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)
