Peter Struijf
Netherlands
Zoetermeer
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This is the ninth part of my Essen story, which covers the final Sunday of the fair. "We are reaching the short strokes", as a Canadian acquaintance of ours used to say: the end of the Spiel and the end of my story are near...
Sunday morning is bright and shiny: the dawn of the final day gives energy and enthusiasm after yesterday's exhaustion. I have said goodbye to Michael and Babsi, who have given me a home away from home for four days, loads of good advice and practical help, and much friendship and good conversation. I will miss them - but I will see Michael in two weeks time at a tournament (the testosterone one) and they have said I would be welcome again at their house next SPIEL. I will certainly remember, on the assumption I am still in the boardgame business next year (and not working in Darfur or Afghanistan).
A nice surprise arrives at the stand by 0930: Melchior and Liz arrive after racing from Holland in just two hours. We go to the coffee shop and drink a cup, while I update them on the events of the past few days and how we can divide the tasks today. I know I have a number of game shops (from Germany, the USA and Switzerland) who have ordered one or more boxes of games to take home to their shops. We also have an almost fully booked programme for the demo games: there are 2 seats out of 16 left for new arrivals.
At 1005 we are back at stand 4-415 and find our first customers: Victoria & Friends, a group of four Canadians who had booked their table yesterday at lunchtime. When they have all taken their seats and I sit on my knees next to the table as usual, one says "This had better be good, because we are VERY active on Boardgamegeek !" It sounds frightening, but during my explanation Victoria's Friends already show a lot of excitement about the rules, which they recognise as having some really new and different mechanics from most boardgames they know.
It is a wonderful start to the day, as these guys turn out to be another group of diehard gamers who know each other well. They catch on to the game incredibly quickly and play a really good game: after one Season, there is nothing left for Liz to do but join the banter and enjoy the play. It is possibly the best demo game out of the 16-20 I have seen throughout the fair.
By the middle of Sunday, I realise I have learnt (from the many different players who tried the demo game) a lot about my own game. In particular, I think I understand much better why some people love it and some others are not overly impressed. Obviously, no single game is likely to appeal to everyone, because people have different tastes and preferences. I would guess that 70-80% of the boardgamers who sat down and played a demo game of Kraków liked it, some of them a lot! I considered that a brilliant result, although it is biased by the fact that the game was already on the radar/wish list of many among them. But I also started to recognise the reasons why the other 20-30% did not like the game all that much - and tried to see their point of view and no longer take it as some form of personal rejection or failure.
In a Kraków Game Turn (Season) each player gets a hand of nine Intrigue cards, of which he (or she) will have to play seven. The basic challenges of the card game in Kraków are in hand management, counting/remembering cards and balancing your own (secret) goals with team goals. I observed that quite a few real "boardgamers" feel constrained or frustrated by "a bad hand of cards", which then "leaves them with no options to pursue their goals".
In card games, you generally start out with a handful of options, which become fewer and fewer as you empty your hand. Most boardgames work in quite the opposite way (think of all the resource management / building and combining games which are so popular): you often start the game with few options and resources, but every turn you draw another card / place another worker bee/trade your spices for a ship/get income/etc.
In other words: the typical Euro-gamer expects his options to increase or at least replenish themselves, while the card player enjoys managing a dwindling resource (his shrinking hand of cards). If you get dealt a lousy hand of cards in Kraków, it can be a real test of skill and a lot of fun to "make the best of it". But playing through the same bad hand can be a really frustrating experience to other gamers! And there is nothing particulary good or bad about either: it is just a different skill and mind set, that's all...
Enough amateur psychology, back to the story! There were two incidents on Sunday afternoon, which showed me that four days is quite long enough for any fair: both the stand holders and the hard gamers (I mean club members and die-hards who visit the fair for at least three days)are reaching the limits of their energy supply.
In the middle of the afternoon, a big misunderstanding breaks out about an invoice for 6 games, which we have sold. The shop owner is convinced we must deduct the VAT, while I am convinced this amount is excluding the VAT already. She is in a big hurry, she needs to catch a train fairly soon and she has been to my stand several times on Saturday (when I was all alone and had really little time). Somehow, under the time pressure and the exhaustion of four days of doing the Essen business, we find it very difficult to understand each other. If we were both at peace and energetic, I think we would have resolved this matter within one minute. Now we spend nearly 15 minutes apparently disagreeing, but mostly misunderstanding, each other and the dreaded tax laws of our nations. Fortunately, we do manage to resolve the issue in the end, we hug to celebrate our achievement and my customer sets off with a box of games for the shop.
Another prime example of Essen Exhaustion faces us at 1600: the start of the last demo game of Spiel 2008 for Geode Games. Our customers are three Dutchmen and a Belgian, all members of boardgame clubs. They have been at Essen for days on end, have played and bought a lot of new games and are also reaching the bottoms of their barrels. As they sit down, it looks as if they couldn't care less what the game may be all about: all they want is to have a chair to sit on for an hour or two. These guys would probably not object to playing a game of Russian Roulette right now, as long as they need not get up and drag away the corpses of the loosers, which would be soooo tiring.
