Six Essen 2019 Quick Recaps – Simon Weinberg

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Dale Yu

Editors Note: I was supposed to post this on the Saturday of the fair, but due to some “technical issues” (i.e. I completely forgot), I didn’t get this uploaded until I got back home when the technical issues were resolved (i.e. I remembered). Keep your eyes posted for a bunch more quick recaps as we get the games played! DY

Expedition to Newdale
– I was slightly unsure of this: a Pfister game but capitalising on Oh My Goods which I felt had already run its course in terms of expansions. Very pleased to report that it’s an excellent game, with plenty of new parts to it while keeping the basic simple engine building with multi-use cards alive. A thinky enough game to deserve the Pfister and Lookout badges, not too long, and meaningful decisions. I bought a copy.

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Posted in Essen 2019, First Impressions | 3 Comments

Essen 2019, Day 4: Quick Wrap Up (Chris Wray)

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Chris Wray

I’ll have mini-reviews of lots of games in the coming days, but this is a sort of wrap up post, just quick thoughts on the Geekbuzz and Fairplay lists.

The big news on the last day is that attendance topped 200,000 for the first time. The attendance is turnstile attendance, and the initially reported number is 209,000.

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Posted in Commentary, Convention Report, Essen 2019 | 5 Comments

Father in the Messe 2019 – Day4 – back home

Posted on October 27, 2019 by Andrea "Liga" Ligabue

Sunday morning, rain is falling
Steal some covers, share some skin
Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable
You twist to fit the mold that I am in

It’s raining and we are on our way back home. A Starbucks coffe at the airport waiting the flight to Bologna.

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Essen 2019, Day 3: What’s Hot, and What I Played (Chris Wray)

Posted on October 26, 2019 by Chris Wray

I wasn’t especially productive today, instead spending considerable time wandering around the used game stands. So today’s post just has quick coverage of the Geekbuzz and Fairplay lists, then some thoughts on Die Crew, which we did get some plays in of.

Last night, I had initial impressions of Lost Cities: Auf Schatzsuche and Tricks and the Phantom. On Thursday, I had initial impressions of Evidence and Luna Nova. On Wednesday, I had them for Anubixx, Azul Summer Pavilion, and Chartae.

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Father in the Messe 2019 – Day 3

Posted on October 26, 2019 by Andrea "Liga" Ligabue

Listen to the ground
There is movement all around
There is something goin’ down
And I can feel it

Yes, there is a lot of movement in the halls today: it’s Saturday.

We start getting tired: on Thursday the kids woke up at 7, yesterday at 7:30 and today I had to kick them out off the beds at 7:45!!!

At 9.06 we were at the Messe, but all the Magnificent‘s tables have been already token. We decided for Dice Settlers, which it reveled pretty interested.

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Belratti Wins a la carte Award

Posted on October 25, 2019 by huzonfirst

Fairplay Magazine has announced the results of their annual a la carte award for the best card game of the year.  The winner is Belratti, designed by Michael Loth.  Here are the top 10 finishers:

  1. Belratti (Michael Loth)
  2. L.A.M.A. (Reiner Knizia)
  3. Just One (Roudy, Sautter)
  4. Blode Kuh (Florian Racky)
  5. Natives (Konnov, Paltsev, Shklyarov)
  6. Cahoots (Ken Gruhl)
  7. Key Flow (Breese, Bleasdale, Vincent)
  8. KeyForge (Richard Garfield)
  9. Piepmatz (Riddle, Pinchback)
  10. Farben (Apolline Jove)

With the announcement of the a la carte, all of the significant gaming awards have been assigned.  Here’s a summary of the winners for 2019:

SdJ – Just One
Kennerspiel – Wingspan
DSP – Wingspan
IGA Multiplayer – Root
IGA 2-player – Lincoln
Golden Geeks – Root
Dice Tower – Root
a la carte – Belratti
Meeples Choice Awards – Quacks of Quedlinburg, Teotihuacan, Brass: Birmingham

The most honored games are Root, with three overall awards and one major, and Wingspan, which took two major awards.  Quacks’ Meeples Choice award will go nicely with the Kennerspiel award that it won last year.

That’s all she wrote for this year’s awards.  Keep your eyes open for the Essen games which might have the best chance of snagging one of these beauties next year!

Posted in Reviews | 5 Comments