The blue tables of Thames & Kosmos were busy with folks clamoring for more of what they like. The newest title in The Crew line, Journey to the Ends of the Earth and the deluxe version of The Gang were sold out every day. In addition to more in the Exit series (family, kids, holiday calendar, and regular versions) there was the new hot-potato-ish word game, Oh My Word and the co-op tower-rotating Temple Twist. Rounding out my booth visit was a mention of the “spicy-ish” party game Realtalk: Fourth Wing and the not-spicy flower-growing game, Wildblooms.

The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth (by Thomas Sing)

The third installment of the hit co-operative trick taking game was on hand… of course it sold out each day. It’s still a 2-5 player game, here players are travelling around the world trying to uncover treasure.

There is once again a log book but players are now racing against time to complete their tasks. The log book is 25 pages long and on each page players are given various tasks to perform. Complete a task and the players can move their marker along that page’s path. Each hand of cards counts as a timer. The goal is to complete the path before the requisite number of hands are played. Thus, failing a task isn’t a given failure, as long as your group can complete the others quickly…

The Gang: Deluxe Edition (by John Cooper and Kory Heath)

Also selling out each day, the new deluxe edition of The Gang has upgraded components (ceramic chips, casino-quality cards, and a custom playmat), enough bits to take the game up to 10 players and three new expansions. Two of which are previous Gen Con promos and the third is brand new.

Temple Twist (by Johanna Rupprecht)

Temple Twist is a puzzle-y cooperative game for 1-4 players with a strong physical component. The centerpiece of the game is a large 4×4 grid of boxes forming the temple. Each box has a unique window which also allows players to see inside. Inside the temple is a red die, this represents the players. Players take turns playing cards in order to physically rotate the temple, or to adjust the walls inside the temple structure.

The red die is stuck within the building and the players are trying to get it to the correct box to complete the game. However, players may first need to get the die to tag a different room, after which the objective card is flipped and players can try to get to the final location. The idea is that players will place and/or remove walls inside the temple and rotate the temple to get where they need to be. Before you think it’s too easy, not only do you have to end in one room, you also need to end in that room with the correct face of the red die showing.

Players wanting more of a challenge can add in more mandatory room visits or bring in the Challenge deck. This deck can add in things that change player order, or even give out rooms (that must be visited) known only to one player. Extending on this is the Expedition Mode. This slowly increases the game difficulty over the course of several games but also gives the red die special powers, depending on which face is showing at a given moment.

Realtalk: Fourth Wing (by Johannes Berger and Julien Gupta)

Realtalk: Fourth Wing is a cooperative party game of questions that have some relation to the Fourth Wing adult fantasy romance novels written by Rebecca Yarros. The books are known to be a bit on the spicy side due to sex & violence. Here, one player is given two question cards, picks one and then proceeds to rank all the players according to the card. The question cards all tie into the books, examples are given such as: “Who wouldn’t make it through threshing?” or “Who would get on Dain’s nerves?” so the game is clearly targeted at fans. Once the ranking is complete, a third question card is added and the rest of the group must figure out which of the three cards was chosen for the ranking.

Wildblooms (by Kasper Lapp)

Wildblooms has two to five players placing petal tokens to match existing spots on flowers on the board to try and complete a flower first and add it to their personal board.

Much of the game centers around trying to complete specific objective cards (like matching colors, or putting a specific flower on the edge of the board, etc…) Players also have to use bumblebees to “lock in” and score flowers before other players can beat them to the punch.

The game goes a bit 3D over time as players put their completed flowers into their personal card-holder thingys to make a little flower garden…

Oh My Word (by Andrew Lawson and Jack Lawson)

Oh My Word is a word-based party game of hot potato. The game starts with several cards laid out on the table, each card displaying 15 topics in a 3×5 grid.

The first player takes a letter tile out of the bag and must then say a word that fits in any category on any card on the table. They cover that category spot and the next player uses the same letter but needs to cover a new category. This keeps going until the timer goes off. The current player then gains a “back luck” token. Play then resumes, but all the category cards are kept and no words are uncovered. Thus, as the game goes along the category options get scarcer and scarcer. The game will end when the “bad luck” tokens run out or the group somehow manages to cover all the categories. The player with the most “bad luck” tokens is declared the loser. “Yay” (said in a quietly fading voice…)

Exit: The Game line of game/activities (most by Inka Brand, Markus Brand, and Emely Brand)

The second family version, Exit: The Game – Family: The Trophy Case/Night at the Carnival has the team of animal superheroes investigating two new cases. In The Trophy Case they are checking out an animal talent show while Night at the Carnival has the team figuring out who sabotaged the power lines.

There’s a new Exit: The Game – Kids: The Great Bee-scape where players are trying to get their bee home after being blown off course.

The traditional Exit: The Game continues in The Circus Mystery where players are trying to piece together burglaries in various cities in which the circus has performed.

Finally, there’s a new advent calendar for 2026. EXIT: The Game – Advent Calendar: The Magic of Christmas. This 24 day adventure has you suddenly waking up in an enchanted forest covered with snow and you must figure out what is going on and how to get back home.