When thousands of board gamers stream through the convention halls of SPIEL Essen in 2025, they’ll face an overwhelming sight: aisles upon aisles of new titles, big banners, and blockbuster releases elbowing for attention. But tucked between the industry giants, there’s one booth already generating a quiet stir—a small table likely decorated with soft colors and clean lines, the unmistakable calling card of Japanese designer Saashi.
This time, he’s not asking players to roast beans, wait for elevators, or take a stroll through a city. Instead, his newest creation will sweep us somewhere unexpected: onto the dance floor. The game is called Shall We Dance?—and it’s already shaping up to be one of SPIEL ’25’s most curious debuts.
The Saashi Touch
If you’ve followed Saashi’s career, you know he’s a master of small stories. His label, Saashi & Saashi, has built a reputation for games that are lean, approachable, and quietly poetic.
Take Coffee Roaster, a solo bag-building game about perfecting the craft of brewing, or In Front of the Elevators, where the tension isn’t combat or conquest, but those awkward, human moments of waiting for your turn. Remember Our Trip turned the act of reconstructing shared memories into a colorful, communal puzzle.
What ties all these games together? Three key traits:
- Accessibility: Rules simple enough to learn in minutes.
- Elegance: Art that feels like a sketchbook—minimalist, hand-drawn, warmly colored.
- Precision of theme: Every design feels tightly woven to a specific emotion or ritual of daily life.
And now, the ritual he’s choosing to explore is dance.
What We Know So Far About Shall We Dance?
Details are scarce, but whispers out of the BoardGameGeek community hint at a design focused less on points and more on timing, rhythm, and interaction between players. Early speculation suggests mechanics that may feel like programming motions in advance or building visual patterns—a playful way to echo the give-and-take of partners trying to stay in sync.
Imagine sitting at the table and asking not just “How can I score best?” but “Will our movements align the way we hope?” It’s an unusual premise for a board game, but that’s exactly what excites fans: Saashi has never been afraid of unusual premises.
Why SPIEL Essen Is the Perfect Stage
Essen is often painted as the Olympics of board games—but it’s not just about the loudest, biggest-budget releases. It’s also a haven for the weird, the personal, and the experimental. It’s where niche ideas find their people.
Saashi has always thrived in this environment. His booths tend to become international meeting points, buzzing with fans eager to grab small print runs before they sell out. If history repeats itself—and it often does—Shall We Dance? will be one of those blink-and-it’s-gone titles.
Why All the Buzz?
Several things are at play here:
- Originality. Dance is rarely touched in tabletop design. Just the suggestion feels fresh.
- Trust in the designer. Saashi has a reputation for making the ordinary feel magical. If anyone can turn a theme like this into a coherent, enjoyable game, it’s him.
- Aesthetic promise. His games are conversation starters at the table, and there’s little doubt this one will be too.
The Big Question
Will Shall We Dance? manage to capture the rhythm, joy, and vulnerability of stepping onto a dance floor—without asking players to leave their chairs? That’s what many are eager to discover. If it works, it could be one of the most memorable surprises of SPIEL ’25.
For now, we wait. Fans are already debating possibilities online: Will players partner up? Compete for the spotlight? Strike a balance between coordination and creativity? We’ll likely get our first answers in Essen, when curious gamers shuffle closer to that small booth and ask, quite literally: Shall we dance?
Your Turn
Are you excited about a dancing-themed board game? If you’ve played other Saashi titles, which one is your favorite—and does this latest theme sound like a natural next step or a wild experiment?
👉 Would you like me to create a hypothetical “first play” experience description, imagining what Shall We Dance? might feel like at the table using the details we know? That way, readers could feel the rhythm of how it could actually unfold in play.