Spiel
Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day boardgame trade fair which is also open to the public held in October[1] (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen exhibition centre in Essen. With 1.021 exhibitors from 50 nations (in 2016) SPIEL is the worldwide biggest fair for boardgames.[2] Many new games are released at the fair each year, especially (but not exclusively) European-style board games.
At SPIEL boardgames are offered which are hard to be found in retail because a lot of international and small exhibitors present their products. While the prices for buying the games at the fair do not tend to be significantly lower than those in retail, the games are typically available sooner than in regular boardgame shops, come with promo stuff (mostly extra cards or tokens with a few more game mechanics, but also T-shirts and similar merchandise) and it is an occasion where passionate board-gamers can meet and chat with game designers, illustrators and famous game reviewers.
The fair began in 1983.[3]
year | attendance | source |
---|---|---|
2012 | 149 000 | [4] |
2013 | 156 000 | [5] |
2014 | 158 000 | [6] |
2015 | 162 000 | [7] |
2016 | 174 000 | [8] |
See also
- Going Cardboard (documentary)
References
- ↑ "Not twilight, but sunrise. Table-top games are booming in the video-game age". The Economist. 2015-10-03. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
- ↑ Duffy, Owen (2015-10-31). "For board gamers, heaven is a place on earth – located in Germany". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-11-11.
- ↑ Stewart Woods (16 August 2012). Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games. McFarland. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-7864-6797-6.
- ↑ "149 000 Besucher kamen zur Spielemesse Spiel 12 nach Essen". WAZ. 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ↑ "Spiel '13: Con Report". Big Shiny Robot. 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
- ↑ Friedhelm, Merz Verlag. "Exhibitor information". Retrieved 2015-07-28.
- ↑ Markus, Böhm. "Spiel 15: Das sind die Neuheiten der Spielemesse". Spiegel online (in German). Retrieved 2015-10-29.
- ↑ Mendelsohn, Tom (2016-10-22). "Essen 2016: Best board games from the biggest board game convention". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2016-11-11.
External links
Look up Spiel or spiel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Official web-site
- Essen FAQ at BoardGameGeek
- Stewart Pilling at the Lizard Lounge - What is it all about?
Coordinates: 51°25′41″N 6°59′39″E / 51.4280°N 6.9942°E