Most Anticipated Board Games of 2026

A new year is upon us, and the churn of new board game releases relentlessly tempts hobbyists one and all. You can either flee from it, or you can welcome it with open arms. I’m the open arms type, so come peruse my Most Anticipated Board Games of 2026! This list will be roughly ordered by date of release, for convenience.

Note: This list will also include a few titles published by us here at Bitewing Games (noted below) — because why wouldn’t I be excited about those?

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All In: Predictions

Expected Release Date: March 2026

Thanks to The Gang (and Balatro), poker is hotter than ever! With All In: Predictions, designer Phil Walker Harding (Sushi Go) is getting in on the hype train with a more gamery version of The Gang that allows you to manipulate your poker hand, discard cards to utilize powers, and pick up discarded cards.

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Purrramid

Expected Release Date: Q2 2026

Knizia’s at it again with another push-your-luck dice game, this time featuring… a pyramid of cats. Don’t question it, just embrace it.

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Moytura

Expected Release Date: April 2026

From Bitewing Games

Our third Mythos Collection game (2-player games of strategy and mythology) is our most ambitious yet. It’s so ambitious, that it even has to come in a thicker box than the others in this line. Moytura asks the question: what if an area majority competition could work well in a 2-player only game? It then answers that question with an innovative third faction system that competes with players for points and functions elegantly similar to spreading Pandemic diseases. It’s a semi-cooperative affair where you and the rival clan must keep the monsters of Irish mythology in check while you all compete to rule ancient Ireland. The system here is so smooth that we even included a solo and cooperative variant in the rules. Moytura also features epic artwork across generously large cards and boards thanks to Irish illustrator, Henry Conway.

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Azure

Expected Release Date: April 2026

From Bitewing Games

While Moytura is meaty and unexpected, Azure is perhaps the cleanest and sleekest title in our Mythos Collection. Here you’ll be managing a hand of cards while you stake your claim on various spaces across the grid using go stones. What’s interesting here is that your stones offer discounts to all other spaces in their row and column, allowing you to construct a clever strategic route in your journey to 25 points. The only problem is that your opponent is playing on the same grid — stealing your precious spaces, wrestling for favor of the powerful beasts, and racing you to the end of the point track. Between the smooth stones, snowballing decisions, and gorgeous cards brought to life by Kwanchai Moriya, this game just feels good to bust out and play. 

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Container 

Expected Release Date: Q3 2026

Container is that elusive economic grail game that so many of us have been dying to try over the past several years. The high price point, short supply, and garish presentation of the last version was enough to keep most of us at bay for far too long. Finally, thanks to our friends over at Allplay, Container is getting a proper treatment with a new version that is somehow both astronomically cheaper and comprehensively superior than its predecessor. At last we’ll get to experience what it’s like to produce, sell, and ship containers… and watch the economy frequently fly off the rails.

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Triangulation

Expected Release Date: Q3 2026

Triangulation takes on the Goliath hit party game Decrypto with its own angle by being easier to teach and quicker to play. I’ve had a chance to try it, and I came away very impressed with the more compact entertainment it delivers. Players take turns giving their team three clues to help them triangulate the secret word. But the opposing team gets a chance to hear the first two clues and steal away the victory if they’re able to guess first. The challenge here is to come up with clues that are complete nonsense, even when presented in pairs, without the full context of hearing all three together.

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GRUNTZ

Expected Release Date: Q3 2026

Fans of War Chest should keep an eye out for GRUNTZ — an abstract strategy war game that delivers similar thrills. Aside from offering magnetic customizable vehicles that are ridiculously cool, GRUNTZ aims to provide an addicting tactical head-to-head duel between two players.

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Gold Country

Expected Release Date: Q3 2026

From Bitewing Games

Gold Country was born to be the ultimate California Gold Rush board game. With simple rules and surprising depths, it cuts straight to the heart of what makes commodity speculation and stock manipulation fun. Players are investing in various mining companies and influencing their destinies by expanding those mines to precious prizes and perilous traps. You’ll stumble across glimmering gold veins, suffer devastating mine collapses, scheme with bandit outlaws, rally with fellow investors, sabotage rival companies, and more. Each turn you’ll need to read the board state (and your opponents’ intentions) well to know what you should invest in or sell out of. 

