Report from day one and two

well this Thursday has been unlike a first day at Essen for maybe 15 years. Due to the new regulations on not selling or Distributing games early, I had almost no games at the start of this morning.

You may have heard that the show is sold out this year. interestingly there are now people waiting outside with handwritten signs asking for tickets, it is like being at a football game and people looking for scalped tickets

as expected, there are also plenty of games that are sold out. This is typical, though in the case of many games, it’s simply due to small supply.

One interesting change is that there are now a plethora of game manufacturer companies that are here. The entire back third of all four is nothing but companies that produce components and print boards. I feel like this is a huge change from the past when there were only one or two companies doing this.

Most of my Thursday was spent in meetings and picking up games otherwise. So I have virtually no tips to give about games because I didn’t play many. One non game that interested me is a Micro Macro jigsaw puzzle. There are not cases inside though there are lots of Easter eggs to find.

Though all the tickets are sold out, the morning Rush on Friday seemed much less than thursday. at 10:15 on thursday, I definitely felt like a salmon going upstream. at the same time on friday, it was much easier to walk around hall 6, which is right by one of the main entrances.

That being said, by 11:00, everything is still jam-packed and it takes a good 10 to 15 minutes to walk from one end of the hall to another because the narrowness of the aisles

Still busy with meetings today. Had a great chat with Zev and his new company, Play to Z. YRO is unfortunately stuck in customs, but it might make it Saturday. It should be in the warehouse in the US already so it should hit online stores soon.

Also had a great chat with Clay from Capstone Games. They’re planning to partner with a lot of great games (Atlantis Exodus, black Forest, Stephens, Beyond the Horizon and a number of others).

Part of the joy of coming to Essen each year is meeting up with old friends. And mascot pictures. Here’s a nice combination of the two.

I finally found the Fairplay booth, here is the initial listing from Friday morning. It’s an inexact science, but it’s one of the only real time feedback systems at Spiel.

The shipping Booth is in a much better location this year, it is in the mostly empty Hall 7 which is normally only used as a holding pen for people to get in in the morning. now it is right by one of the entrances, they have boxes for sale, and they have plenty of room to store the boxes and get them out to the trucks.

It looks like you will pay about a 20% up charge for the convenience of shipping from the fair, but this is totally worth it because it is right here in the convention center and you don’t have to leave. I think that I will not need them this year, but if I was going to ship, this is by far the most convenient way to do so.

Okay it is time for more meetings now, so no more time for writing. I hope this gives you a little bit of a taste of what the fair is like this year, and I will hopefully report more tomorrow.

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor