If you’ve spent any amount of time in the tabletop hobby, you’ll know that some board games disappear faster than a rogue stealing loot before initiative has even been rolled.
One minute you’re casually browsing upcoming releases. The next, you’re staring at an out-of-stock notice while convincing yourself you never really needed that gorgeous deluxe edition anyway.
The good news? There are plenty of incredible upcoming board games still available for pre-order, and some of them look poised to become the next big thing on game nights everywhere.
Whether you’re looking for a relaxing strategy game, a sprawling co-op adventure, a thematic survival experience, or something that lets you build a criminal empire during Prohibition, these are the board games currently sitting at the very top of my wishlist.
Cascadia: Alpine Lakes
Create a beautiful alpine environment as you layer habitats and wildlife.
Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 30-45 Minutes
Check It Out Here
The original Cascadia became one of the most beloved modern board games for good reason. It offered a wonderfully relaxing puzzle that was easy to learn while still providing plenty of strategic depth.
Cascadia: Alpine Lakes takes that foundation and quite literally elevates it. Rather than simply expanding across a flat landscape, players now build upward, creating layered alpine environments filled with lakes, wildlife, and interconnected habitats.
The familiar tile-drafting gameplay remains intact, but the addition of verticality transforms the experience into an entirely new puzzle. Every decision matters as you carefully place stacked double-hex tiles, trying to satisfy wildlife scoring objectives while also creating elevated lakes and thriving ecosystems.
With thousands of possible scoring combinations and a fresh challenge every time you play, Alpine Lakes looks set to deliver the same cosy satisfaction that made the original game a modern classic.
For players who enjoy thoughtful strategy without direct conflict, this might be one of the best board game pre-orders of the year.
Kalypso
Salvage debris to build a floating settlement in a world swallowed by the sea
Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 45-60 Minutes
Check It Out Here
If you’ve ever watched Waterworld and thought, “You know what this needs? More strategic tile placement,” then Kalypso might have your name written all over it.
Set in a future where rising seas have swallowed the world, Kalypso tasks players with constructing floating settlements from salvaged debris while struggling to survive in an increasingly hostile environment.
Each turn sees players expanding their community by drafting and placing tiles, gathering resources, constructing new buildings, and helping survivors adapt to life on the open ocean.
What makes Kalypso particularly interesting is its flexibility. It can be played competitively, cooperatively, or solo, allowing groups to tailor the experience to their preferred style of play.
The theme alone is enough to make it stand out, but the combination of settlement building, resource management, and evolving challenges gives it the potential to become a sleeper hit among strategy fans.
Deep Rock Galactic: The Board Game
Mine precious minerals, survive and fight aliens together on a foreign planet.
Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 60-150 Minutes
Check It Out Here
Rock and Stone! Few video games seem better suited for a tabletop adaptation than Deep Rock Galactic, and thankfully, this board game appears to understand exactly what makes the digital version so much fun.
Players step into the oversized boots of one of four iconic space dwarves and descend into dangerous underground caverns in search of valuable minerals. Unfortunately, those minerals are guarded by swarms of hostile alien creatures that are very interested in turning your mining expedition into an all-you-can-eat dwarf buffet.
The experience focuses heavily on teamwork as players explore caves, gather resources, complete objectives, and battle increasingly dangerous Glyphid threats. Every class retains its unique identity, encouraging players to work together just as they would in the video game.
What really excites me about this one is how successfully it seems to capture the chaos and camaraderie that made the original such a phenomenon. If your gaming group enjoys cooperative adventures filled with dice rolling, tactical decisions, and shouting “Rock and Stone!” far louder than necessary, this looks like an easy recommendation.
Speakeasy
Earn money running a Manhattan speakeasy business during Prohibition.
Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 50-180 Minutes
Check It Out Here
There are worker-placement games, and then there are worker-placement games that let you run an illegal empire during Prohibition-era Manhattan.
Speakeasy drops players into the roaring 1920s, where rival mobsters compete to build the most profitable underground liquor operation in the city. Over the course of the game, you’ll expand your criminal network, recruit loyal goons, bribe the right people, move illicit alcohol across Manhattan, and do everything possible to stay one step ahead of both the police and competing gangs.
Beneath its gorgeous presentation lies a deeply strategic game built around worker placement, card management, resource allocation, and long-term planning. Success requires carefully balancing income, influence, expansion, and risk while navigating an ever-changing criminal landscape.
It’s the kind of game that tells stories naturally. Stories about betrayals, unexpected victories, disastrous plans, and the moment someone inevitably gets a little too greedy.
If you’re looking for a heavier strategy game with a fantastic theme, Speakeasy deserves a place on your radar.
Terraria the Board Game
Dig, fight, explore and build in this co-op adventure for 1-4 intrepid Terrarians!
Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 120-180 Minutes
Check It Out Here
Terraria has spent years proving that digging random holes in the ground can somehow become one of the most addictive gameplay loops ever created. Now that experience is making the jump to tabletop.
Terraria: The Board Game transforms the beloved sandbox adventure into a cooperative board game where players explore ever-changing worlds, gather resources, craft equipment, build bases, and prepare for increasingly dangerous boss encounters.
At its heart is a streamlined deck-building system, combined with flexible action-point mechanics that allow players to tackle challenges in their own unique ways. Whether you’re focused on combat, exploration, crafting, or gathering resources, every playthrough unfolds differently thanks to modular objectives and randomly generated environments.
What impresses me most is how faithfully it captures Terraria’s sense of progression. Starting out weak, slowly building your character, unlocking powerful equipment, and eventually taking on terrifying bosses is one of the most satisfying parts of the video game, and it seems that same magic has been successfully recreated here.
For Terraria fans, this feels like a no-brainer. For everyone else, it looks like an excellent cooperative adventure in its own right.
We’re living through a golden age of tabletop gaming, and these five upcoming board games perfectly showcase just how diverse the hobby has become.
Whether you’re stacking mountain habitats in Cascadia: Alpine Lakes, surviving rising oceans in Kalypso, mining alien worlds in Deep Rock Galactic, building a criminal empire in Speakeasy, or battling bosses in Terraria, there’s something here for almost every kind of player.
The hardest part might simply be deciding which one to pre-order first. My wallet is already crying.
