The 10 best board games to play at Gen Con 2026

Gen Con, the largest and longest-running tabletop convention in North America, kicks off on July 30 in Indianapolis. The center of the event is the Exhibit Hall where vendors from around the world will be showing off their latest products. While free demos are available throughout the weekend, many products sell out almost immediately as shoppers line up for the first chance to buy games that won’t be widely available for months.

If you’re in Indianapolis and planning your first stop, here’s where you can find 10 of the hottest games of the year — including some much-anticipated tie-ins with Star Trek and The Lord of the Rings. If you’re not attending or miss out, we’ve also added preorder links to make your shopping a little easier.

1

Abroad

Looking for inspiration for your next vacation? Abroad, the latest strategy game from Landmarks designers Rodrigo Rego and Danilo Valente, tasks players with making the most of a four-week trip to Europe by collecting postcards, picking up tips from locals, and crossing experiences off their bucket lists. A huge deck of 240 cards representing locations across the continent provides a high level of replayability while leaving you dreaming of visiting Czech breweries and touring seaside forts in Croatia.

Find it at booth 419 or preorder at Portal Games

2

Ants

Image: Cranio Creations

One of the best board games I played at Spiel Essen 2025, Ants is making its North American debut at Gen Con. The highly satisfying engine-building game has players compete to develop the most successful colony by gathering resources, picking up cards they can use to build combos to make their actions more efficient, and raising specialized ants to fight other insects and explore new territory. While you don’t directly war with your rivals, you have to pay very close attention to how well they’re doing so you know when to pivot from growing your anthill to grabbing the points required to win the game.

Find it at booth 611 or preorder at Capstone Games

3

Container

Image: Allplay

After raising more than $1 million on Kickstarter, Allplay’s updated version of the out-of-print classic 2007 game is finally available. The price of the goods you buy and sell is set by the other players, creating a cutthroat experience as everyone tries to assess what their opponents are willing to spend and what products they should be producing to suit the in-game economy. New components and artwork improve the experience, but the real fun comes from trying to outmaneuver and undercut your friends.

Find it at booth 2119 or preorder at Allplay

4

Drillers

Image: Czech Games Edition

Use a mech to venture deep underground looking for minerals and long-forgotten equipment, keeping track of your fuel so you can make it back to the surface to sell what you’ve found. Every action you take provides new opportunities for other players, so you’ll want to make your turns as powerful as possible by improving your deck and upgrading your mech, which can allow you to delve even deeper.

Find it at booth 1003 or preorder at Czech Games Edition

5

Entropy

Image: Board & Dice

Bend the universe to your will as you create your own solar system, adding stars, planets, and asteroids and creating different biomes where life can thrive. The game for astronomy enthusiasts features gorgeous art representing the cosmos and the strange creatures you can evolve based on a planet’s heat, water, and radiation levels. Each player has their own missions to complete, shaping their approach to world building.

Find it at booth 2527 or preorder at Board & Dice

6

Hacienda

Image: Pandasaurus

Help restore the wild lands of Argentina’s Patagonia region and build an ecotourism destination by breeding animals including capybaras, pumas, and armadillos. A modular map means every game provides different challenges as you try to build habitats by collecting sets of cards representing different terrain types and creatures. The goal is to establish a thriving wildlife preserve that visitors can admire from strategically positioned viewing platforms, earning you points for all the animals and unbroken terrain they’re connected to.

Find it at booth 215 or preorder at Pandasaurus

7

The Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict

Image: Office Dogs

Strategy games can take a long time, but the latest asymmetric board game based on The Lord of the Rings mitigates that issue by having everyone take their turns at the same time. Two to four players control different armies fighting across Middle-earth, trying to predict what their neighbors will do to better manage resources while avoiding being outflanked. Players can unlock powerful allies like Gandalf or the Witch-king as they seek to destroy the One Ring or corrupt the Fellowship.

Find it at booth 817 or preorder at Asmodee

8

Shards of Creation

Image: Brotherwise Games

The trick-taking game based on Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere released in June, but immediately sold out, so Gen Con is the only place you’ll be able to grab it for a while. The godlike beings known as Shards vie for influence across Sanderson’s books, and here they’re represented by beautiful cards, some with special powers that can give you more options within a trick or change your score at the end of the game. The short duration and simple rules make it an easy way for players of all skill levels to step into the epic fantasy world.

Find it at booth 339 or sign up to be notified the next time it’s in stock at Dragonsteel

9

Star Trek: Space Hunt

Image: Matagot

Captain Sonar is one of the wildest board games I’ve ever played, a real-time hidden movement game where teams play submarine crews trying to outmaneuver each other while listening in on their opponents’ conversations. Star Trek: Space Hunt applies the chaotic system to space battles, with each ship using limited resources to activate special abilities to scan for their enemy or warp to safety. Each ship plays differently, giving you the chance to play out some of the tense battles from throughout Star Trek history.

Find it at booth 2321 or preorder at Miniature Market

10

Wingspan Pocket

Image: Stonemaier Games

Elizabeth Hargrave designed her classic game Wingspan to be a satisfying engine builder that was approachable enough for birders to enjoy even if they didn’t have much gaming experience. Wingspan Pocket is even more novice friendly, simplifying the game to just a single row of cards and cutting way back on the text so you can just easily recognize what a card does through icons. As an extra bonus, it’s also a smaller box so you can take it with you on a trip and play after your morning bird walk.

Find it at booth 2909 or preorder at Stonemaier Games