Lovely Golem 2026

In Lovely Golem, players take on the roles of scientists in a fantastical world, gathering discarded Parts from Scrap Mountain to build their own Golems and compete in the annual Golem Exhibition.

Over five rounds, players compete for Parts through face-down bidding using a hand of ten cards. Each player first chooses one available Part and places a card face down beneath it, then, in reverse turn order, places a second card beneath a different Part. Energy cards, with values from 1 to 6, are used for bidding, while Dynamite can cause explosions that disrupt competing bids. When a player wins a Part, the Energy used to acquire it is placed on that Part, and its value is added to the Part's Strength.

At the end of the game, each player's Golem Strength is calculated using their strongest Part of each type, together with the effects of Gears and Magic Ore. Building stronger Parts can increase a player's final score, but it also creates a risk: a Golem with a Strength of 20 or more runs wild, eliminating that player from contention. However, a player who has collected all five Part types achieves Perfect Control and can safely reach or exceed 20 Strength without running wild.

At the beginning of the game, each player also receives one hidden Part Card that only its owner may look at. Throughout the game, players must try to deduce what types of Parts their rivals may already have and how strong those hidden Parts might be. Players must therefore balance winning valuable Parts against keeping their Golem's power under control, while also trying to read their rivals' hidden information. Among the players whose Golems have not run wild, the player with the highest Golem Strength wins the Golem Exhibition.

—description from the publisher