, and then place them to keep the plane level, engage landing gear, and clear the runway before enough turns run out to properly land the plane. Full of additional scenarios, gadgets, and tricks, Sky Team was much buzzed about at Gen Con with a limited release (25 copies per day) but gets its big debut at Spiel 2023.