There comes a point in every person’s life when they recognize their calling. And, it is pretty clear that two of our writers, Justin Bell and Andrew Lynch, love spending time in Essen, Germany for the SPIEL Essen tabletop convention each fall.
For the first time since COVID, the show (which we will refer to as “SPIEL” for the rest of this article) reverted back to its pre-COVID date routine of a late October start, with this year’s show taking place October 23-26 at the Messe Essen exhibit halls south of the Essen city center.
Here’s how big the show is now: this year, Hall 7 was included in the show’s layout, expanding beyond the first six halls to become a signature area for some of the world’s biggest publishers, including Asmodee and Ravensburger. SPIEL has gotten so big that there are roughly two halls dedicated only to RPGs, CCG/TCGs, artists avenues, and clothing shops. This place is massive, people!
That was great news for our team, in part because that allowed us to narrow our focus to just Halls 2-6. With dozens of meetings to hit and thousands—hundreds of thousands—of fans in the building, that made it a little bit easier to focus.
So, how was it?
Oh, Right—I DO Love Playing Games (Justin)
Since Gen Con 2024, I’ve taken much more time to play games during conventions, and SPIEL 2025 was no exception. I played five games at this year’s show and, while I never got fully through any of them (such is the life of demo plays at a convention), I got a taste of some of the games I will get to the table in the months ahead.
- Thebai was the new strategy game offering from the team at Board&Dice at SPIEL, and while I only got to play about a quarter of a full game, I liked what was on offer. Designer David Turczi seems to always be busy, and the brand of combo-rich turns that I love in other Board&Dice games was on full display in the Thebai demo. There was a moment during a player’s second turn where our entire table of four had a fun “ho ho ho!” moment, as players realized how Thebai’s dice promotion mechanic might get spicy during a full play. I picked up a review copy and I’ll have more thoughts on this one soon.
- Baghdad: The City of Peace is the newest design from the same men who gave us Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon. On my second action of the demo, I looked at my buddy John and made the low grunting noises one makes when they like what they see in a board game. Baghdad is a hand management game that quickly becomes an engine building experience, one that I am very excited to explore in more detail. We have reached out to Alley Cat for a review copy of Baghdad, so we’ll have more thoughts if a copy comes through later this year. (Baghdad was my #1 most anticipated game for this year’s fair.)
- Tax the Rich was one of the few games I did not acquire at SPIEL; the game sold out on its first day (I managed to snag a copy on Sunday night in a trade! – Andrew). A recent “designer diary” on BoardGameGeek drove the bonkers sales push, but we had the chance to play the game after getting a teach from the same designer who wrote the diary. A trick-taking game that features bidding, a shifting trump suit, and event cards that feature powers triggered by the numbers of each card, Tax the Rich may prove too chaotic for some players. I spoke to the Matagot/PTS/Alion — by Dr. Ø team about getting a copy, so we’ll see what comes of that.
- Recall, the new game from the same team that designed both Tax the Rich and Revive, is a game I picked up and will rush to the table quickly. Now that I have played about a third of a full game, I love Recall’s mechanics, but I really love that this has some Revive bones in a completely different game engine. Recall is an action selection system that removes cards and has players operate an exploration experience with upgradable actions and an income system I like already. Recall appears to be worth the hype.
- Voidfall: Resurgence is the first major expansion for Voidfall, one of my top five games of 2023. Resurgence is absolutely a major expansion—new Voidborn enemies, more tech, more player factions, more of almost everything. The demo at SPIEL allowed players to see somewhat minor bits, such as a few of the new techs, temporary battle tokens, and a new form of Agenda card. Any reason to play more Voidfall is a good reason to sit at the table, and Marcel Dragomir, the lead developer for the expansion, did our teach and was a fun reason to be at the table. Marcel might be the fastest player I have ever seen play a strategy game. Our four-player demo would have ended in just under two hours had we finished, and anyone who has played Voidfall knows that an hour per player is a normal estimate for playtime. (It’s fair to estimate that Marcel has logged hundreds of Voidfall plays as a member of the Mindclash team.) Resurgence will hit crowdfunding in 2026.
Crowd Control (Andrew)
I haven’t looked at the official numbers, but it feels safe to assume that this year’s Essen was the largest ever in terms of attendance. Yet, with the exception of the ever-crammed Hall 3, 2025 felt less crowded than previous years. That may be thanks to Hall 7, which housed Schmidt, the German wing of Asmodee, Drei Magier, and Heidelbär. That’ll take care of a good chunk of the domestic family audience for an entire day. Even the Galleria, an aorta that cuts through the middle of the convention center to connect halls 3, 4, 5, and 6, was seldom as bad as I’ve seen it in the past. Whether crowd control was the point of putting all the German powerhouses in one room, it worked, and I hope they keep it up for next year.
