I have previously written a preparation guide to attending Tokyo Game Market. This is a preview of the games that I find interesting. This is definitely not a comprehensive guide to all of the games at TGM. That would be impossible. There are nearly 1000 vendors at TGM.
My gaming tastes focus more on quick fun games to play with my students. I also like light Euro games so a few will make it onto the list. But I need to be very, very clear that I am not buying all of these games. Every time I post a list like this people think I am buying 60 games. That would be crazy. I have only bought 8-10 games (usually $15-20 each) at each previous TGM. This is just a preview list of interesting games that will be at TGM. There are 1000’s of games available each time. Here is a list of 40 games. I might add a few more entries as I find out about more cool games.
One thing I struggled with is finding out if vendors would actually be at Tokyo Game Market because Essen starts a few days after and many mid sized publishers that normally go to TGM are going to Essen instead.
My game Formosa Formosa is back at Tokyo Game Market this fall. It is a throw and write game where players travel around Taiwan. Players can use bonuses similar to Ganz Schonz Clever to setup combos on their turn. I am accepting reservations for Tokyo Game Market but I can also ship pretty much anywhere in the world from my online store.
The Little Prince is a 1-2 player (cooperative for 2p) from the designer of Dieson Crusoe that Jay talks about all of the time. In the Little Prince players must build a route to follow the asteroid in reverse order to return home.
Age of Robots is a quick 2p game where you place a card each turn to build robots or get resources to build robots. Very cute artwork and only 1500 yen ($10).
Matchmakers is the first game from Swiss designer Baudet Sylvain. It is a 2v2 partnership (1v1 mode) tricktaking game. It is a tricktaking game that uses a self leveling system where players only gain trump cards by losing tricks so one team could have all of the best cards but they can’t run the table like in other tricktaking games. You score points by making pairs of cards.
Bird Club is a timing and deduction game from Takashi Saito (Loop, Gear, Open). Players are on two teams although they can switch teams and each team is trying to win the round. It is easier to win if your team has more players but the rewards are smaller. This game has been getting a little hype I think and it seems like an interesting game but it is best at 5+ players so I probably won’t get it.
Fetish Tiger is only on this list because of the name and description on the Tokyo Game Market website. “The card has two numbers, which can be swapped between the top and bottom. When playing cards, declare numbers and fetishes.” WHAT!
No idea what is actually happening in this game but this isn’t a machine translation error. The cover image actually calls the game Fetish Tiger. These are some of the random treasures you can find at Tokyo Game Market.
Super Power Rally (reservation) Booth H84 (Saturday) is a reprinted game that has flown way under the radar. I had flagged it as interesting on a previous trip but I don’t actually get many games at TGM myself. I still chatted with the designer who had sold out of Super Power Rally and at that moment Thinker Themer (youtube) appeared. They messaged me later and said the designer found another copy and they insisted that I get it because they knew about it from my list. I insisted they take it and the system works perfect. They loved it and did a quick review of it and now it is back at TGM and I have a reservation for it. This system usually doesn’t work since games usually don’t get reprinted but this time it did.
Isle of Bears is a cute, 2p abstract game from the designer of Pwned!. There is a webapp of it and it is very difficult but shows off the potential of the game. Basically the two groups of bears are fighting over ice territory and your goal is to knock your opponent off the ice floe and win. Very interesting action choices each round. Reservation Form.
It is very common for me to learn about a game that got hyped up before TGM after it is sold out. My friends and I don’t really read/listen to the same content as local Japanese. Storm in a Teacup was one of those games but it is back at TGM along with quite a few other interesting games from the publisher. Reservation form.
Yasuyuki Nakamura has reprinted Trick and Trade (Vegetable Stock combined with trick taking) and Four Clans Conflict (2p lane battling trick taker) in addition to his latest new release (Cassiope). I have no idea what Cassiope is about besides being a tricktaking game but he has a good track record of designing very good to great games.
Escape to Cosmo (designed by Shibu – Lazy Bellboys, Clumsy Maids, Balance the Ark) looks like a shedding game that uses the Scout mechanic of not arranging your hand of cards but when you pass instead of picking up a card to fix your hand you are able to move a card in your hand. Cosmo Chauffer is also being released at TGM.
Sara Monoube is one of the youngest boardgame designers but she manages to release a new game at every Tokyo Game Market. This year’s new release is a fun dexterity game where players use a DVD case (the box for the game) to slide meeples down a ramp onto a gameboard. Different locations have different values. This is something my students that are about the same age as the designer would really enjoy.
Peanuts Design specializes in 2p abstract games with amazing 3-D printed components at a reasonable price. They are probably in contention for the cutest games each year but not much has been said about the actual games so no idea if they are very good. His last three games, pohjammer, Cattle and Detroit, can be reserved.
Magi Games has a nice lineup of games with cute art to choose from. I don’t actually know too much about these games but they look awesome. Tanuki and Flow are two of their new games.
Cat Trees is one of those really cute games with almost no information about how to play it. It looks like you are building a cat tower with cards you get from somewhere. No idea if these are cards you win, cards you draft or cards that are magic. This is one of those games that you just buy because it looks so cool and hope that the gameplay is interesting.
Mofuchip (reservation form) was one of the sleeper hits from the last TGM and it is back in the fall. It is descibed as a light tricktaker with adorable art. The designer wrote a design diary and it is a fun read into the decision making process for the game’s mechanics.
