Cucumber Catastrophe

• Designer: Michael Feldkoetter
• Publisher: dv Games
• Players: 3-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20 mins
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Players compete over four hands of ten rounds each. A round is a trick where all players, in turn, play one card from their hand. The one who played the highest card (or the lowest, depending on the Rule in play) wins the trick and takes all the cards played that round.
During the game, certain actions can break the Rule, reversing the outcome between highest/lowest trick. At the end of the game, the player who has collected the fewest cucumbers is the winner. The shifting Rule system creates constant surprises, frequent reversals, so that no two games play out the same way.

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Frosted Blooms

• Designer: Bruno Cathala, Ludovic Maublanc
• Publisher: Synapses Games
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 8+
• Time: 25-40 mins
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4rPnrfm
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Welcome to Frosted Blooms – In the soft dawn of a Dutch spring, the last breath of winter lingers in the air, leaving a delicate frost upon the awakening fields. But beneath this shimmering chill, bold tulips begin to bloom vibrant, colorful, and full of promise.

You are one of the master gardeners, competing to create the most admired tulip garden of the season. Every choice you make, each landscape, windmill raised, and each thoughtfully arranged flowers will bring you closer to perfection.  Plan with care, cultivate with style, and let your tulip tapestry shine as the pride of the lowlands!

Players compete for the most harmonious and valuable tulip garden over the course of ten rounds. In each round, they select a landscape brick to add them to their own garden, and then play a card of their hand to score points according to the pattern groups received. The enclosed spaces house workers, barns or mills that offer important bonuses at the end of the game. In addition, players can confirm goals by grouping certain elements and filling their garden. Whoever ends with the highest score wins the game!

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Tembo

• Designers: Dan Halstad, Daniel Skjold Pedersen, Mads Floe, Asger Harding Granerud 
• Publisher: The Op Games / Sidekick Games
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 30-45 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4s8Pzet
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

TEMBO is the Swahili word for elephant. In this cooperative game, you lead a herd of elephants on a thrilling journey of survival across the savanna. Reaching your destination is the only way to win – yet the path is full of challenges. You will need to search out food and water, navigate shifting terrain, and avoid the fierce lions that roam the land.  On your turn, play a card to either expand the savanna or move the herd forward across it. Each card has dual uses, and your position at the table determines how you can play it, creating a multi-layered puzzle for you and your team to solve. Play continues until the herd reaches its destination—or until you lose by going hungry, running out of time in the deck, or being caught by the lions. No two journeys are ever the same. Each game offers new challenges, demanding careful planning and constant communication to guide your herd safely to victory.

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Well, the 2026 game awards season has finally begun. The American Tabletop Awards have been around since 2019 and they feature an interesting division of games into four categories. The winner in the Complex category is Molly House, designed by Cole Wehrle and Jo Kelly, which places the players into the queer community of 19th century London. The best Strategy Game is Matt Leacock’s LotR: Fate of the Fellowship, a cooperative title where each player plays two independent characters in the group’s struggle against The Dark Lord. The Casual Game award goes to Hot Streak, Jon Perry’s madcap betting game, where bizarre 3D characters race to (or sometimes away from) the finish line. Finally, in the Early Gamers category, the winner is Magical Athlete, Richard Garfield’s redesign of Takashi Ishida’s 2003 title, where you draft an equally kooky group of racing figures to conduct a chaotic contest.

In addition to these games, the ATA announced two Recommended and two Nominated games in each category. These are all listed below, together with their designers. Congratulations to all the cited games. Next up: the Golden Geeks, the results of which should be announced in early May.

(H/T to Eric Martin, for reporting these results on his Board Game Beat website.)

Early Gamers
Winner: Magical Athlete (Richard Garfield, Takashi Ishida)
Recommended: Cascadia Junior (Randy Flynn, Fertessa Allyse)
Recommended: Duck & Cover (Oussama Khelifati)
Nominated: Splendor Kids (Marc Andre, Catherine Andre)
Nominated: The Sandcastles of Burgundy (Stefan Feld, Susanne Feld)

Casual Games
Winner: Hot Streak (Jon Perry)
Recommended: FlipToons (Jordy Adan, Renato Simoes)
Recommended: A Place for All My Books (Alex Cutler, Michael Mihealsick)
Nominated: LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick Taking Game (Bryan Bornmueller)
Nominated: 7 Wonders Dice (Antoine Bauza)

Strategy Games
Winner: LotR: Fate of the Fellowship (Matt Leacock)
Recommended: Moon Colony Bloodbath (Donald X. Vaccarino)
Recommended: Knitting Circle (Emily Vincent)
Nominated: Critter Kitchen (Alex Cutler, Peter Hayward)
Nominated: Kinfire Council (Kevin Wilson)

Complex Games
Winner: Molly House (Cole Wehrle, Jo Kelly)
Recommended: Above and Below: Haunted (Ryan Laukat)
Recommended: Galactic Cruise (T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Koltin Thompson)
Nominated: Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders (Tim Eisner, Ben Eisner)
Nominated: Covenant (German Millan)

All In: Predictions

• Designer: Phil Walker-Harding
• Publisher: Next Move
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 10+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4t6Vu3R
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In All In: Predictions, players become gifted foretellers vying to shape destiny itself. Combine hand management with strategic foresight in this fast-paced game inspired by classic poker in which only one prediction will unfold. Play cards, bend probabilities, and guess who holds the strongest hand to claim the pot.  Will you see the future…or just think you can?

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