Migoyugo: The Surprise Game of 2026 (to Date)
When it comes to board games, my go-to place online is BoardGameGeek.
I like the site as a resource for games, but I also enjoy the many game design contests it hosts, where people far smarter than I create games.
Now, admittedly, there is a lot of “chaff” in such contests—games that don’t interest me in the least. But if you spend some time looking, there are always a few that you find yourself wanting to try.
That brings me to Migoyugo, which topped the 2026 Two-Player Print and Play Game Design Contest.
The game is by a Canadian designer who goes by the moniker “The Nightfly,” and it attracted my interest immediately. It is an abstract strategy game played on an 8×8 board—yep, it works wonderfully on an Othello board.
Players take turns placing Migos (temporary pieces) on any open square. There is some game-specific language that is neat, but ultimately doesn’t have much influence on how the game plays.
When you place a piece that completes a line of exactly four of your color—horizontal, vertical, or diagonal—that piece becomes a Yugo, a permanent piece that can never be removed. However, every Migo in that line disappears. To mark a Yugo, we simply put a red Risk piece on top of the Othello discs.
Get four of your Yugos in an unbroken row and you win instantly.
If neither player achieves this and the board fills up—or no legal moves remain—the player with the most Yugos wins. An equal number of Yugos results in a draw.
Overall, this one reminds me greatly of LOT, created in 2012 by Néstor Romeral Andrés. In that game, you make a line of three, which adds a piece to one of the pieces, and you are striving to create three stacks in a row.
I like LOT a lot. It’s a quick-to-learn game that is deep enough to hold your interest.
Now, whether Migoyugo provides anything that LOT doesn’t can certainly be argued, and I won’t make that determination. There is some recency influence with Migoyugo right now that might be shading my view.
I will say that either is well worth playing. Since both have rules you can download online and can be played with common game pieces that most “gamers” already have, I certainly recommend giving Migoyugo a try.
About Author
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
Migoyugo: The Surprise Game of 2026 (to Date)
Migoyugo: The Surprise Game of 2026 (to Date)
I like the site as a resource for games, but I also enjoy the many game design contests it hosts, where people far smarter than I create games.
Now, admittedly, there is a lot of “chaff” in such contests—games that don’t interest me in the least. But if you spend some time looking, there are always a few that you find yourself wanting to try.
That brings me to Migoyugo, which topped the 2026 Two-Player Print and Play Game Design Contest.
The game is by a Canadian designer who goes by the moniker “The Nightfly,” and it attracted my interest immediately. It is an abstract strategy game played on an 8×8 board—yep, it works wonderfully on an Othello board.
Players take turns placing Migos (temporary pieces) on any open square. There is some game-specific language that is neat, but ultimately doesn’t have much influence on how the game plays.
When you place a piece that completes a line of exactly four of your color—horizontal, vertical, or diagonal—that piece becomes a Yugo, a permanent piece that can never be removed. However, every Migo in that line disappears. To mark a Yugo, we simply put a red Risk piece on top of the Othello discs.
Get four of your Yugos in an unbroken row and you win instantly.
If neither player achieves this and the board fills up—or no legal moves remain—the player with the most Yugos wins. An equal number of Yugos results in a draw.
Overall, this one reminds me greatly of LOT, created in 2012 by Néstor Romeral Andrés. In that game, you make a line of three, which adds a piece to one of the pieces, and you are striving to create three stacks in a row.
I like LOT a lot. It’s a quick-to-learn game that is deep enough to hold your interest.
Now, whether Migoyugo provides anything that LOT doesn’t can certainly be argued, and I won’t make that determination. There is some recency influence with Migoyugo right now that might be shading my view.
I will say that either is well worth playing. Since both have rules you can download online and can be played with common game pieces that most “gamers” already have, I certainly recommend giving Migoyugo a try.
About Author
Calvin Daniels
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
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