Eight Board Games I Tried & Didn’t Buy (But Can’t Stop Thinking About) at Gen Con 2026

I LOVE going to the vendor hall at gen con. One of my favorite things to do is explore games I either heard of and have been wanting to try, or even better, ones that are JUST released!

Due to limited space and wallet depth, I unfortunately am unable to purchase every game that come across and express an interest in. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still haunt me afterwards, worrying that I left the game wondering what it did so wrong as to not have been one of the chosen ones. There were a variety of reasons I didn’t pick up a game, but most of them broke down to them just being too similar to games we already have, or price. 

Computer Junkyard

No computer building experience required! You get to draw tiles and place them to build your “computer” to the specifications of the game tile you are given. Guides are color-coded, you get to “debug” computers, and they seem easy to pick up! I ultimately skipped getting it due to the price being a bit more than I was willing to pay (around $40)

 

Cola Wars

This kind of reminded me of a different game my friends had played and I stumbled into the middle of, called Food Chain Magnate. In the game, you are fighting to have the best “cola” take over the market. You are able to run ads, invest in different business areas, and use actual business tactics to get ahead. Due to our friends already having a similar game and the higher price tag on this one ($60) we decided to skip it. But hey, they gave us a cool free cola for stopping by! 

 

Mistwind

This one was one of the hardest to say “no” to. It may or may not have been influenced by the fact that they had little stuffed animals of the flying whales from their game It’s a classic game of building outposts and transferring materials using them, with the difference being you actually get to use the outposts and don’t get blocked every turn. The miniatures were super cute, the game had an interesting concept, but in my opinion was not unique enough from others we have played to justify it. The game was $90 with the deluxe edition being $120. It also did not come with the whale plushie… you had to buy it separately

 

Dogs With Jobs

This game was so cute! It’s primarily card based where you are recruiting different types of dogs and building teams of them to perform jobs across the city. They have several expansions with different dogs, gear, jobs, etc. to add to the base game. Despite the artwork, it seemed a bit too “simple” for my friend group and ultimately was why I ended up passing up on this one. It was around $30.

 

Vines & Flowers

Vines & Flowers is unique in that you are building the map vertically, upwards, rather than expanding outwards on the table. It reminded me of other tile placement games where the purpose is to line up matching patterns to score points. I was on the fence about it because I own Kingdomino, which seemed like a simpler version of it. I was almost sold when I saw they had an acrylic version of it on display, but apparently it was only for display as they were having problems with the pieces breaking in that version. If it had been for sale, I likely would have walked away with it. It was around $60.

Fox Grove

I am a sucker for a game featuring woodland creatures. This one is a trick-taking game where the winner gets to “climb” a level in the trees in order to get safe and comfortable before winter hibernation. As you win tricks, you win different materials which are used to climb as well. While I enjoyed it, this one didn’t necessarily stick out enough for me to purchase. It was priced at $40.

 

7th Seal

While I own games that can be played with just one player, I often do not. Part of the fun for me is playing them with my friends and the social aspect of board games. However, 7th Seal was one that DID catch my interest! It is strictly solo – its a dice roller/dungeon crawler combo where you use your results to make different moves to battle bosses. If it had been multiple players, I would have picked it up. No idea on the price as I did not inquire. 

 

Cyber Pet Quest

This is an interesting game where you are a bionic pet in a futuristic setting trying to find your owner. You play with up to 4 players and go on a campaign adventure to achieve this goal. It has multiple chapters where you level up after completing the quest. I had already purchased some other games that were pet-themed (including Kittens in Space by the same publisher), it seemed a bit too amateur for us, and my friend group doesn’t have great luck with actually completing campaigns, so I decided to skip it. Similar to 7th seal, I did not inquire on price.

 

I can see myself perhaps picking some of these up at a later time, but for not it was not the right call. I did, afterall, end up leaving the con with upwards of 20 games despite skipping out on these. 

Our main board-game-having friend hasn’t been as responsive and has kind of veered off onto his own, meaning we have been having to build gaming libraries of our own. Not that I have an issue with that

Did you pick up or play any of these games? What were your thoughts on them?