Valerie Putman
I was a kid on Christmas morning. No, better. I was Charlie in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. No, even better. I was Cinderella at the ball dancing with the prince. That still doesn’t quite describe it. I know…I was a gamer at Spiel in Essen, Germany. Ah, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
Imagine an exhibit hall full of games. Bigger than Origins. Bigger than Gen Con. Bigger than both the exhibit hall and the dealer hall at Dragon*Con put together. Bigger than a football field. Then imagine a series of 6 or 7 of them all interconnected into a twisted labyrinth of endless games. There were tons of booths with tables and game demos. There were dealers with the newest games shiny and pristine in shrink wrap. There were bargains at stalls with avalanches of overstocked games. There were seas of used games—both rare and common—picked over but still with hidden treasures. It was a bit overwhelming.
I was lucky enough to be with a group of friends that were all Essen veterans. I learned to stake out an empty table early in the morning before the crowds swelled. I learned to trust “the buzz” and buy a few games without even playing them. I do think it is worth the time, though, to wait for an empty table at a popular booth if necessary—otherwise you will spend the entire fair playing mediocre games. In fact, here are a few other lessons I’ve learned….
• If you have a diet pepsi or other caffeine addiction like I do, fill the empty suitcase you’re bringing with bottles of soda. The soda available at the fair is expensive and in open cups—easily spilled. It doesn’t hurt to bring power bars or other snacks, too—unless you don’t mind a daily diet of hot dogs, donuts, and ice cream. This will also ensure you some empty space in your suitcase for games going home.
• If you buy a game in an open box, be sure to check the contents carefully. Accidents can happen and it is heartbreaking to realize that you are packing an empty display box Sunday night.
• Dinners at German restaurants can be long, social events. If you are looking for cheap, fast food, I recommend the sandwiches sold at the gas stations. Best sandwich I ever had. Really!
• Stop buying games about 6 months before you go. There is nothing more heartbreaking than finding a pile of games in the Heidelberger booth for 7.50 Euro that you just paid $25 for a few months ago (especially if they are still in shrink wrap at home). Of course, this has to be balanced by the fact that your suitcase has limits.
• Make sure your suitcase has your name and address on it. The baggage claim sticker can rip off and your suitcase could take an unexpected detour to Las Vegas with all of your new games inside.
• Play lots and lots of games—you never know where you will find a hidden gem.
Here’s a quick rundown of the games I played at the fair and what I thought of them.
Valerie’s Essen from top to bottom:
Rating,Game,Publisher
Comments
8.5, Mesopotamia, Mayfair Games
Loved it!! The turns moved quickly because it was possible to think about your turn while others played. While the decisions in one turn weren’t difficult—the accumulation of many decisions about when to build and when to make sacrifices greatly affect your play efficiency. Our game was so close that in the end, it felt like every decision really mattered. I look forward to playing this one again and again.
8.5, Euphrat & Tigris – Das Kartenspiel, Hans im Glück
Fabulous! All the flavor of the board game with a few minor twists playable in 45 minutes!
8, Dungeon Twister expansion set figures, Fenryll
Ok, these are a game component, not a game. I just wanted to mention that I picked up a set at Essen. The figures are a little pricy, but amazing. I can’t imagine playing Dungeon Twister without them.
7.5, Rotunda, Adlung Spiele
A unique set building and hand management card game. Very fun and completely different. The rules translations were difficult to understand.
7.5, Siena, Z-man games
A beautiful game with lots of difficult choices about when to advance and when to lag behind and benefit from the mechanisms intended to hold back the leaders. A player aid is necessary for the cards.
7, Kings Progress, JKLM
With a drafting and "investing" mechanism similar to Union Pacific, it's no surprise that I liked this game. I'm not usually a fan of special ability cards--in this game they reminded me of the abilities in Titan: The Arena because you can lose them to other players. I prefer this to special ability cards that you are randomly assigned from the beginning of a game.
7, Hazienda, Hans im Glück
After the first play I agreed with others that it was nothing innovative, but I liked it better after the second play when I had a better sense of how to plan ahead for the scoring opportunities.
7, Skyline of the World, The Game Master
An interesting building game with some similarities to Manhattan but more interesting choices, in my opinion.
7, Fettnapf, Amigo
A must own for home schoolers and educators. It was a quick, light, fun card game that requires constant use of your adding, subtracting, and memory skills.
6.5, Techno Witches, Rio Grande Games
A spatial relations game similar to Wings of War but with lots of scenarios and none of the shooting!
6.5, Hey! That’s My Fish, Mayfair Games
There’s more skill to this game than I first expected. Still, it is almost too quick—the set up of the tiles takes almost as long as the game play.
6.5, Key Largo, Tilsit
An interesting exploration game with many similarities to Pirate’s Cove (but much better, in my opinion).
6.5, Shear Panic, Fragor Games
This game sold out before the show but I got a chance to play it. I’m concerned that the sheep may be a bit fragile. Also, the down time between turns is boring since you can’t plan ahead.
6, Um Ru(h)m und Ehre, Alea
Easy to learn and with a pirate theme, fun to play. It was lighter than I prefer, but a good family game. Lots of scoring options and the dice rolling was not the primary game mechanism.
6, Big Manitou, What’s Your Game?
A light and fun game that requires a bit of “out guessing” your opponents.
6, Daimyo, Tenki Games
The basic game is a decent abstract maneuver and capture game—but for the same feel I would prefer the Hive. The advanced game introduces special cards and abilities that might improve the game for some.
6, Aqua Romana, Queen Games
Game play wasn’t intuitive. Players knocked out early who thought they were “out of it” won the game by a landslide. It also didn’t have the puzzle feel I want from a game that looks so much like Metro at first glance.
6, Raubritter, Queen Games
An ok tile laying game. I liked the separate draw piles ensuring that we all had the same scoring opportunities, but with the order of our draws somewhat randomized.
6, Carcassonne—Neues Land, Hans im Glück
Even with a playmat the scoring was confusing. Nothing innovative.
6, Ark, Rio Grande Games
Even with player aids I think the restrictions on card placements would be confusing. This might not be an issue for gamers who play the same game often.
5.5, Aloha, Cwali
A tile laying game with fiddly rules for tile placement.
5.5, Angkor, Schmidt Spiele
I’m concerned that the luck factor of the tile draw may be what wins or loses the game, but there may be some skill in the decisions. Frankly, the game play is not interesting enough for me to try it enough times to find out.
5, Beetlez, daVinci Games
A quick, light speed and memory game. It was sort of creepy how well the game captured the theme of bugs scurrying under the fridge when the lights came on.
5, Giza Fun, Factory Games
The “take-that” aspect of the game is substantial and a lack of clear choices for targets could make an unpleasant experience for some when attacks feel random.
4, Wordwild, BeWitched-Spiele
I don’t enjoy word games—particularly ones that reward speed (quickly seeing that ro + t = rot) over creativity (taking more time to see that ro + ….. + t = robust).
3.5, Trading Routes, Van der Veer Games
It was so rare to complete a trade route that you were compelled to score whenever you could—no matter how few the points. On all other turns your play was completely random, making it impossible to plan ahead. We only played the basic rules, but I have no intention of ever playing it again. The advanced rules sounded like it would be even harder to score or plan meaningful turns.
Last edited on 2005-10-21 06:15:23 CST (Total Number of Edits: 3)
Posted Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:46 pm
