SPIEL Essen 2026 Preview: Kingdom Come, Queen Alice, Avalon & More

Record show opens Oct. 22 with all eight halls; German Games Prize named Oct. 21

By TDmonthly Staff
October 2026

SPIEL Essen 2026 Opens Oct. 22 With All Eight Halls and a Record 81,200 Square Meters

The world's largest public board game fair, SPIEL Essen, runs Oct. 22-25 at Messe Essen in Germany, and for the first time it will use every hall on the grounds. Adding Hall 8 brings the show to a record 81,200 square meters, with room for up to 230,000 visitors. Organizers count 921 exhibitors from 53 countries and expect well over 1,500 new games.

New this year: the first TCG Awards for trading card games on Thursday evening, a Warhammer 40K laser tag arena run with Games Workshop, and the European Golden Demon miniature-painting finals on Sunday. Illustrator Peter Mohrbacher (Magic: The Gathering, Angelarium) is the show's official ambassador. Adult day tickets cost €25 and are sold online only.

Source: SPIEL Essen press release

German Games Prize 2026: Artengarten, Boss Fighters QR or Galactic Cruise?

The Deutscher Spiele Preis, a fan-voted award presented at SPIEL since 1990, names its winner Wednesday, Oct. 21, at the press conference in Essen's Grugahalle. The top three, listed only alphabetically until then, are Artengarten (Feuerland, Mathias Wigge), Boss Fighters QR (Pegasus Spiele, Michael Palm and Lukas Zach) and Galactic Cruise (PD-Verlag, T.K. King, Dennis Northcott and Koltin Thompson).

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Z-Man/Asmodee, Matt Leacock) placed fourth, and Kennerspiel des Jahres winner Rebirth (Frosted Games, Reiner Knizia) placed sixth. The children's finalists are Mooki Island (Kosmos), Paleolino (Hans im Glück) and Toriki (Mirakulus).

Source: SPIEL Essen: Deutscher Spiele Preis

Avalon: The Riven Veil and Queen Alice Lead the Pre-Show Buzz

On BoardGameGeek's SPIEL Essen 26 preview, Shadowborne Games' Avalon: The Riven Veil led with 1,134 "thumbs" as of early September, followed by Combo Games' Queen Alice with 883. Avalon is a 2- to 4-player Arthurian area-control and exploration game; Shadowborne lists the miniatures core game at $115.

Queen Alice, from a Spanish publisher founded in 2024, is a mid-heavy engine builder inspired by Through the Looking-Glass, for 1 to 4 players ages 14 and up. It is listed at €69 in Hall 3, stand U210. Meeple Mountain's Justin Bell called it "one of the hottest games at the 2026 edition of SPIEL Essen."

Avalon: The Riven Veil: Pros

Led BoardGameGeek's SPIEL preview with 1,134 thumbs in early September
Arthurian area control and exploration for 2 to 4 players

Avalon: The Riven Veil: Cons

$115 for the miniatures core game (Shadowborne)
We found no Amazon US listing

Queen Alice: Pros

Second on BoardGameGeek's preview list with 883 thumbs
1 to 4 players, so it can be played solo

Queen Alice: Cons

A mid-heavy engine builder for ages 14 and up, not a family game
Listed at €69 at the show. We found no U.S. price or Amazon US listing

Source: Backseat Gamer ; Shadowborne Games ; Meeple Mountain

CGE Brings Kingdom Come: Deliverance - The Board Game to Essen

Czech Games Edition will sell its official adaptation of Warhorse Studios' Kingdom Come: Deliverance video game at SPIEL, in English only. It is the first joint design by Vlaada Chvátil (Codenames) and Tomáš Holek, an open-world adventure with deck building set in 15th-century Bohemia, for 1 to 4 players ages 14 and up, listed at €149.99.

CGE's booths (Hall 3, 3V400, and Hall 7, 7E100) also feature Drillers, Codenames: Critical Role Adventures and new Codenames expansion packs. The Dice Tower's Tom Vasel will livestream from the Hall 7 booth.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance - The Board Game: Pros

First joint design by Vlaada Chvátil and Tomáš Holek
1 to 4 players, so it can be played solo

Kingdom Come: Deliverance - The Board Game: Cons

Listed at €149.99, and sold in English only at SPIEL
Ages 14 and up. We found no Amazon US listing

Source: CGE SPIEL 2026 Guide ; SpielList

Harmonies: Crescendo Expansion Arrives Oct. 23 for $19.99

Libellud's Harmonies: Crescendo releases Oct. 23 at $19.99 on Asmodee's U.S. store. It adds three modules for the hit tile-laying game: Whispers (corals, mushrooms, ores and flowers that combo with your animals), four-token-high Sanctuaries, and new player boards with fresh scoring. Other sequels drawing attention at the show include Cascadia: Alpine Lakes (Flatout Games), Endeavor: Deep Sea - Uncharted Waters (Burnt Island Games) and Faraway: Beyond the Veil (Catch Up Games).

Harmonies: Crescendo: Pros

Three modules (Whispers, Sanctuaries, new player boards) that can be played alone or combined (Asmodee)
$19.99

Harmonies: Crescendo: Cons

It's an expansion: Asmodee says the Harmonies base game is required
Releases Oct. 23. We found no Amazon US listing yet

Source: Asmodee USA ; Meeple Mountain

Oil Rock, Gaudí and Greenwood Headline the Strategy Lineup

Among strategy games, Cranio Creations' Oil Rock, designed by first-timer Marco Piola Caselli and developed with Simone Luciani, is on both Justin Bell's and Andrew Lynch's lists at Meeple Mountain. Wargamer's Mollie Russell flags Gaudí, a tile-placement game by Windmill Valley designer Dani Garcia, and Greenwood, a fantasy euro by Christos Giannakoulas and Manolis Zachariadis.

Source: Meeple Mountain ; Wargamer

Matt Leacock Demos a Rebooted Flickering Stars at PIKA

Pandemic designer Matt Leacock will demo an early, rebooted version of his flicking game Flickering Stars at the PIKA Games booth (3-Q315) every day of the show, and will sign games at Game Factory (6-B110) on Friday and Saturday. "We're expecting this game to roll out sometime in late 2027," Leacock wrote on Oct. 7.

Source: Leacock's Lab: October Update

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