Normally, I don’t spend a lot of time here at the hall on Tuesday because traditionally there are that many people here doing anything. However this year, the halls are filled with activity, as there are many people here working on setting up their booths.

As far as news goes, really not a lot to report right now. Though I have had the chance to talk to a number of people, everyone is quite busy trying to get their boots add up, and it’s really not a good time to interview anyone.

I am happy to report that all of my friends have had a great year, everyone seems to love their new games, and unlike in years past, so far I’ve not heard of anyone who is having any issues getting their games brought to the fair in time.

The weather so far is grey and dreary. Just like it seems to be every year when I’m here in Essen. Last week, according to my local Friends, the high temperatures were in the 23 to 25 range. Today the highest 12, it is grey, dismal, and cloudy. Oh and by the way, it’s raining.

Luckily, the weather hasn’t stop the opinionated gamers from coming out in force. Here are a few of us walking into the Messe for the first time today.

In the background here, just behind dog, is Paul, who might be the walrus.

The whole setup this year is a little bit larger than in years past. It looks like the floor plan has added on Hall 6. This whole looks to be filled with all the comic books stores. It looks like most of the growth here is probably from board games.

And at least from the signs that I am currently seeing, the growth is amongst the very small game publishers coming from outside of Europe.

In previous years, all of the Korean publishers tended to stick together in a single Korean Pavilion Booth. Likewise most of the Taiwanese publishers were found together near were with Taiwan board game design. This year, both of these nations have multiple booths here in multiple locations.

There are also many publishers which are in small footprint areas that have games which I’ve never heard of before. With the rising number of games on offer each year, I think this year it could be over 1100, it is impossible to really read up on everything beforehand.

Anyways, we’ll start reporting starting tomorrow. Pictures will mostly be posted via Instagram (@opinionatedgamersblog) and Twitter (@opinionatedgmrs)

For now, a few pictures of the vacation portion of the trip

Bedtime snack of champions!

Shabu shabu dinner with the nice people from Surfin Meeple!

Hotel breakfast includes cheese pretzels and lebkuchen?

Interesting fact. In German Scrabble, A is worth 1 pt, Ä is worth 6, Z is worth 3.

Not open today but I will soon have a spiral potato.

And an impromptu meeting with friends at my favorite pizza place.

Until tomorrow

The gaming doctor