Merge Take is the latest game from Muneyuki Yokouchi (Yokai Septat, Cat in the Box, Mushroom Sort). A very common theme in new tricktaking games is to build a win but don’t win too much system into the design of the game. The very common method of doing this is to have use bids or to set the goal for everyone at exactly three tricks. Merge Take goes in a unique direction that I haven’t seen. Suits don’t use the same ranks but instead are numbered from 1-37 with a few overlaps between the suits. At the end of each round your cards are merged into stacks if you have consecutive numbers. You get one point for each stack with 4 or fewer cards and you lose one point for each card in a stack with 5 or more cards. This sounds a little chaotic as players desperately try to avoid taking more tricks and other players play bombs into tricks that they can’t win.
Goro Sasaki (Deep Sea Adventure) is bringing back Black Candle. Black Candle is a (maybe) a push your luck dexterity stacking game. The description is a bit vague but you are clearly stacking candle shaped cubes in the game. I remember it getting talked about last year when it was released the first time.
Clueless Club is a who dun it social deduction game where players need to find out who did it, with what weapon and where. It is from the designer of Jupiter Club games so expect some wackiness in the design.
BREAKTHRU is the latest 2p trick taking game from Geonil (Jekyll vs Hyde). Pretty much all of games are very good to great.
Not everything at TGM is small card games. Cluny is a midweight worker placement that sounds like it has a bit of the negotiating mechanic like Catan but in a much, much different game. Players must secretly negotiate to use the different worker placement locations on the board. First, they place their worker and then they secretly add a bribe to a bag to use location. The owner of the tile may accept the bribe and allow the other player to take the action or they may reject the bribe and add an equal amount of coins to the bag passing it back to the disappointed player that won’t get to take an action. Well, maybe he isn’t too disappointed. He just got paid. The owner of the tile gets to take the action instead. This sounds brilliant but I would be concerned that the game would become slow with this decision making process every turn.
Yotei is a beautifully themed game where you collect resources and then spend them for cards (points) in the general family of games inspired by Splendor. Yotei is a giant cinder cone mountain that rises above the Hokkaido landscape just like Fuji rises above Central Honshu. I love games that really connect to a place. Yotei is designed by a group from Hokkaido and they use the potato economy in the boardgame in addition to using real Hokkaido wood in the boardgame itself.
Quino-Phex is the latest design from Quoth Games. I don’t really know too much about the gameplay but they have designed some great games (Nokosu Dice, FInal Binary, 10/12 Heart) before. Their previous TGM game had so many cool mechanics and new ideas but there were so many things to do and think about that the game lasted forever. It is a game that needs a publisher to develop and remove elements of the game to streamline your choices each action. I would expect this new game to be innovative at the very least.
LEO from Vic Village has another cute trick taking game at TGM this fall. Some of her games have been great (Vivo and Salty). Chatlat brings back the best part of Vivo where two players win each round. It looks like it has set collection with a variable trump like in Best of Neopoliton. And cute cats and chocolate. I think this might be a hit this year.
Hyakuju Parade – check back later for the finished entry
Uncharted Passage is a 1-2 player game from the designer of Magic Number 11. I haven’t been playing many solo games lately but it might be an excellent game for those looking for solo (2p might be coop).
17 Dice Bets is a follow up game to 12 Chip Trick although it has a new designer. Mandoo Games picked up 12 Chip Trick a couple of years ago and has made a companion game for it. No idea how to play it but the early reviews have been good so far.
Akino Ko (perhaps Autumn Mushroom) is a tile laying game that uses the Reversi mechanic of flipping tiles but instead of it being a pure abstract game it is actually a resource collection game. Collect the resources you need to grow your mushroom. The game looks really cool but it is unclear how much the Japanese text on the cards is needed to play the game. I usually don’t bother buying games that require players to translate text during the game.
Labyrinth Tavern is a light game with cute art that looks like you are placing cards like tiles trying serve the customers of a tavern. I might be totally wrong on all of that but it is cute.
Meow Maze is an addictive solo tile laying game that I first saw two years ago at the Taiwan Boardgame Design BG150 (demo and sell prototypes for $5 USD). It was the HOT game at the event with everyone trying to figure out how to shift the tiles around to achieve the mission. And there were a lot of missions (60 now) to try.
Playte has built a very impressive catalog of games and has a very impressive booth at TGM and other conventions. Manila is a game that they have brought back from awhile ago. It is a chaotic mess of a game that is a lot of fun. It used to be in a full size box and now it has been downsized into Playte lineup. They will probably have 20-30 games available at TGM.
itten has three new games releasing at Tokyo Game Market this year. Check back later for more info.
Magic Wand (reservation form) from Ryusei Nakata is back at TGM after being picked up by a Catalan publisher. It has new art (looks awesome) and maybe some new rule tweaks. He also has Cycle Tricks, Silent Guardians and several other games available at TGM.
Agent Black was one of my favorite games at TGM spring 2026 and it is back again. It is like a mashup of Clue and Coup where your opponents are trying to guess the three parts of your disguise (occupation, item and location) using logic. My students have really enjoyed it.
CMYK Tricks was another of my favorite games from TGM spring 2026. In CMYK Tricks players use the color wheel (check the photo) to determine which colors can win a certain trick. If cyan is lead then cyan or its neighboring colors are eligible to win the trick. The winner chooses one chip to add to their tableau. Points are determined by specific set collection goals.
Eclipse Tricks is the newest game from Dimidium (CMYK Tricks and Fractal Tricks). I have no idea how to play but it looks really cool and their two previous tricktaking games were great.
Direct Company is from 8oz which made Smombie and Latte Maker. It is a shedding game but the cards don’t have numbers. I am not real sure how to play but each suit gets a rank that changes during the game kind of like Jekyll vs Hyde.
Leaves is a 1-2p abstract puzzle game. Each card has three characteristics: type of leaves, number of leaves and the color of the leaves. Your cards start in a 3×3 grid and you need to move them all into one stack the fastest. You can combine any stack (take all cards) if there is one thing in common.
