I wasn’t able to go to UKGE this year, though I kind of wished I had after seeing multiple people posting about it. I’ve never been there, but it looked like a lot of fun! Going to conventions—especially those in another country—is expansive though. Which made me think: what remains of SPIEL Essen 2024? Was it worth it?

As a visual reminder, here is the shot I posted after Essen of the games I got. Not as huge as what you usually see on YouTube or Instagram, but quite substantial. I also picked up a few more games afterwards that I hadn’t been able to purchase at the convention itself.

The Good, But Not For Me

There were a whole bunch of games that were solid to even great, but just didn’t work for me. Or I had similar games in my collection I just vastly preferred, so I sold them all off.

• SETI (SOLD) is arguably the big winner of SPIEL 24. I however sold my copy early on. It’s a limited resources, tableau builder sort of in the vein of a Terraforming Mars, Ark Nova. I get the appeal, but it just sadly isn’t my type of game.
• Daitoshi (SOLD): A similar case was Dani Garcia’s new game. Big production, some clever ideas. I liked it in principle, but I just didn’t have any fun playing it. I guess I’m over mostly mechanical efficiency Euros. Not a bad game, but not a keeper for me.
• Gloomhaven Button & Bugs (SOLD) seemed clever, but it just didn’t hook me. I’m not the biggest fan of campaign style games anyway, and at the same time I had Tidal Blades 2 fulfil. Still, lots of game for a tiny box!
• Flamme Rouge: Grand Tour (SOLD) was pretty good, but ultimately it came too late for me. I don’t need both Heat and Flamme Rouge in my collection. And so the expansion actually triggered me to sell off my whole set of Flamme Rouge, everything I had collected.
• Tea Garden (SOLD) also was a solid Euro. I enjoyed my 2-3 plays of it but while it was well designed and the combine-cards mechanism was interesting, I just couldn’t see myself playing it much.

The “Meh” to Bad

• Resafa (SOLD): I usually enjoy Vladimir Suchy’s games (Evacuation, Woodcraft, Underwater City) quite a bit, but Resafa was the first complete miss for me. There just wasn’t anything there that peeked my interest. Sold it off pretty quickly.
• Altay (SOLD): I was sort of talked into this deck-building mini-civ game on the SPIEL press event, but the stunning art also did its job. The gameplay though was much too same-y for me and all of us at the table felt something was off with this game.
• AI 100% human (SOLD): I had demoed it at SPIEL already and knew this drafting card game wasn’t for me. I guess I was just caught up in the general buzz at the fair and wanted to give it another try when I got back home. In the end, I sold it off before playing again because it was quite expansive.
• Kintsugi (SOLD): I knew this would be pretty light, but that art and topic just pulled me in. Played it a few times and then passed it on.
• Souvenirs of Venice (SOLD) is another case of me demoing it and knowing its flaws but just being swept up what with being at the convention and all. Still love the theme, but there is just not enough to the gameplay itself.
• Stamp Swap (SOLD): I picked this up second hand after the fair, just because I wanted to give it another try. It looks gorgeous and the solo mode worked surprisingly well, but in the end it’s still just a very nicely produce 3-round I-cut-you-choose. Might have kept it if it would have come in a smaller box.

The Keepers

• Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom (KEPT) was my biggest surprise and the purchase I had the most fun with. This small little box repeatedly has you go through your deck (=your kingdom) and discard cards to upgrade other cards and then see this again later. I still maintain: it would have been even better without the legacy stickering.

• Galileo Galilei (KEPT): I only demoed this on the last day of SPIEL but I was glad I did! As predicted in my review, I don’t get this much to the table, but I always have a good time when I do. Lovely theme, great art, nice Euro-comboing.

• Sky Team Turbulence (KEPT): this is a strange one. I was so eager to get it when I was at Esssen but I still have yet to play it. I guess there already was enough content for me in the base game.

• The Roads & Boats Scenario Book (KEPT): Truth be told, this was more an aspirational purchase for me as I want to get Roads & Boats to the table more. I haven’t really used the book though so far. Instead, I played a few BGG solo challenges and I’m eager to try out the New Lands variant a user posted. But I still plan on going through those scenarios soon … ish 😀

• Landmarks (KEPT): I almost forgot that this came out in 2024! It’s such an unobtrusive little game, small box, lovely production. I don’t get to play word games much but this is still my favourite.

• Tranquility: The Ascent (KEPT): I already had multiple copies of the KS version on the way, but I grabbed a couple more as gifts for friends. I still enjoy playing this one and recently even created a custom playmat for it.

Buying vs Experiencing

So looking at the list above, the games I kept consist of only two I would never have discovered if I wouldn’t have been there, one I could simply have picked up at retail, two expansions I still have yet to play, and one novelty item. That’s not a great return on investment for all the time and money spent to go to SPIEL for 4 days (5 if counting the press day), right?

