German Games Prize (Deutscher Spiele Preis) 2026: Top 10 of the largest community award announced
For three months, the entire German-speaking board game community was called upon to vote for their favorite games from the current year. Many thousands of fans answered the call and voted for the German Games Prize (Deutscher Spiele Preis – DSP) 2026. As a result, the Top 10 in the Family and Adult Game category and the Top 3 in the Children's Game category have been determined.
The Top 10 of the German Games Prize – Family and Adult Game
The Top 10 of the German Games Prize 2026 in the Family and Adult Game category are:
Ranks 1 – 3 (in alphabetical order):
Artengarten (Publisher: Feuerland, Designer: Mathias Wigge)
Boss Fighters QR (Publisher: Pegasus Spiele, Designers: Lukas Zach and Michael Palm)
Galactic Cruise (Publisher: PD-Verlag, Designers: T. K. King, Dennis Northcott, and Koltin Thomson)
These ranks are being announced today in alphabetical order only. Ranks 1 to 3 will be awarded at the SPIEL Essen press conference, where the winner of the German Games Prize 2026 will be announced.
Ranks 4 – 10:
4th place: Herr der Ringe: Das Schicksal der Gemeinschaft (Pandemic) (Publisher: Z-MAN/Asmodee, Designer: Matt Leacock)
5th place: Take Time (Publisher: Libellud/Asmodee, Designers: Alexi Piovesan and Julien Prothière)
6th place: Rebirth (Publisher: Frosted Games, Designer: Reiner Knizia)
7th place: Cozy Stickerville (Publisher: Unexpected Games/Asmodee, Designer: Corey Konieczka)
8th place: Am Goldenen Fluss (Publisher: Kosmos, Designer: Keith Piggott)
9th place: Star Trek - Captain's Chair (Publisher: Frosted Games, Designers: Nigel Buckle and Dávid Turczi)
10th place: Mischwald – Dartmoor (Publisher: Lookout/Asmodee, Designer: Kosch)
The Top 3 of the German Games Prize – Children's Game
Ranks 1 – 3 (in alphabetical order):
Die Insel der Mookies (Publisher: Kosmos, Designer: Florian Sirieix)
Paleolino (Publisher: Hans im Glück, Designer: Marco Teubner)
Toriki: Eine Insel voller Abenteuer (Publisher: Mirakulus, Designer: Wojciech Grajkowski)
The Top 3 of the German Games Prize in the Children's Game category are also listed in alphabetical order. The winner of this category will be announced at SPIEL Essen.
Images and descriptions of the Family Game Top 10 and Children's Game Top 3 can be downloaded at this link: DSP Images 2026
About the Deutscher Spiele Preis
The German Games Prize (Deutscher Spiele Preis – DSP) is an award by gamers, for gamers. Germany's largest public award for board games has been presented by Merz Verlag since 1990. Anyone living in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland can use their vote to collectively decide which board or card game and which children's game wins the coveted award. For the 2026 vintage, all standalone games released in German between May 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026, were eligible for voting.
Further information and an archive of nominated games and winning titles can be found at