Spiel Essen 2017

Tobywon · 24 Oct 2017 at 16:39

http://www.merz-verlag-en.com

Biggest in board game festival in the world, anyone else going?

First time for me, and luckily it's a 20 min drive away.

Any games people recommend trying?

PixieLandGirl · 27 Oct 2017 at 07:28

I was considering going this year but didn't get the chance with moving house and things.
Let me know how you get on & if you have an awesome time!

I'd have been trying to have a peek at:

Photosynthesis
Outlive
Gloomhaven & Founders of Gloomhaven (I've KS both but I'd have wanted to check out the booths anyway)
Lorenzo il Magnifico: Houses of Renaissance (I'd also want to keep an eye out for the base game)
Small World: Sky Islands
Indian Summer
Noria
Nemesis
Cities of Splendor

TNA · 27 Oct 2017 at 08:48

Never been. But we plan to go next year hopefully. Will be a lot longer than a 20 minute drive however

Tobywon · 27 Oct 2017 at 20:32

Tried to get Photosynthesis, Sold out by midday yesterday. The playtest was solid with queues for both yesterday and today sadly. Looks fantastic, really original and interesting, and the pieces themselves look very nice.
Skyislands adds some nice dynamics to normal smallworld. good fun if you've got vanilla or expansions.

Didnt get a chance to play Gloomhaven but again hugely popular, and from what ive read, with good reason.

Two i did get to play, new one from Hans im Gluck, Majesty, good fun, easy to learn like carcassone and quick. also room to make more complex with an A side and B side to game pieces.
Also Magic Maze, pretty intense but great fun, like speed dungeon crawler/zombiecide without the zombies. Winning awards and its easy to see why.

Was a lot busier today as well, hate to think how bad it'll be over the weekend.

Also got a very nice shogi set where the pieces had been redesigned to represent the available movement of the piece itself. Very well thought out and they look great.

JeditOjanen · 2 Nov 2017 at 13:20

Shame you didn't say you were going sooner, I'm always down to meet people and I was there all four days.

Photosynthesis is not as good as it's painted. Mechanically it is very strong, but you can lose a lot of points from mistakes so small you don't even know you're making them. The scoring is also pretty bad, coming in huge chunks. It will be big for a while, then disappear. Altiplano was another big game that sold out early and disappointed me, although I need a few more plays to be sure.

Big surprise for me so far is Iquazu. It's a medium-light card driven area control game with a clock, very pretty but also very smooth. Keep an eye out for it.

Saturday was fairly quiet for Spiel, due to trains out of Dusseldorf being delayed. Even so there was still record footfall of 182,000, up 8000 from last year.

suenstar · 16 Nov 2017 at 10:41

I keep meaning to go to Spiel but never get around to booking it... one year I will get there.

JeditOjanen · 16 Nov 2017 at 13:05

suenstar said:
I keep meaning to go to Spiel but never get around to booking it... one year I will get there.

Book a hotel now for 2018, it's 25-28 October. Pick one you can cancel without cost up to September, there will be plenty, and make the rest of your plans later. Once you've taken that first and most important step, you'll have the momentum.

mid_gen · 17 Nov 2017 at 09:46

Bear in mind that you can get around the NRW very easily and cheap by train. Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund are all very well connected.

I don't know if the Spiel tickets include rail travel...but it's fairly common here, Gamescom and Football match tickets always include free rail travel to and from the venue.

JeditOjanen · 17 Nov 2017 at 13:00

mid_gen said:
I don't know if the Spiel tickets include rail travel.

Four-day tickets don't and door tickets don't, but online you can book Kombi day tickets that include rail travel within the VRR. For the benefit of people who aren't mid_gen, that covers the Rhein-Ruhr region including Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Bochum, Duisberg, Oberhausen and Mulheim.

We also found out this year that travelling from Essen to Dusseldorf Flughafen by taxi can be as cheap as €53 depending where your hotel is. If there's three of you in the taxi this is only €5pp more expensive than the train even if you're within walking distance of Essen Hbf, and you don't have to carry that heavy suitcase full of games.

Your hotel should handle the booking for you if you ask; just be sure to make certain the company knows you have big bags so they can send a larger car.

suenstar · 17 Nov 2017 at 13:47

JeditOjanen said:
Book a hotel now for 2018, it's 25-28 October. Pick one you can cancel without cost up to September, there will be plenty, and make the rest of your plans later. Once you've taken that first and most important step, you'll have the momentum.

I may just look at doing that once all the Christmas spending is out of the way.

mid_gen · 17 Nov 2017 at 14:18

JeditOjanen said:
Four-day tickets don't and door tickets don't, but online you can book Kombi day tickets that include rail travel within the VRR. For the benefit of people who aren't mid_gen, that covers the Rhein-Ruhr region including Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Bochum, Duisberg, Oberhausen and Mulheim.

We also found out this year that travelling from Essen to Dusseldorf Flughafen by taxi can be as cheap as €53 depending where your hotel is. If there's three of you in the taxi this is only €5pp more expensive than the train even if you're within walking distance of Essen Hbf, and you don't have to carry that heavy suitcase full of games. Your hotel should handle the booking for you if you ask; just be sure to make certain the company knows you have big bags so they can send a larger car.

More Rhine travel tips...

There's a 'SchonesTagesTicket für 5'...that gives you unlimited train travel in the Rhein-Ruhr for 5 people off peak (after 0900 weekdays, or weekends)...it's 44 Euros.

Tobywon · 17 Nov 2017 at 15:08

I live in Duisburg currently and its quicker to get the train to Essen than it is to drive. So def a good option for next years Spiel.

JeditOjanen · 18 Nov 2017 at 12:57

suenstar said:
I may just look at doing that once all the Christmas spending is out of the way.

Book it now, the best and most reasonable hotels fill very fast. You won't be paying until you get there.

E: some perspective here - I booked in early February this year and a lot of places were already full or down to the last couple of rooms.