Tag Archives: Essen

Mark’s Bundle of 2025 Essen Game Thoughts

Posted on November 18, 2025 by Mark Jackson

Five days. Forty-six plays. Four prototypes plus thirty games that were new to me. Unless otherwise noted, these are FIRST impressions… I only had the opportunity to play many of these games a single time with a physical copy. If … Continue reading →

Posted in Convention Report, Essen 2025, First Impressions | Tagged | 4 Comments

Attack of the Mini-Cons!

Posted on December 6, 2024 by RJ Garrison

As the summer winds down, so do the giant, overwhelming board game conventions!  Everyone is getting their games from Essen Spiel, GenCon and Origins, PAX Unplugged, etc. to the table.  Yes, yes…I realize that conventions continue throughout the year, but … Continue reading →

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Final Fairplay Ratings from Essen 2024

Posted on October 6, 2024 by huzonfirst

For those of us not lucky enough to be in Essen during Spiel, there’s always the question of what the hot new games are this year.  One of the favorite ways of judging this are the ratings posted by Fairplay … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | 6 Comments

Mark’s Bundle of 2023 Essen Game Thoughts

Posted on November 16, 2023 by Mark Jackson

Five days. Seventy-one plays. Sixty-two games that were new to me. Yeah, that’s a lot of games. But thanks to our fearless leader (Dale Yu) and BasementCon, I had a wonderful time playing many of them. (Well, a number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Convention Report, Essen 2023, First Impressions | Tagged | 2 Comments

Essen ’18 Day Two: What’s hot, and what I played… (Chris Wray)

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Chris Wray

For me, Friday at Essen means more time chatting and playing games and less time shopping.  This post includes overall convention thoughts so far, plus an analysis of what’s hot, and mini-reviews of several games I’ve been playing. The Convention … Continue reading →

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Essen Day Three: What was hot, and what I played… (Chris Wray)

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Chris Wray

I spent most of my time on Saturday doing last-minute shopping (gotta love the used game stands) and chatting with publishers for a couple of articles I’m working on.  I didn’t get as much time as I had hoped to … Continue reading →

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