Spiel
Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called Essen after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day game trade fair which is also open to the public held in October[1] (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the de exhibition centre in Essen. With 910 exhibitors from 41 nations (in 2015) SPIEL is the worldwide biggest fair for boardgames. Many new board games are released at the fair each year, especially (but not exclusively) German-style board games, also called euro-games.
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 board game shops, they come with promo stuff (mostly extra cards or tokens with a few more game mechanics, but also T-shirts and similar merchandise) and it's an occasion where passionate board-gamers can meet and chat with game designers, illustrators or famous game reviewers.
The fair began in 1983.[2]
| year | attendance | source |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 149 000 | [3] |
| 2013 | 156 000 | [4] |
| 2014 | 158 000 | [5] |
| 2015 | 162 000 | [6] |
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.
- ^ 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.
External links
- Official web-site
- Essen FAQ at BoardGameGeek
- Pilling, Stewart (2015-10-06) Spiel? Essen? What is the fuss about?
51°25′41″N 6°59′39″E / 51.4280°N 6.9942°E
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