I still go to Essen SPIEL. I still love Essen SPIEL.
Is it the show that it was? Not really. Since the big
rearrangement of two years ago, I think some of the smaller publishers
have been priced out; instead we get vendors of backpacks and even
game-branded clothing, Fancy a The Witcher hoodie? But the feel of
the show is still there: tens of thousands of people, all of whom are
enthusiastic about board games.
I love setup day. Everyone is working together to get the thing ready.
View from the hotel window.
Out for Currywurst from Zum Xaver, (They
close at 7.30, they're half an hour's fast walk from the Messe, and
the show closes at 7, so this had to be on the evening of setup day.)
The hotel (JustStay) is unstaffed, and normally I'm not a fan, but
they were very responsive to email. Also, they provide a breakfast
box, which meant I could eat in my room rather than wrangling a mask
in a restaurant.
Into the show. This is "Catan Connect", a massively parallel version
of the game; there's a timing app to keep turns synchronised, and you
can trade with your neighbours.
My demos on Thursday morning were for Flash Point Legacy of Flame;
since this is the first training mission it's pretty much the standard
Flash Point family game, plus a minimal fire deck.
Then out into the show for the games I'd planned to look at. I loved
the theme of Ada's Dream, but looking the actuality it's clearly too
far down the modern Euro path for my taste.
The show is mostly boardgames (and accessories), but some of them
drift a bit into toy territory.
Friday morning pigeons.
Remember those prismatic displays that would flip between two images
as you moved past them? Now they do them with three images.
Clearly this sort of thing appeals to someone.
Walls of Scydonia. Never mind the game, what a toy.
Echidna Shuffle. OK. Fine. Great.
Iron Forest, the next thing from the people who produced Ice Cool.
Very pretty but I remember when this launched with great fanfare
several years ago and I've not seen it mentioned since.
Cutesy dragon incense burner.
Alien rock band? Why not?
More Currywurst to gather strength for an afternoon of demonstrations.
Invincible: The Card Game, new for the show. It's the same basic
framework as Aeon's End or Astro Knights (in fact it's directly
compatible with the latter), but framed as a superhero vs villain
fight and tied to the Invincible
comic. Since
that's a modern comic with some self-awareness rather than just grindy
fights, there's some humour in here too, like one of the better
power-ups being a hamburger.
On the way out through the Asmodée hall, I noticed that they’d rigged
up extra-bright lighting rather than the standard. As I walked past
demo tables, their people were standing around looking vaguely dazed;
one in particular was just unconscious-upright like a pithed frog,
until someone came to her table and she visibly switched on. Glad I’m
not working for them! (They get paid a lot more, but they don't get to
see the show at all; it's a full-time job. Which means they tend to be
publicity people rather than game enthusiasts.)
What used to be Zwilling Imbiss, the closest place outside the Messe
to get some food, had been demolished and rebuilt since last year.
(But on Saturday evening at the end of the show they were simply
closed. Throwing money away…)
The hotel has a lounge that might not be terrible for evening gaming.
(Something that doesn't happen much at Essen.)
Saturday morning. The coffee vendors always open early to catch the
demonstrators heading in for the day.
No spiral potatoes this year, again, alas. But I did run into JC
Bouvier of Rallyman fame, and we had a good chat.
We'd sold out of Legacy of Flame so this morning I showed off good
old Flash Point. There's still no shortage of people who've never
played it.
Then later in the day we sold out of that too, so I switched to
Diamonds, a trick-taking game from the last time those were hugely
popular. It has some interesting twists and people seemed to enjoy it.
On Sunday morning, an Essen raven (Saturday's chip for scale).
I managed a quick absorption of the rulebook and showed off
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition. If I wanted to play something
more like Terraforming Mars than the dice game, I might well go for
this; it's a lot less of a slog than the full game, though it loses
the geographical placement element that both the original and the dice
game retain.
Schnitzel in a bun.
He managed to get this round the halls without poking people. I think
he didn't bend down much.
I had a camping trolley for shopping, but only used it on Thursday;
the show was very crowded even then. Some other people had them too,
often for small children plus requisites, who gradually migrated to
backpacks during the day as the trolleys got filled with games.
Post-show beer. Followed by a very fine all-you-can-eat Arabic
buffet that nobody else seemed to have
found.
The final haul (shopping and demo pay):
- Flash Point Legacy plus the board box
- Compile Main 2 and Aux 2
- Deluxe arena for Kabuto Sumo Sakura Slam, and another promo.
- Tinderblox Storm
- Deckers (the new Renegade)
- Diamonds
- Invincible and expansions
- Map Masters
- Ticket Gagnant
- Earth Abundance plus Weather
- Terraforming Mars Dice: Missions
Most of the hotels for next year were getting full even before the
date had been announced…