Well, that’s kind of my point. We usually see the giant haul videos/pictures, people post about all the great games they’ve gotten, and most of us—with a little bit of envy—think of all the ones we would have gotten if we only had been there. Well, if you’re in for the games, just wait a month or so and order online. Except for a few rare instances, at least here in Europe, pretty much everything was available in retail within 1-2 months. I would say the sold out SETI was the most difficult to get post-Essen, but everybody knew it was only a question of time before CGE would catch up with the demand.

In my opinion, the thing that makes going to conventions worth it is the experience of being there, not the games you bring home. Witnessing the giant lines for a particularly hot game, that rush of anticipation when the doors finally open, being surrounded by other people that enjoy the hobby as much as you do.

The People

So when I think back at SPIEL Essen 2024, I mostly remember the people. Here are a few of my favourite encounters:

It was the first time for me to stay in a hotel close to the fair, but post-convention gaming has quickly become one of my favourite aspects of SPIEL. I met up with Board Game Diaries (who I had never met in person before) and was thus able to play SETI before the fair even opened! The hotels had also done a great job preparing rooms for gaming and so one night I just got to chat to some other convention goer that stayed in the same hotel and ended up playing their group’s new purchases.

Other things happened completely at random: On the first official day of SPIEL, I woke up early and decided to just leisurely stroll to the convention center. Since I had so much time, I sat down in a bakery, got a quick breakfast and ended up chatting to nice Scottish fellow because I saw his multiple pages of paper he had prepared with games he wanted to check out. It was such a nice conversation, I almost arrived late at the convention! Actually saw him multiple times over the next days, which is kind of astonishing for a convention with 50k people in attendance each day.

The most random encounter started with someone on instagram posting about a signing session with Ryan Laukat (designer of Sleeping Gods, Creature Caravan, …). Ryan and I had talked for two hours doing Origin Stories: Sleeping Gods and it was such a lovely conversation that I always had wanted to meet him in person. But I had never thought he would come all the way to Essen, so I hadn’t even asked. We managed to spontaneously meet up and had a lovely chat over coffee. I still kind of dread it was me having to cut it short … but then again it was to head over to talk with Martin Wallace, so … 😀

I hadn’t known Joshua Acosta before and now that I know him am always surprised where his name pops up (e.g. seeing him on Heavy Cardboard to play Age of Steam). We started chatting when I picked up my copy of the R&B Scenario Book and I realised how much of a passion project it was.

Meeting Tomas Holek (SETI, Galileo Galilei, Tea Garden) was a case of “sometimes you just have to ask”. CGE had a nice part of their booth where they did a rotating “meeting the designer”. It was basically just a tiny standing desk with a sign letting people know who was standing there. I was walking by and thought what probably a lot of people thought: huh, so that’s Tomas Holek! It was his first year with games coming out and at least I had never seen a picture of him. So I walked over, introduced myself, and asked if he would be up for an interview. He kindly agreed and so we got to do an episode of Table Talk which turned out great. I’m still not quite sure if I was just lucky or if he thought I was working for BGG when I had said I’m writing reviews and posting them on BGG. It might have been a language barrier thing 😀

Another pleasant surprise was the impromptu chance to interview the head of SPIEL Carol Rapp. I’m still super happy about that one, especially considering I only had about 20min to prep. Carol was a lot of fun to talk with, would love to do it again some time.

Conventions are also a great way to meet up with people you already know a little bit. I always enjoy saying “hi” to Vangelis Bagiatarkis (Hegemony, World Order, Freedom!, …), Martin Wallace (Brass, Bloodstone, Steam Power, …), Mac Gerdts (Concordia, 7 Empires, Antike, …). Or to randomly run into people who—thanks to the internet—you know but who don’t really know you. Like Eleni (a.k.a. Cardboard Rhino), Candice (of BGG), Derek (of Heavy Cardboard), Flo (of Get on Board), … it’s always nice to have the chance to fanboy a bit and let someone know how much you appreciate what they are doing. But I try to keep it short. After all, they have things to do and I’m mostly a rando to them 😀

See You At Essen?

So despite the game haul not being that great, I already had booked my hotel room for 2025 before the convention had even closed. Going into SPIEL 24, I had planned to do more interviews and I think I will focus on that again this year. It’s such a nice way to get to know people a bit more in-depth than the usual “hi, I like what you do”.

Another resolution of mine is to go back to my old “just what you can carry on the train” purchasing rule. I had cheated that a bit in 2024 by sending off a package from SPIEL (including some games I got for friends), which was expansive but worked great. Rationally thinking though, I just need 2-3 big box games and a few little ones to enjoy and write about in the days after Essen. Everything else I can just order later. It’s usually even cheaper than getting stuff at the convention!

And finally, I want to try to connect more before the convention even starts. Letting people know I will be there, exchanging numbers, maybe arrange for some after hours gaming or a quick coffee at the convention. I should also make a wish list of who I want to meet that I haven’t so far. Well, I guess I should as always start with Jeroen & Joris from Splotter. It kind of feels like a tradition by now …

What are you looking forward to when you think of SPIEL Essen 2025? Let me know in the comments!