The 10 most anticipated board games of summer 2026

Some of the biggest conventions for tabletop role-playing games and board games take place during the summer, which means publishers have a heavy slate of new releases to demo and sell at Gen Con, Origins, and the UK Games Expo. Even if you’re not going to be at one of these shows, you’ll still find friendly local gaming stores stocking new board games to play when it’s too hot outside and TTRPG rulebooks for your not-so-light beach reading. While there are plenty of new sourcebooks and expansions for well-established games releasing this summer like Ravenloft: The Horrors Within and Magic: The Gathering's Marvel Super Heroes, we’re keeping this list to standalone titles. The challenges of physical distribution mean that the tabletop industry’s release dates are a lot more fluid than those of video games, films, or TV shows, so you’ll want to keep an eye out for updates on some of these products. From a Zelda-inspired TTRPG to a card game based on Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere, these are the 10 most anticipated board games and TTRPGs of 2026. Orders are shipping soon for the TTRPG based on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels – which raised more than $3.2 million in crowdfunding – and