This is our only Knizia big box release of 2026, but it is primed and ready to make a huge splash with gripping gameplay and lush landscape artwork by Beth Sobel. Don’t miss the Kickstarter project (featuring low flat-rate shipping, deluxe upgrades, and a free expansion for backers) launching January 27!

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Totally Human 

Expected Release Date: Q3 2026

From Bitewing Games

While Gold Country is the headline title of our upcoming Kickstarter, Totally Human is the dark horse game that is sure to cause waves of its own. This one is designed by Kasper Lapp, who I’ve been wanting to work with ever since enjoying the silly antics of his other hits — That’s Not a Hat and Magic Maze. Totally Human is a hilarious game of probing questions and dubious answers that is so fast and addicting I’ve seen groups knock out half a dozen plays in under an hour. Each player is dealt a secret identity — alien or human — but everyone is trying blend in like a human. The group must answer three randomized multiple choice questions as human-like as possible, but the aliens face restrictions on what they are able to answer. With interesting questions like “What is scariest?” “Best name for a band?” or “Worst place to wake up without explanation?” and silly answers like “Spongy Boat” “Squeaky Pirate” or “Prickly Mountain,” you’re in for a lot of laughs here. The second phase is no slouch either, as players argue, beg, petition, negotiate, and bluff over who they trust and whose rocket ship they should join.

Just last Saturday I broke this one out with a group of eight tennis players (non board game hobbyists, mind you) who loved it so much that they played eight times in a row. Same thing happened a few days earlier with a church group of 10 teenagers and 3 adults (who had two tables of the game setup). It is a riot of a game.

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Dogs of War

Expected Release Date: Q3 2026

Dogs of War has been a longtime favorite hidden gem at my table. My wife even tracked down an elusive copy as a Christmas present for me several years ago. I have many fond memories of digging into its flashy tug-of-war politics with friends. That said, it’s always felt a bit off to me. The faction abilities are seriously imbalanced, the game can drag on a bit too long, the experience was never super consistent from one play to the next, the box is obnoxiously huge. Despite having the world’s greatest selection of hats, the game was in need of a second edition. That’s why I’m very hopeful for this new version coming from Paolo Mori and the team at Shut Up and Sit Down. Dogs of War second edition has the potential to become the greatest multiplayer tug of war game ever conceived.

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The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth

Expected Release Date: Q3 2026

The original version of The Crew — the Quest for Planet Nine — was a masterpiece cooperative trick taker that took the industry by storm. Yet somehow, someway, the sequel — Mission Deep Sea — was able to raise the bar to new heights by injecting even more variety into the formula. Can Thomas Sing and Kosmos capture lighting in a bottle once again? I’m rooting for them. While Journey to the Ends of the Earth is prominently displaying its new Indiana Jones style theme, I’m more interested in what new tricks (no pun intended) this system has up its sleeve.

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Rheinlander

Expected Release Date: September 2026

This will be the year that we finally get to behold Rheinlander: Evolved. This interesting hand management area control game from Dr Knizia has gotten a massive artwork and development facelift that I’m praying will propel the experience into the highest tiers of Knizia titles. I always felt like this one existed in that awkward space between approachable gateway game and hidden-depth strategy game, and it needed a proper nudge in one direction or the other. With the new expansion modules designed by Knizia, it appears that I just might get my wish. I’m a smidge suspect of the September release date, considering that this Kickstarter project launched with 10 total games that all need to be printed and shipped together. That’s a whole lotta logistics. But 25th Century does have a ton of experience in coordinating many products at once, so we’ll hope this project sees no delays. I crave the Rhine … let me float those waters once more.

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Oath: New Foundations 

Expected Release Date: Q3/Q4 2026

Oath is an experience unlike any other. What if the players directed the campaign? What if the legacy was unending? What if the history of past plays lived on in current and future plays? It’s a thrilling prospect that has enthralled and/or flummoxed many a gaming group. Five years on from its release, designer Cole Wehrle has returned with new insights and a fresh perspective on how he wants to refine that experience. The answer is Oath: New Foundations. Word on the street is that this expansion not only adds more variety, but it also streamlines the original game. As one of my favorite gaming experiences of the past decade, I’m keen to see how this expansion shakes things up.

