I’m by no means a completionist, but when something cool comes out for a game I love, I try to pick it up. And I’ve had fun hunting for promos at Essen. Below are the promos and mini-expansions I picked up from my first two days.
Of course, the big news for completionists at this year’s Essen is the Advent Calendar. I saw the breakdown of it by Opinionated Gamer John P. and there are some cool promos in there. But breakdown is necessary for those traveling back to the US: it comes in an enormous box. I’m going to try to order one from Spiele Offensive.
Game: Ticket to Ride Europe
What: Orient Express Mini-Expansion. It adds a few routes to the game.
How: Free with purchase of either Ticket to Ride United Kingdom or Zug um Zug 1902 from Days of Wonder. I did ask, and DoW said they would be available for purchase on their website.
Game: Cacao
What: Volcano tiles. See rules below. In short, certain edges give money and others take it away.
How: Pay 1 Euro at the Abacus Spiele stand.
Game: Zooloretto
What: Kiwi tile. Allows the owner of the Kiwi tile to rearrange all of the tiles on teh delivery trucks instead of taking an action once per game.
How: Free at the Abacus Spiele stand.
Game: Hanabi
What: Die Bonus-Plattchen. Each tile gives you special powers as is spelled out over at BGG.
How: Free at the Abacus Spiele stand.
Game: Mysterium
What: Bonus cards.
How: Free with the purchase of Mysterium from Asmodee. Or ask really nicely.
Game: Limes
What: Bonus tiles and coaster.
How: Pickup at Martin F’s booth. I just asked nicely and they gave them to me for free.
Game: The Game On Fire
What: “On Fire” cards. From BGG: “This expansion consists of six cards (22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77), and when one of these fire cards is played onto a pile, that card must be covered by the end of the next player’s turn or else players have lost the game.”
How: Euro 1.50 at NSV booth.
Game: Camel Up / Camel Up SuperCup
What: Referee Camel. See rules below.
How: Pay 1 Euro (I think) at the Eggertspiele booth.
Game: Suburbia
What: Convention tile.
How: Free at Bezier Game’s booth.
Game: Carcassonne
What: Convention tile and Burgen in Deutschland set.
How: Convention tile is free with purchase at HiG’s booth. Burgen in Deutschland costs, but I’m not sure how much. (Also, Burgen in Deutschland was, at one point, available on HiG’s website.)
Game: 7 Wonders Duel
What: Goodies, including metal conflict marker, limited edition papers, and bonus wonder.
How: Pre-order (I think?) 7 Wonders Duel.
Others: I picked up two Caverna mini-expansions for a friend, but I know nothing about them. They cost 1 Euro each at Mayfair. I picked up two Snowdonia expansions: Card 31/30 and The Trans-Australian Railway & The Daffodil Line for fellow OG-ers. They cost 3 Euro and 6 Euro, respectively. I also don’t know anything about them.
I know there are several I’ve missed. It is a big convention, and I mainly focused on the ones for my games.
Chris – The advent calendar is also expected to be available from the BGG Store in November.
I did not know that! That’s exciting news. Will the promos all be in English?
Don’t know.
ooh, I would love to have the TtR Europe and Zooloretto promos. Oh, and Suburbia!
Also Hunting Dog for Robinson Crusoe at the Portal Booth was free, alternate art boards were at Matagot but not free, Orleans had a free by post card but I think it was also in the expansion, and the spielbox given when you enter the fair had an Orleans board and a card for Portal Molthar and more I’m not remembering
Lorna, now I know what I’ll be spending my morning hunting for!
Oh the alternate art boards were for Takenoko, forgot the De Lorean that went with the Colt Express expansion