Sneak Peek at the Play-To-Wins at Southern Board Game Fest 2026
We’re two months away from the sixth annual Southern Board Game Fest, which we affectionately call “SoBo”. Every year, one of the most popular events that we run through the help of Envoy and some very generous publishers is our Play-To-win section.
The concept is simple. We put out between 25-35 games a day on a large table for attendees to check out and play the games. When they finish, each player gets entered into a drawing at the end of the day for that game they played.
It’s a win-win. The festival gets a great event which helps us sell tickets to raise money for New Hope Foundation, a mentoring service for youth in our town. Board gamers love it, because they not only get to play games easily but they get a chance to win them. And publishers love the event because for the price of one game, they get lots of pictures and publicity. Plus, we let the vendors know what games are on tap so they can stock them for the players that do not win.
We have not finalized the list of games yet, but I wanted to highlight some of the interesting titles that caught my eye. (To get your reservation for Southern Board Game Fest, coming up March 20-22, 2026 in beautiful downtown Lafayette, Louisiana, go to www.southerngamefest.com)
From Stonemaier Games, we have three entries this year: Rolling Realms Redux, the new version of Stegmaier’s hit roll-and-write system with a bunch of new realms featuring your favorite board games; Euphoria, one of the older titles in their catalog but that is getting a new edition soon; and probably my favorite of the three, Origin Story, a cool new trick-taking game with a superhero theme.
Road to Infamy (R2i) Games is sending us a copy of Formaggio, and that one should be very popular. It’s the first stand-alone expansion from the guys that brought you Formage, the simultaneous playing game about making cheese. This time, the players venture into Italy!
Our friends from Houston, Carla & Nick from Weird Giraffe Games is sending us a bunch of games. One of the titles for sure will be A Gift of Tulips, a beautiful little card game designed by Sara Perry. Like all of the Weird Giraffe titles, it’s easy to teach and has breezy little turns. It’s one of my favorite Weird Giraffe games (since you’re asking, my favorite game from Weird Giraffe is Studies in Sorcery.)
If you like Reiner Knizia‘s designs, our friends at Bitewing Games have a treat for you! We will have a nice selection of Dr. Knizia’s recent released games in the library (we’ll announce the names as we get closer), but on the play-to-win side, we will have Gingham designed by Robert Hovakimyan and Gussy Gorillas, designed by Nick Murray.
Thunderworks Games offered us a copy of FlipToons, which I am personally excited for because I’ve never seen it in person. I’ve only played it on BGA and did not quite grok it with my usual click-and-click method of learning. I’d like to try it on the table.
Finally, last but certainly not least, one of our most generous backers each year is the wonderful krewe at Flatout Games. We will definitely have some of their most exciting recent releases, including Point Galaxy, which I think is the best version of this game. Once we confirm the rest of the games from them, I will be sure to follow up.
In fact, my plan is to post a “top ten games you should try to play-to-win” as we get closer. We’ve got a bunch more games to announce as they come in. But if you have any questions regarding SoBo or our play-to-win section let me know. You can find out more information at www.southerngamefest.com.
Until next time, or until Sobo, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo