TWO SOUTH AFRICANS AT ESSEN SPIEL 2006

By Gavin Westermeyer

*** Please click on any of the pictures to enlarge them ***

I have prepared this report for all South Africans who love board games but have not, as yet, attended the biggest board games convention in the world. I hope to give anyone wishing to travel to Germany, to attend a future Essen Spiel, not only some idea of the costs involved but also the rewards.
This was the 24th annual Spiel.

Essen is an industrial town which sits on the Rhine River close to the Netherlands border. In the heart of the town is a cluster of halls in a very large building known as the Messe Essen seen here using Google Earth.
There are 10 halls holding the exhibition spread out over 43 200 square meters.

One gets a pretty good idea of the size of the venue by comparing it to the houses, cars and other features shown here. The gardens at the back are handy for those who need a half hour break of peace and tranquillity.

My wife Charmaine, and I both enjoy playing board and card games on a regular basis. I have been a fanatic ever since I could understand what the little spots on a die meant. It had been a dream of ours for some time to attend the Essen Spiel but something or another always seemed to crop up and plans for the trip were put aside. This year we decided there would to be no excuses. We were going to Essen.

We started our preparations in April and carried out all our flight and accommodation bookings over the Internet. By avoiding the travel agencies we saved ourselves a whopping R2500! All airlines have specials on at various times during the year so one has to shop around for the best deal in October, when the fair is on.

Our holiday consisted of four days and five nights in Essen followed by three days in Berlin. We then flew from Berlin to England where we spent a further three weeks visiting friends and family all over the U.K.

We left Durban at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 17th October, and arrived in Essen at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday. After a long and tiring journey, with agonizing safety procedures to go through at Heathrow airport, we slept well that night.

It would have been cheaper to fly from Dusseldorf to Berlin, but we wanted to experience the ride through the German countryside. Of course, all of the above prices will probably be different for the next trip, depending upon the Rand exchange rate and specials available at that time. However, the above list should give a fairly accurate indication of what one might be expected to pay for traveling to and from Essen.

The earlier one books, the more options are available for accommodation. Here the price will vary dramatically depending on the lodging chosen. An Austrian pen pal of mine, Gunther, attends the Essen Spiel each year and he advised me to contact an agency known as Zimmer mit Fruhstuck im Revier. They are set up to find you a host family for your stay in Essen. Sometimes, it is a house or a flat or a room which may, with a little luck, be situated close to the Essen Messe. Essen seems to be well geared up for the influx of visitors at this time of year but booking early will ensure you a really nice place close to the fair.

We made our booking over the internet and were very pleased with the apartment that was allocated to us. The flat was approximately 25 square meters in a separate building with its own entrance, living/bedroom, TV, bathroom with shower, small kitchen and heating, equipped with crockery, etc. The distance to the fair was 5-6 kilometers, which is about 10 minutes by the underground.

The cost for staying there for 5 nights was 185 Euros. No matter where the agency sends you, the cost is the same: 18.50 euros per person per night. You then have to make your own meals in the flat or eat out.

Zimmer mit Fruhstuck im Revier may be contacted at:
www.zimmer-im-revier.de
Email: info@zimmer-im-revier.de
 

Our dwelling while in Essen.

The first thing that one notices as a visitor to Germany is how clean the country is. The parks, streets and even the underground are spotless. For a South African, it is quite a culture shock. The second thing that is very noticeable is the absence of security fences and burglar guards. There are no car guards there either.

All the Germans that we met were extremely polite, friendly and willing to offer a helping hand. They always appear to be doing the right thing no matter what the circumstance.

We found this out on the very first night in Essen. As we had arrived rather late in the evening, all the supermarkets were closed. We walked a couple of blocks from our dwelling and soon came upon a dear old lady who was selling milk, sugar and a few other essentials at a kiosk. She was willing to make us a cup of coffee, but we wanted a bottle of coffee to take back to our flat and the one that she had for sale was a little too expensive. While we were being served, another lady came up to the kiosk and, after hearing our story, invited us back to her place where she would let us have some coffee. She lived about three blocks away and during our walk she told us, in her broken English, a bit about life in Essen. Life was peaceful there and muggings were unheard of. At one point we came to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing where she stopped, pressed the button and waited for the light to turn green. The strange thing about it was that there were no cars in sight in either direction. Yet, because it was the right thing to do, we waited. At her residence, she gave us some coffee in her son’s plastic lunch box and wished us a pleasant stay in Essen. It was our first taste of German hospitality and it was wonderful.

The next morning we rose early and went shopping for provisions at the local supermarket. It was amazing to us how helpful the staff were although their English was almost non-existent.

After a hearty breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee, we headed for the underground, which would take us to the Messe. Four days of fun and games lay ahead of us. A ten minute trip by underground brought us to within a few meters of the Essen Messe.

This picture shows the cleanliness of the underground in Germany.

Entrance to the fair was 11 Euros per day or 25 Euros for all four days. Thursday, Friday and Saturday the doors open at 10 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. while on Sunday they open at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.

There is one ATM just outside the building, around the corner from the entrance but it is advisable to draw your money before you get there, as the queue can be exceptionally long.

On the first day, at around mid-day, we watched Dr, Reiner Knizia receiving yet another award, but before we could talk to him, he had vanished into the crowd and we didn’t see him again.

There are usually over 150 000 visitors attending the fair throughout the four days. This year however, there were more and a couple of extra halls were opened to the exhibitors. It was an amazing feeling walking amongst so many people, from all over the world, who were all there for the love of games. Hundreds of tables are set up for folks to demo and play at, in a carnival atmosphere.

I had no idea that so many board games existed. There were 350 new games released this year alone! Of course, all the old favorites were there including such standards as chess. All games had German copies but not all games had English copies, although most did.

The following shows some of what we saw and experienced at the Essen Spiel. Hopefully it will inspire other game-loving South Africans to make the journey and be a part of this wonderful event.
 

Above shows parts of the huge crowd at Essen Spiel.	Above is part of the Fantasy Flight stand.
Two of the many stalls which were selling second-hand games
Games Workshop, among many other companies, had a very impressive display which included this life-size Warhammer 40 000 warrior.	They had guys playing games on specially made tables and had some outstanding scenery on show. There were several enthusiasts sitting at tables and showing off their talents by painting figures. The photo above shows one of the battlefields.
Many comic and game artists were on hand demonstrating their talents. Beautiful prints and originals could be purchased from them. Certainly a collector’s dream world.	Suits of armor made of leather, metal and cloth were on sale for the role-players. Hundreds of different weapons were also available made of hard rubber but looking very authentic.

 

Essen is crowded with gamers every year in October when the Spiel is on. Consequently some of the hotels provide rooms for gamers to meet and play in during the evenings.

Here we are playing at the Handelshof Hotel in Mulheim, a short distance from the Rheine River.

The picture below shows, from left – Chris Legg, a good friend of ours from South Africa who owns Wizards Books and Games, Carol Burley and Peter Burley who designed the game – Take It To The Limit, which we are playing in the photo, their son and my wife, Charmaine. I have left my seat to take the picture. A fun evening was spent in wonderful company.

  
There were 730 exhibitors from 31 nations.

This life-size Orc is just one of many impressive features of the show.

Above are some more players learning new games. An interesting fact is that the average age of those attending Essen Spiel is 30.

A stand which only sold dice.

Wall-to-wall gamers.

During the course of the weekend the annual World Championship tournament for Settlers of Catan was run with the finals being held on Sunday, the last day of the show. Each country holds its’ own championship tournament with the two top players going to Essen for the final. Here are the four finalists battling it out for the 2006 title. The guy in the centre is one of the judges. The final is played on a 3D board complete with little sheep in the meadows.

Below is the 2006 winner, Markus Nuopponen from Finland. The smile says it all. The prizes that he walked away with were stunning.

Second place went to Shinya Ohi from Japan. Third place went to Thomas Sander from Deutschland. Fourth place was Junya Sakoda from Japan.

There were no South Africans entered in the tournament which is rather sad considering that there are quite a lot of Settlers of Catan fans in this country as sales of the game countrywide must surely testify.

Hopefully, in years to come this will be corrected by our very own powers that be and maybe one day we’ll see a South African walking off with those enormous prizes.

Among the highlights of Essen Spiel is meeting the many game designers whose games we have enjoyed for so many years. In this photo Charmaine and I are with Klaus Teuber who has produced such masterpieces as Settlers of Catan and all its’ relatives, Entdecker, Domaine, Elasund and Candamir to name just a few.
After chatting with us for a while he excused himself for a few minutes and on returning, gave us each three special edition cards for the two-player Settlers of Catan game. One card has a picture of his wife, another of his daughter and the third of his son. Each card is signed by Klaus Teuber and has a unique collector’s number as there were only 500 of each card printed. Wonderful gifts given to us by a truly remarkable man.
At the Days of Wonder stand we had the pleasure of meeting Richard Borg of Memoir ’44, Battle Cry Commands and Colors, and Battlelore fame. Unfortunately, I had just run out of 35mm spool and so missed the opportunity of a photograph. I do, however, have the memory of talking to the great man. Very high on our list of favorite games is Ticket to Ride in all of its variations. It’s creator, Alan Moon was also present at the Days of Wonder stand and what a great guy he turned out to be. Not only did we chat about the design of Ticket to Ride, but a whole array of other topics as well. A very interesting man indeed.
The photo on the right shows Frank Nestel. He is responsible for a delightful little card game called Ark which we have spent many fun-filled hours playing. Ark has some of the most beautiful artwork seen in any game and this is done by Doris Matthaus who was ill at the time and so could not attend the Show, unfortunately for her as well as us. Frank and Doris are an outstanding game designing couple and we wish them both a successful future.
Mario Papini is one of many game designers to be found at Essen Spiel. Here he proudly holds a copy of his latest game, Feudo.
After he explained the rules of the game to me, and I had a chance to watch the game being demoed by a young lady, shown in the photo below, I decided to buy a copy. I have never seen a game with such thick cardboard counters.

It is very refreshing to see so much enthusiasm shown by so many people for this wonderful
hobby.

Now and again it is a pleasant change to take a stroll around the gardens situated at the rear of the Messe as these two photos show. A beautiful setting to take a relaxing break from the crowds in the halls.

Below, from left are: games designer Jost Schwider, my friend and pen pal from Austria Gunther Schmidl, Italian games designer Angelo Porazzi, myself and Charmaine. This photo was taken at Angelo’s booth.

Ten years ago Angelo produced a remarkable game titled Warangel. What is amazing about this and other games which he has released, is that he has carried out all the work on them, including all the remarkable artwork  He assembles and fills the starter boxes at home while watching T.V.! Angelo has a wonderful sense of humor and Charmaine and I enjoyed a fantastic dinner with him and some of his friends at a local tavern. Warangel is a brilliant game which has won several awards and we wish Angelo all the very best for the future. More about Angelo and his games can be seen on www.warangel.it.

The staff at JKLM Games were helpful beyond all expectations. Their game designers were on hand to demo their games and, after I had chosen five games, they offered to send them to South Africa for me, paying the postage in the process. A truly wonderful gesture as the postage from Germany to South Africa is huge, something I personally found out, when I later posted some games home myself. Their busy stand is shown below.

Here is a list of the games, which I bought at Essen Spiel 2006 along with their prices in Euros:
 

The 10 best games at Essen Spiel 2006 were as follows:

1) Caylus by William Attia
2) Thurn and Taxis by Karen and Andreas Seyfarth
3) Antike by Walther M. Gerdts
4) Blue Moon by Reiner Knizia
5) Mesopotamia byKlaus-JurgenWrede
6) Elasund by Klaus Teuber
7) Mauerbauer by Leo Colovini *
8) Hasienda by Wolfgang Kramer *
9) Ausberg 1520 by Karsten Hartwig *
10) Um Ru(h)m und Ehre by Stefan Feld *

* The last four had not been produced in English at the time.

3D Dungeon Twister proved to be very popular amongst the gamers, and good to look at too.

There are many beautiful distractions to catch your eye at Essen Spiel. Suits of armour and costumes, dozens of dragons and well-made ornaments to name a few……..

…and of course thousands of board game enthusiasts.

The whole show is run with the German efficiency that one would expect. The doors even open earlier than the advertised time.

Here then are a few notes to end this little report.

It is expensive for South Africans to attend Essen Spiel but worth every cent, as it is an experience of a lifetime. However, bear in mind that the games are sold at approximately half the normal cost.

Plan carefully and make your reservations as early as possible. There are many bargains out there for those who take the time to shop around.

If you are after rare out-of-print games, be sure to arrive at the show early on the first day as they are snapped up very quickly.

On the third day of the show, Charmaine purchased some cookie cutters from one of the stands. At the end of the day when it was time to leave the halls, we suddenly noticed that the packet containing the cutters was missing. Charmaine had placed the packet on the floor by her feet while we were playing games at one of the tables. We retraced our steps back the hall where we had sat, not really expecting to find the cutters as three hours had passed. To our astonishment, someone had picked the packet up from the floor and placed it on the table. Dozens of people had sat at the table to play, or walked past it and yet, surprisingly, there it still stood. For South Africans, Germany sure is one big culture shock.

I took all of the photographs in this report, (Except of course the ones with me in them) using a Pentax 35mm ist camera.

For more information on Essen Spiel go to:
www.merz-verlag.com/spiel/e000.php4

A really great site for board games:
www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/c92/

Another good site:
www.gamingreport.com

Happy gaming to all,

Gavin Westermeyer