Designers Are the Way (Justin)
I’m still kind of shocked at how many run-ins, demo teaches, and full-blown meetings I had with some of my favorite designers at SPIEL 2025.
While waiting for a meeting to start, I chatted with Daniele Tascini about Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar, Tiletum, Tianxia, Transgalactica, and Tabannusi: Builders of Ur. (It’s amazing what you can chat about when you know a designer’s catalog and you have 15 minutes of uninterrupted chat time.) I ran into Fabio Lopiano and we spoke about Ayar: Children of the Sun, Baghdad: The City of Peace, and expansion content for Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon. Simone Luciani and I caught up for a couple of minutes outside of the Cranio Creations booth before running into each other again at a party later that evening.
This is why SPIEL is my favorite of the major tabletop fan conventions. (However, SPIEL still ranks second to GAMA Expo, an industry-only show.) I caught up with my friend Tina, a member of one of my Chicago game groups, in line at the Devir booth before she got an autograph from Germán P. Millán inside the box top of her shiny new copy of Covenant. Later in the weekend, she found out how tall Stefan Feld really is while Feld was signing copies of his new title The Druids of Edora. Ben Maddox, the man responsible for 5 Games 4 Doomsday, set up “Carpark Beers” with a few industry folks Saturday afternoon at the show, and Luke Laurie (Cryo, Andromeda’s Edge) showed up to partake.
Tabletop celebrities are pretty chill people; in fact, many of them are not even fans of the spotlight. But they are very giving of their time at SPIEL and that makes for great moments, like the times when you see older German men running away from an autograph session with Vital Lacerda and Ian O’Toole at the Eagle-Gryphon Games booth like young schoolgirls who just met a pop star. Players love their games, but they love telling their friends about tabletop designer run-ins at SPIEL even more.
Pfeffersäcke (Andrew)
The used game booths are one of the wonders of Essen for those of us who live on this side of the pond. You can find all sorts of incredible out-of-print games for a song. The German market has been so robust for so long that there are enough copies of just about any game you can think of. I remember gazing in awe at those tables on my first trip. Back before Hans-im-Glück reprinted El Grande two years ago, you couldn’t find a copy in the U.S. for less than $100-$150, if you could find one at all. I was gobsmacked to see every used booth full of copies for €10.
This year, I had one game in mind: Pfeffersäcke. I had never heard of this obscure 2000 release prior to Justin’s article about it, but it sounded exactly like my cuppa, and where was one more likely to find a long-forgotten German board game than in Germany itself? Over the course of the Saturday, I stopped by each used booth and asked, “Pfeffersäcke?,” only to be met with a pause of consideration and a “Leider, nein.” One gentleman let out a blast of air before saying, “That’s a hard one.” I was resigned.
At the final booth, the young man I spoke to asked if I’d be around on the Sunday. “We don’t have it here now, but we can check our stock at the store tonight when we refresh for tomorrow.” I told him I’d be back. The next morning, I approached the same young man and asked, “Pfeffersäcke?” He turned to his boss and said, “Pfeffersäcke?” His boss walked over to the shelf, knelt down, and pulled out a copy from the bottom shelf. “Pfeffersäcke.”
Say It With Me: The Next Lacerda Game Has Dice (Justin)
Eagle-Gryphon was kind enough to offer an overview of Lacerda’s next deluxe design, The Great Library, during a Saturday afternoon media session with the folks from Heavy Cardboard and BGG. (The icing? Lacerda did the overview himself.) The game, which is coming to crowdfunding November 20th, has what looks like the weight of previous Lacerda titles such as The Gallerist; I’ve done a couple passes of the rulebook and it certainly feels lighter than some of Lacerda’s more complex designs, such as On Mars and Inventions: Evolution of Ideas.
It also has a different kind of weight: dice.
The game has a straightforward action selection system, but it has what looks like a fun way to play out rounds, with the use of an action point mechanic tied to the management of time. This also means that there are not a set number of rounds, a change from other Lacerda titles ranging from Vinhos: Deluxe Edition to Speakeasy.
Finding efficiencies around using as little time as possible to take the best actions in the game appears to be the puzzle, but until I delve further into the rules, I am not qualified to offer any opinions just yet.
