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THE FINAL IS HERE!
Cascadia vs Root. One game will be crowned the World Cup of Board Games 2026 champion. Voting is on the blog.
When we started this tournament, Brass: Birmingham was the number one ranked game on BGG and the top seed. Ark Nova was number two. Terraforming Mars had been in the top ten for nearly a decade. Wingspan had probably been played in more households than any other modern board game.
None of them are in the World Cup of Board Games final.
The World Cup of Board Games final is Cascadia vs Root. A 45-minute tile-laying wildlife game from 2021 against an asymmetric woodland war game from 2018. Seed 25 vs seed 15. The Kennerspiel des Jahres winner against the game that knocked out BGG’s second-highest-ranked title.
I did not predict this. I do not think many people did. But here we are, and it is a genuinely brilliant final.
How the Semi Finals Went
Cascadia Beats 7 Wonders
Cascadia beat 7 Wonders to reach the final. 7 Wonders had been one of the stories of this tournament, coming through Azul 55-44 in the closest match of the competition and then knocking out Wingspan 67-33 in the quarter finals. It was a hard-fought run and it deserved better than a semi final exit.
Cascadia beat it. The tile-laying wildlife game from 2021 that teaches in five minutes and plays in 45 has now beaten Terraforming Mars, 7 Wonders, and reached the final of this entire tournament. It came in as seed 25. It is two matches away from being the World Cup of Board Games champion.
I said when previewing this semi final that Cascadia wins on warmth and that warmth has been beating depth at every turn in this tournament. The results keep proving that right.
Root Beats Lords of Waterdeep
Root beat Lords of Waterdeep to reach the final. Lords of Waterdeep had been the steady accumulator of this tournament, winning every match without ever dominating one. It ran out of road against Root, which has now beaten Everdell, Ark Nova, Pandemic, and Lords of Waterdeep on the way to the final.
Root wins on personality. It always has in this tournament. The people who love Root love it loudly, they vote when it matters, and they have carried it from seed 15 all the way to the final.
The Final: Cascadia vs Root
This is a genuinely fascinating final and not one I would have written if I were scripting it. I couldn’t have guessed these 2 would make it this far either.
Cascadia and Root are both set in natural environments. Both have beautiful artwork. Both play in under 90 minutes. And that is roughly where the similarities end.
The Case for Cascadia
Cascadia is the people’s champion in the truest sense. It is a game that almost anyone can play, that almost everyone who plays it enjoys, and that has accumulated a fanbase in just four years that most games never achieve across their entire lifetime. It won the Kennerspiel des Jahres. It has been one of the most gifted and recommended games since it came out.
It has won this tournament by beating games that are objectively heavier, longer, and more complex. Terraforming Mars by fifty percentage points. 7 Wonders in the semi final. Every time it has been the underdog on paper and every time the votes have come in for it.
The argument for Cascadia is that this tournament is a community vote, not a critical review, and the community has spoken consistently at every stage. Cascadia is the game more people want to back, and wanting to back it is itself the point.
The Case for Root
Root is the game that wins on feeling. Nobody who loves Root loves it quietly. The asymmetric factions, the chaotic politics, the stories that come out of every session, these are things that generate genuine passion in a way that not many games manage. The Eyrie Dynasties breaking their programme and collapsing into turmoil at the worst possible moment is a story that travels. The Woodland Alliance appearing from nowhere in round four with six sympathisers and suddenly winning is a story that travels.
Root has beaten BGG number two. It has beaten the most influential cooperative game ever made. It has done it all on personality and the strength of its fanbase’s conviction. That is a different kind of achievement to Cascadia’s consistent warmth, but it is an achievement.
The argument for Root is that this tournament should be won by the game people feel most strongly about, and the people who feel most strongly about Root feel it more intensely than almost any other fanbase in this bracket.
Which One Wins Vote Now!
I have been wrong about enough results in this tournament that I am going to be careful here.
My prediction: Cascadia wins. The warmth vote has beaten the passionate vote at every turn in the back half of this tournament. Cascadia beat Terraforming Mars by fifty points. It beat 7 Wonders. The pattern suggests it has a broader base of voters than Root does.
But Root beat Ark Nova. It beat Pandemic. It has defied every logical prediction I have made about it. If Root wins this final I will not be surprised. I will be delighted, actually, because Root is the better game and it would be a worthy champion.