U.S. publisher Allplay had its own room at GAMA Expo 2025, one of several publishers to do so in order to show off games on its own schedule instead of relying on the few hours available during the "media first look" period and game nights.
Allplay has built up a catalog of dozens of titles in just a few years, in addition to partnering with other publishers to provide discounted shipping and cross promotion for all involved, and this room replicated that partnering, with upcoming titles from Allplay and others in display.
One of Allplay's biggest releases in 2026 will be its new edition of Container, which raised more than US$1.1 million in a crowdfunding campaign in October 2025.
This design for 3-5 players from Franz-Benno Delonge, Thomas Ewert, and Kevin Nesbitt is conceptually simple, yet challenging to play since you can't easily foresee the ramifications of your actions. The gist of the game is that each player has a secret chart showing which containers are worth which amounts to them at game's end, and during play you're going to produce containers that must be purchased by others, store containers that must be shipped by others, and ship containers that others will buy.
In the end you want to have more money than anyone else, but how to make that happen will depend on decisions by you and others throughout the game.
Container is due out in Q3 2026, as is Allplay's new edition of Cassie Sikes's party game Jibber Jabble, which she had self-published in 2024.
Jibber Jabble is listed as being for 3-30 players, and in practice it's one of those party games in which you could keep score, but will likely decline to do so. In a round, a player calls out 1-6 to identify a mystery word or phrase on a card that everyone else will see and try to get that player to guess.
How you give clues to the guesser, though, is one letter at a time. I might say "T", then you'll say "H", and the third player — despite knowing what the mystery word is — might have no idea what we're trying to spell, so they'll say some letter like "O" just to play along or some letter like "S" to try to re-direct what this clue might be. Eventually one of the cluegivers feels like nothing else can be meaningfully added and will say "STOP", after which they can start a new clue. The guesser has two guesses to give the word or phrase, with the team winning the round if they do so.
The Allplay edition includes new event cards, with one in play each round, if desired, and it's arranged the words and phrases to be guessed by difficulty, so you can say 1-2 to get an easy one, 3-4 for medium difficulty, and 5-6 for something challenging, such as "zugzwang", which I'm going to guess is not actually on one of the cards.
Sarah Joshua's Enchanted Ivy is a solitaire game that can be played as a one-off with random guests, which are seen at left in the image above, or in story mode with a particular group of guests. The guests matter because they have scoring conditions you want to maximize while constructing your magical inn over the course of play.
Each turn, you draw two cards from the deck, then flip one of them face down, after which you add both to your tableau. A story will specify the shape of your inn, so you're constrained in what you can add where.
Enchanted Ivy will debut at Gen Con 2026, and a second standalone title in the series — Enchanted Ivy: Festival of Spirits — will debut at PAXU in December 2026. That game will feature new guests and stories, as well as spirits that enter play and take residence in your inn. Some are good, and some aren't, so you'll want to take actions to keep the right ones around.
Another Gen Con 2026 release from Allplay is Mountain Goats: Legacy from Alex Cutler, Michael Mihealsick, and original Mountain Goats designer Stefan Risthaus. As in the original game, you want to use dice results to climb mountains with your goat and stand above everyone else, but the "legacy" version of the game adds a story mode that will introduce new elements in each game, as demonstrated in this spoiler-y image:
The story book includes branching paths that will introduce elements to the game in an order that you (unknowingly) choose, and once you've finished all ten chapters, you'll have ten mini-expansions on hand that you can use singly or together as you wish — or you can reset the game and play through it again to see how different choices will impact your precious goats.
Druid City Games is a new Allplay partner, and two of its recent releases were featured at GAMA Expo 2026.
Off With Their Heads! is a 2-4 player trick-taking game from J.B. Howell and Michael Mihealsick that plays somewhat like a roll-and-write game. The queen moves around the board, determining the trump suit for each trick, and each player will play a card into the trick, with the winner of the trick advancing on the top third of their individual player sheet, the player of the worst-ranked card advancing in the bottom third, and everyone else advancing in the middle. You won't play all of your cards in a round, and the better the poker hand that you leave yourself unplayed, the more points you'll pick up at round's end.
After three rounds, whoever has the most points wins.
Madcala is a two-player game from Aaron Hein and Manny Trembley that contains six character sets, with four cards per set. Each player takes a character and lays out their unique cards, as well as shards — several small, one large — on plates in front of them.
On a turn, you pick up all the shards from a plate and distribute them mancala-style clockwise on the plates, gaining the bonus where you land, which might be power cards from the deck, additional shards, damage for your opponent, health for yourself, or the refreshing of a one-shot character card that you've already used. If you move the large shard, that must be the final one you place, and you get double the reward listed.
Your long-term goal is to eliminate all of your opponent's health, so don't be too distracted by the spinning plates to make that happen.
Matt Mundy's Flock Together from Sea Cow Games, which is featured at top, is another title available through Allplay's partner system. In this co-operative game for up to five players, you want to combine the powers of your chickens to ward off predators. Many painful chicken puns are featured.
I'm not sure what to make of the giant concrete head on the street near Louisville's University Kidney Center, but thankfully I don't have to. Don't make eye contact, Eric. Take a pic, and move on...
