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Deutscher Spiele Preis 2026: Artengarten wins ahead of Boss Fighters QR
The Deutscher Spiele Preis 2026 goes to Artengarten by Mathias Wigge. Best children’s game is Toriki. The public voted, not a jury.
The Deutscher Spiele Preis 2026 (German Games Prize) goes to “Artengarten” by Mathias Wigge, published by Feuerland. The award was presented on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, the day before SPIEL Essen opened.
Unlike the Spiel des Jahres, no jury decides here. Anyone living in Germany, Austria or Switzerland could vote. Merz Verlag has presented this public award since 1990. Eligible were standalone games released in German between 1 May 2025 and 30 April 2026.
The top 10
- Artengarten (Mathias Wigge, Feuerland)
- Boss Fighters QR (Michael Palm and Lukas Zach, Pegasus Spiele)
- Galactic Cruise (T. K. King, Dennis Northcott and Koltin Thomson, German edition by PD-Verlag)
- Herr der Ringe: Das Schicksal der Gemeinschaft (Pandemic) (Matt Leacock, Z-Man/Asmodee)
- Take Time (Alexi Piovesan and Julien Prothière, Libellud/Asmodee)
- Rebirth (Reiner Knizia, Frosted Games)
- Cozy Stickerville (Corey Konieczka, Unexpected Games/Asmodee)
- Am Goldenen Fluss (Keith Piggott, Kosmos)
- Star Trek: Captain’s Chair (Nigel Buckle and Dávid Turczi, Frosted Games)
- Mischwald: Dartmoor (Kosch, Lookout/Asmodee)
Places 1 to 3 were initially announced in alphabetical order only and decided at the award ceremony.
Best children’s game
In the children’s game category, the winner is “Toriki: Eine Insel voller Abenteuer” by Wojciech Grajkowski, published by Mirakulus. The other two nominees were “Die Insel der Mookies” (Florian Sirieix, Kosmos) and “Paleolino” (Marco Teubner, Hans im Glück).