I do understand these guys: if you come to Essen as a gamer for several days, it is a really exhausting experience. There is standing, queueing, waiting, carrying, dragging, buying, searching, trying to find your way in this maze, walking through crowds, trying to find your car in the parking garage, eating in snack joints and sleeping in hotel beds. The one thing totally unavailable in this entire spectacle called Essen, which offers all this space and an incredible variety of treats for the boardgame lover, is a place to sit down, rest your feet and have some peace for five minutes. And that is, after all, a fairly normal human need over a period of four days.....
Fortunately, the Dutch and Belgian boardgamers find their energy after struggling through my last rules explanation. They actually play a pretty decent game and enjoy themselves.....but when they get up to leave they say "That was our last game of Essen 2008 !" and I hear their silent sigh of relief. I sigh as well: this is the end of me and my game's exposure to The Public at this fair. It has been an amazing experience, with really only positive things to take home and a lot of lessons about preparing and working at a boardgame fair. I survived my vertical learning curve, met lots and lots of really wonderful people, who made me feel a real sense of achievement and a priceless reward for all our efforts.
At 1830 some of the lights are dimmed and most of the visitors seem to have left the halls. Now comes the final stage in the adventure: closing up, finalising the business with Jack, followed by the long drive back home.
That part of the story I will leave for the 10th and final installment, which will follow on Monday. I need to get up tomorrow morning fairly early and will be gone from this nighttime desk for the next three evenings - I have a date with another destiny (a much smaller one): the Grenadier ASL tournament in Hergarten, Germany.
I hope to catch you all on Monday....take care now.
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Peter Struijf
Netherlands
Zoetermeer
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hi guys,
just before I jump in the train.....this picture of "the final rules explanation" might support my story....it was a tough one for all five of us !
Peter
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Robèr Boonmann
Netherlands
Geldrop
Noord-Brabant
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It's nice to read they got their enery back while playing the game, because in the picture they all look like dead birds.
I hope they quite liked the game, because the one in the yellow t-shirt is going to introduce me to the game, in about a few weeks time (after Zwolle)
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Dany Simard
Canada
Gatineau
Québec
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Wow! Thanks for share your Essen's experience Peter. I'm a French Canadian and my English can be improve but I can't miss one of your post. It's a good story from the other side! I'll give some time for a company in a fair in Quebec this saturday and I hope to have a good experience too.
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Chris Long
United States
State College
Pennsylvania
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peterstruijf wrote: In a Kraków Game Turn (Season) each player gets a hand of nine Intrigue cards, of which he (or she) will have to play seven. The basic challenges of the card game in Kraków are in hand management, counting/remembering cards and balancing your own (secret) goals with team goals. I observed that quite a few real "boardgamers" feel constrained or frustrated by "a bad hand of cards", which then "leaves them with no options to pursue their goals".
One potential suggestion for you could be to lower the number of cards that they have to play, perhaps down to 5 instead. That would alleviate some of the feelings of being stuck with a bad hand. Obviously not completely, because its still luck of the draw, but statistically it would be less significant. And likely, it would probably help psychologically as well.
You could also potentially have actions or something similar that you could perform with any card. In other words, there are some actions that could be taken by discarding cards from your hand instead of having the appropriate action around. Then the players wouldn't have as much of a feeling of being lost with no options. If you've got nothing worth doing, there's still the "Well, I could always do this with the junk in my hand" option available. Another psychological plus.
Now obviously that would drastically change the feel of the game, and maybe you don't want to do that. But I think you'd retain enough of your target audience, and open the game up to a broader audience at the same time.
Of course I have no idea how far in development you are, how readily you could incorporate these suggestions, or really anything whatsoever about your game or its mechanics. Just thought I'd offer. Take or leave the suggestions as you like. 
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Gavin Wynford-Jones
France
Ferney-Voltaire
Just across the border from Geneva, Switzerland
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radynski wrote: peterstruijf wrote: In a Kraków Game Turn (Season) each player gets a hand of nine Intrigue cards, of which he (or she) will have to play seven. The basic challenges of the card game in Kraków are in hand management, counting/remembering cards and balancing your own (secret) goals with team goals. I observed that quite a few real "boardgamers" feel constrained or frustrated by "a bad hand of cards", which then "leaves them with no options to pursue their goals". One potential suggestion for you could be to lower the number of cards that they have to play, perhaps down to 5 instead. That would alleviate some of the feelings of being stuck with a bad hand. Obviously not completely, because its still luck of the draw, but statistically it would be less significant. And likely, it would probably help psychologically as well.
As Peter said, there are many styles of gamer, and I wouldn't change the game just to suit the 20% (but I'm not a game designer, so what do I know). You can't please all the people all the time. (In fact, this perception of "frustration" is subject enough for a complete article on playing styles!)
I have to agree with Peter 100% (and then some!) about the lack of places in which to sit and recover. A number of us, including some influential types, have written to the organisers, but never received any response. That, too, is subject enough for a whole article: "Where Essen goes wrong"...
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Posted Wed Nov 5, 2008 11:22 pm