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Sail Legacy

Expected Release Date: Q4 2026

Sail Legacy may very well go down as one of the most ambitious legacy games ever crafted. It takes the  popular cooperative 2-player trick taking pirate experience from Sail and blows the hull wide open with branching storylines, fail-forward shenanigans, and outlandish twists. I get the sense that nothing can prepare us for what’s coming here. Let me just leave you with this quote from Allplay COO, Joe Wiggins, “On the spectrum of Sail to Gloomhaven, Sail Legacy is much closer to Gloomhaven than it is to Sail.”

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For the Gods 

Crowdfunding Campaign February 2026, Estimated Release Date Q4 2026

The designers of our own Azure and Moytura (and Undaunted, Mandala, War Chest, and more) are joining forces to put out a big box strategy game with Mighty Boards, and I’m all for it. Aside from pulling objects from a bag, building pillars, utilizing god powers, and competing for area majority, I have no idea what’s going on in this game. But it sure as heck looks good, and the pedigree is bullet-proof, so bring it on!

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Mountain Goats: Legacy

Crowdfunding Campaign Right Now, Expected Release Date: Q4 2026

Never content to rest on their laurels, Allplay has taken it upon themselves to release not one but TWO legacy games in the SAME YEAR. Admittedly, this second one is a considerably smaller game and will likely release before Sail: Legacy simply because there are far fewer elements to finalize. The original Mountain Goats has been one of Allplay’s evergreen small box titles due to its simple dice allocation and charming king-of-the-mountain goatmanship. Personally, I haven’t played the original game in years, but I remember wishing that it gave me more bang for my buck. Well, now my wish is coming true, because Mountain Goats: Legacy aims to be a family-weight legacy game that adds all kinds of layers to the formula. Notably, the publisher says there are no permanent changes in this “legacy” game, so you can reset and replay to your heart’s content.

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Roma XLI

Crowdfunding Campaign in February, Expected Release Date: Q4 2026

I’m always interested to see what my old pals over at Facade Games are up to. Their Dark Cities line (social deduction games packaged in faux-book boxes themed around dark historical events) is meticulously produced. If you’ve played one of these games before, then you know exactly what to expect from another one in the line. Notably, this one is illustrated by another friend of Bitewing, Alisha Giroux (artist of Gazebo, Gingham, and Cat Blues), and the early photos of the game are stunning. After the death of Caesar, players are competing to seize power over Rome through cunning politics.

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Flintlock: Global Warfare in 20 Minutes

Kickstarter coming in March, Expected Release Date: 2026 

Fans of Paolo Mori’s Blitzkrieg and Caesar, take note! Flintlock is the next release in this legendary series and it promises to be the biggest one yet. You can enjoy two different 2-player experiences, or you can combine them for a 2v2 partnership mode, or you can even play solo. This time around David Thompson and Roger Tankersley have joined the design team, which makes for a very promising tug of war experience here. 

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Regicide: Inferno & Regicide: Crown Duels

Expected Release Date: 2026

Regicide Legacy was one of my top releases of 2025. That game is absolute fire. I’m excited to see that the team is wisely taking some of the ideas from the legacy game and slimming it down into a greatest hits expansion of sorts for standard Regicide. Smart play, Badgers from Mars.

But I’m even more excited to hear about Regicide: Crown Duels — a two-player duel game where the royals of Regicide are pitted against one another. 

Both coming this year? You spoil us, Badgers.

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Article written by Nick Murray. Outside of practicing dentistry part-time, Nick has devoted his remaining work-time to collaborating with the world’s best designers, illustrators, and creators in producing classy board games that bite, including the critically acclaimed titles Trailblazers by Ryan Courtney and Zoo Vadis by Reiner Knizia. He hopes you’ll join Bitewing Games in their quest to create and share classy board games with a bite.

Disclaimer: When Bitewing Games finds a designer or artist or publisher that we like, we sometimes try to collaborate with these creators on our own publishing projects. We work with these folks because we like their work, and it is natural and predictable that we will continue to praise and enjoy their work. Any opinions shared are subject to biases including business relationships, personal acquaintances, gaming preferences, and more. That said, our intent is to help grow the hobby, share our gaming experiences, and find folks with similar tastes. Please take any and all of our opinions with a hearty grain of salt as you partake in this tabletop hobby feast.