As with many European businesses in the toy and game industries, Swiss publisher Helvetiq will roll out its initial 2026 line-up at the Spielwarenmesse fair in Nürnberg, Germany, which opens on January 27, 2026. (Follow Board Game Beat over the next week or so for coverage of this fair!) Here's what Helvetiq has lined up for the first half of the year:
Cosmo, which is due out in April 2026, is a new edition of Kaya Miyano's game Mole Poker, which was self-published through Mob+ in 2024.
Each round, each player builds a poker hand by drafting cards one by one from six decks. The decks are labeled A-F, and the back of each deck shows which cards are in that deck.
You place the first card you draft face down, then the next three cards face up, so as the round progresses, players gain information about what might remain in which decks.
In Mole Poker, you just want to have the highest hand; get that twice, and you'll likely win the game. (The lowest score in a round loses a point, if they have one, so potentially your victory will be wiped away before you can win again.) Cosmo works differently in that before everyone draws their fifth card and places it face down before the big reveal, players bet on who they think has the strongest hand.
Martin Nedergaard Andersen's card game Bandido debuted in 2016 — you can read my review on BoardGameGeek — and to celebrate its tenth anniversary, in April 2026 Helvetiq will release Bandido Alcatraz, which features similar gameplay, but turns the goal on its head.
In Bandido, players co-operatively play cards on the table to try to close all of the tunnels leading away from a jail so that the bandit does not escape. In Bandido Alcatraz, you're now trying to help the bandit escape, apparently by digging tunnels under San Francisco Bay. Not recommended!
Each turn you play a card from your hand, then draw a new card. You can add to the network of tunnels as long as all tunnels and dirt match across connecting cards. Some tunnel cards will be half blue to indicate water seeping in from the Bay above. On a future turn, someone needs to play a tunnel card that covers the blue half with a dirt half with the identical tunneling because you can't win the game if any water is visible.
Additionally, you need to close off every tunnel, either with a locked gate or by making it a closed loop, except for one, which someone will designate as the EXIT by playing the lone EXIT tunnel card from their hand.
Finally, instead of adding to a tunnel, you can set aside a card that bears a raincoat or a rope — and to win the game you need exactly three raincoats and two ropes set aside with the EXIT tunnel being the only way our bandit can escape. (They're not too bright.) If the deck runs out and all cards are played before this happens, you'll re-discover why Alcatraz was famously difficult to escape from.
Alto, due out in March 2026, is the newest abstract strategy game in Helvetiq's Steffen Spiele game line, with this design coming from Joel and Rafael Escalante, who were also responsible for 2024's XOK from Steffen Spiele.
To set up, lay out the 16 tiles in a 4x4 grid with the gray side face up, then the two players take turns placing one of their discs next to an empty tile.
On a turn, choose a tile, carry out its action, then either flip the tile from its gray side to black, or remove the black tile from the game. Tiles move the top disc next to it orthogonally, diagonally, or in any direction, or they move all discs in a stack orthogonally. When you move a disc or stack, you place it on any discs already present; discs and stacks can be moved to tile-less spaces in the 4x4 grid, after which they will remain in place.
Once no more moves are possible, tally your points, with each disc being worth as many points as its height in a stack.
Top Drop and Cat Trick — both due out at the ed of February 2026 to coincide with the FIJ game fair in Cannes, France — are part of a new EASY GO line, with the boxes being even smaller than the two pocket games that lead off this post.
Akin to The Game, which I've discussed in depth here, Simona Greco and Marco Rava's Top Drop challenges 2-4 players to co-operatively discard all the numbered cards in a deck. Cards are numbered 1-60 in five colors, with a few action cards and wild cards on the side of play and each player starting with four cards in hand.
On a turn, play 1-2 cards from your hand onto the shared discard pile in either ascending or descending order depending on what shows on a separate direction card, then refill your hand. If you wish you can first play an action card at the start of your turn:
- Skip lets you skip your turn and play nothing.
- Flip changes the direction card from up to down or vice versa, something that happens automatically when you play the 1 or 60.
- Color lets you match the color of the top card once instead of following the direction.
- Wild lets you take the action of your choice.
Nagian's Cat Trick appears to be a new version of their 2024 self-published game Take That Toy!, a trick-taking game in which 3-5 players try to collect one card from each suit in order to score.
In more detail, the deck contains 30 cards valued 2-7 in five colors, along with 5 cards valued 8 if the 7 of the matching color is in play, but are otherwise a 1. After a random trump suit is determined, you play tricks in which each player in turn lays down a card, with no requirement to follow suit. The highest trump (or highest card of the lead suit) wins the trick, with the winner placing all cards face up in front of themselves separated by suit.
If you ever have 4+ cards of the same suit in front of you, you have been a greedy kitty and must share your toys by shuffling these cards face down, giving one to each player to be added to their hand, and discarding any others from the game.
If you have all five suits in front of you, you win the round and receive a "super cat" point card. If you have no cards in hand, the round ends, and whoever has the most colors in front of themselves wins the round, with ties being broken in favor of whoever has more cards. Collect three super cats to win.
Finally, we have a trio of party games. Chit Chat has already been released in the U.S. and it will be released in French as Au pif! at the end of February 2026 and in German as Let's Schätz in April 2026.
In this game from Billy Langsworthy, Deej Johnson, and Matt Burtonwood, players get a reference card showing a number and eight question cards, each of which will be answered with a number. Players in turn read a question card, debate what the answer might be, then decide where to place it in the line from low to high relative to the reference card and all previously considered questions. Once all eight cards have been played, reveal the numbers on the bottom, ideally having them go from low to high to score the most points.
Ignasi Ferré's Eraser, which is due out in March 2026 in English and in September in French, has you trying to give good clues to other players, while also deleting good clues...but in different circumstances.
On a turn, draw a card with five words or phrases on it, choose one of them, then use a category card (movies, nature, food, objects, people & places) to clue others in to what they need to guess. Write as many clues on your board as the number of players, then give the board to your left-hand neighbor, who will write their guess on their own board, then erase a clue on your board and pass it left. Continue until everyone has guessed. You score 1 point for each correct guess, and a correct guesser scores 1 point as well. Have each player be the active player 2-3 times.
Alternatively, play simultaneously, with everyone writing clues at the same time, then all the boards being passed left, left, and left again until you've written down a guess for everyone's secret word or phrase.
Natalie Podd and Ceri Price's Piment qui ment will debut in French at the end of February 2026 and in German as Wer lügt, betrügt in April 2026. With 3-8 players, at the start of each round shuffle a liar card with 2-7 honesty cards, then deal one secretly to each player. The active player chooses one of three question cards; each player writes their answer, with answers being a number or percentage, then in turn they reveal them and explain their answer. The liar must answer in a meaningfully different way than their honest answer.
Arrange the answers from high to low, then everyone simultaneously points at who they think is lying. The liar scores points equal to the number of people who guessed incorrectly, with a bonus point if their answer was highest or lowest; correct guessers score as well, earning more points if they're the only one to do so.
Rules allow for play with up to twenty people split into two groups: the suspects and the jury.
