Schadenfreude rewards second place, so to speak, but in this one way you might want to be first. Get your copy of Schadenfreude before its November 6th release at Essen Spiel 2026 (while supplies last of course). And worry not, if you’re first to snag your copy, you won’t then be thrown bodily from a tower as you shout “the wait is over” into the wind. That level of grim comeuppance is reserved for the game itself.
Familiar and Refreshing All At Once
The highly anticipated reimagining of the Japanese trick-taking game, originally published in 2021 by Studio Turbine, keeps all of the clever “outside-the-box” mechanics you’ve been desperate to get your hands on but with some added flavor that compliments the gameplay and infuses each trick with some sadistic humor. After all, what’s the point in taking pleasure in other people’s misfortunes if you can’t also laugh about it?
“Whatever do you mean” we hear you asking as you thumb through a handful of castle cultists, cooks, guards, and more, all of whom look like they’d be at home in a medieval remake of Clue. Now imagine funneling that cook into your rival’s hand, where he becomes the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back (presumably by shoving said camel off of a high tower). That’s how our new take on Schadenfreude turns the clever trick-taking insta-classic into an anchored experience you can sink your teeth into.
So for anyone who’s struggled to get ahold of the original, now’s your chance to own Schadenfreude. It is still the same game, just leveled up in terms of component quality, artistry, and theme. Just make sure you get to asmodee’s booth early since the supply for each day is capped.
Not Your Mother’s (or Grandmother’s) Trick-Taking Game
If this is the first time you’re hearing about Schadenfreude, take note. It puts the “trick” in “trick-taking”, turning the tried-and-true mechanic on its head while still nodding to the quintessential Hearts and Spades.
Like Hearts, you do not want to have the most points. Like Spades, you want just the right amount of tricks to meet your goal. But unlike both, the trick winner is the second highest card of the leading suit, there is no trump card, and while you don’t want to have the most points, because that leaves you dead at the bottom of a tower, you do want the second most, making you top dog when one of your rivals is nothing but a blemish on the castle lawn.
But why get it early? It’s popular, anticipated, and reasonably compact, making it a shoe in Essen Spiel souvenir. At 3-5 players and 20+ minutes a pop, it’s also an easy one to bust out when you’re killing convention time.
Complexity that Invites Shifting Alliances and Careful Analysis
Schadenfreude continues the recent trend by many game publishers, us included, of using trick-taking as a vehicle for more complex gameplay and not simply an end in itself. In this case, the added complexity reveals itself over time. After all, you’re not just trying to win or lose tricks. And what tricks you choose to win or lose come down to a careful balance of your relative position to other players, your current collection of earned cards, and what you have left in your hand. There’s a fair bit of math involved, but not so much that you’ll start flashing back to middle school Algebra.
For example, if you’re third in line from the top of the tower and you can see the lead player teetering at the precipice of death, you may not want to funnel that jester into their hand (which in context might involve throwing her like a javelin as she folds herself into a finishing move worthy of Street Fighter). But if you take the trick yourself, you’ll cancel out some key points that you’ll need if you have a prayer of pulling ahead. It’s a game that truly rewards paying close attention to the table and encourages you to protect other players…sometimes..
No Hate – Unless That’s Your Thing
While Schadenfreude is German for taking pleasure in someone else’s misfortune, don’t get too bogged down in that terminology. Schadenfreude does require you to intentionally mess with other people’s point totals, but it’s not some carousel of gotcha-mechanics. It’s a game about controlling the board as best you can while bolstering your position just enough. It just so happens that controlling the board, in this case, means deciding when some players have had enough points and when they could use just a few more.
If you’re really looking for some Schadenfreudian satisfaction, snag your copy at Essen before some poor unnamed soul can grab theirs.
Your friends at the table,
