Road to Essen enters its second edition, giving board game designers the opportunity to showcase their talent and receive full sponsorship for a trip to SPIEL ESSEN 2027 in Germany.
The Boardgame Design Competition returns for its second edition, with submissions accepted from May 15 to November 15, 2026. The grand prize winner will receive full sponsorship to attend SPIEL ESSEN 2027 in Germany, along with an exclusive publishing opportunity with Everjoy Publishing.
The inaugural edition drew 160 designers worldwide. More than 1,000 guests attended the Award Ceremony at Hobby Horizon. At SPIEL ESSEN 2025, the Vietnam booth welcomed 250,000 visitors. Building on that momentum, the second edition continues to discover and support creative talents.
Competition runs May 15, 2026 to February 15, 2027. Submission period: May 15 to November 15, 2026. Judges review: November 15 to December 15, 2026. Top 20 activities: December 15, 2026 to January 18, 2027. Top 5 activities: January 18 to February 15, 2027. Finals follow. During submission, workshops meet 2 to 4 times monthly that share board game design knowledge on fanpage. Podcast series discusses commercialization with industry veterans. Playtest sessions provide direct feedback. The top 20 receives 1:1 mentorship from judges. The top 5 builds prototypes and presents at Hobby Horizon Award Ceremony in February 2027.
This edition gathers distinguished judges. Randy Flynn, author of Cascadia (Spiel des Jahres 2022), joins from the international boardgame scene. From Vietnam, PGS.TS Đặng Mai Anh (Industrial University of Art), Lý Quý Phúc (Xăm Hương), and Lê Mạnh Cường (Thần Tích) contribute expertise. Together, they ensure balanced evaluation of creativity, technical quality, and cultural value.
If 2025 built the foundation, 2026 starts with a dual mission: find talented designers and bring Vietnamese culture to the world through boardgames. Road to Essen encourages designers to explore Vietnamese identity by using folk melodies, proverbs, legends, and village traditions to create game mechanics, characters, and rules. For the first time, the organizing committee recognizes outstanding projects separately by category for Card Game and Family Game. The Vietnamese Cultural Resonance category is for designs that extract and recreate cultural identity with depth. The two categories for Junior Designer (ages 6–15) and Teen Designer (ages 15–18) encourage children to be creative.
Grand Prize: SPIEL Essen 2027 trip plus Everjoy Publishing deal Secondary Awards: 🏅 The Most Fan Favorite Board Game 🏅 The Best Visual Design 🏅 The Most Innovative Board Game 🏅 The Most Commercially Potential Board Game 🏅 The Best Cultural Representation 🏅 The Best Narrative & Storytelling 🏅 The Best Junior Creator (Ages 6–15) 🏅 The Most Outstanding Teen Designer (Ages 15–18)
Road to Essen is a boardgame design competition open to all ages. Everjoy Publishing leads the competition with partners including AHK Vietnam, Industrial University of Art Graduate School, SPIEL ESSEN, and Hobby Horizon.
Explore the Top 20 standout board games selected to compete for a spot at Spiel Essen 2025.
Read story
Everjoy Global has built a meaningful showcase moment for Vietnamese board games.
Read story
Vietnam's blossoming board game design scene goes global via the first Road to Essen competition.
Read story