All the media members around the table peppered Lacerda about the inclusion of dice, a first for a Lacerda design. Lacerda seems to be a fan of Feld’s other dice-driven games, and it looks like dice are a resource that can be mitigated from a shared pool, so this is not something that will kill off any single player’s ability to take turns thanks to a poor roll, because dice are not used in that way.
Still, it was a shocking moment. EGG has offered a chance to cover The Great Library, so look for a review in the next few weeks as we approach the game’s crowdfunding campaign launch on November 20th.
Vlaada? (Andrew)
Vlaada Chvátil had a new game at Essen this year, Severton, which marks his first full original design in almost a decade. I had neither a chance to play it nor the space to pack it, but it seems to be a cooperative adventure game set in Prague. Between this and Orloj, it was a big Spiel for Prague. Initial reception for Severton seems mixed, but I hope this marks a return to designing for Vlaada. Few designers can claim the same breadth and unpredictability of catalogue.
Hegemony: Shadows of Authority (Justin)
Expectations are a mutha, right?
Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory was my number one game of 2023, a game I have now played eight times. Hegemony is at its best when everyone is shouting, and players are taking the game seriously enough to play it in character; as a Capitalist Class leader, I want to stomp the Working Class every chance I get.
Lots of people and a number of tabletop media outlets loved the base game; as of this writing, Hegemony is a top-50 title on BGG, an exceptional rise for a game from a new publisher in such a short amount of time. Now that Hegemonic Project Games is on the doorstep of pushing their second game, World Order, into the market, they have begun work on a full-blown Hegemony expansion. Lots of people had questions about this expansion at the show, including me, so I spoke with the designers to learn more about what they have in mind.
I’m not sworn to secrecy, but I am curious to see what changes between now and the expansion’s potential crowdfunding campaign next year, so I’ll reserve judgment and details for now. Hegemonic Project Games is taking their time to make sure they get the expansion right. So here’s hoping we get the chance to answer some of those questions in 2026.
I’m Having More Fun at Dinner (Justin)
People who have traveled with me for past SPIEL events know that I am pretty critical of the city of Essen in two major categories: the tram situation (and the sheer lack of consistency) and the food situation, which is bland almost across the board.
SPIEL 2025 is the first time I turned the corner on the food scene. That’s not because I ate well—when you go to tabletop conventions then hit booth parties every night, you basically can’t eat well—but because I had a couple of better-than-average meals, then I boosted that by having every meal with exceptional company.
Most of my tabletop colleagues know that I have a day job outside of the industry to make money. They also know that while I could honestly take it or leave it when it comes to the games, I would be legitimately crestfallen if I lost the relationships. The people in this industry are second to none. I have made lifelong friends already, and I continue to build my network by spending lots of time with people outside of meetings at these shows.
In Germany, dining with tabletop friends is tough to beat.
I had lunch with a couple of industry veterans at a hotel near the convention center and it was a great chance to talk about games, life, and life as a member of the gaming industry. I had appetizers, beer and wine on back-to-back nights at parties-before-the-party with some of the folks at Devir and Horrible Guild. A dinner with the Mindclash team was a fun bookend for my time with that team in 2025, after I visited their headquarters this spring then had another dinner with some of the group at Gen Con. Two of my friends from various publishers joined Andrew and I for dinner at a restaurant that actually made a pretty good meal, a family-run Korean spot called Sa Rang Bang.
Tack on my annual Tuesday dinner in Essen City with a rolling cast of characters (a group that has literally been different each of my four years at this show) and a Sunday night Italian dinner with some of the teams from Hachette, Randolph and Scorpion Masque, and I am really loving the act of getting dinner at this show.
Shipping? Nah, I’m American (Justin)
“Hey man, are you shipping games back to Chicago?”
“What’s the shipping situation? You think we can get stuff back to the US?”
“How much am I going to hate myself if I pay $200 to ship this box back home…then have to pay $300 in extra tariffs and fees?”
No matter where you land on the political spectrum, the business of tariffs is a dumpster fire right now in the US. That left a lot of my US colleagues—friends who attended the show, media like myself who were unsure if it was worth picking up any extra games—in the dark. Or maybe in a soft, gray haze. I usually spend my Sundays at SPIEL running around the halls picking up last-minute review copies and then shipping them back home. But this year, I came away with a much smaller haul because I wasn’t sure I could get everything back without paying a massive re-entry fee.
So, I took the year off from shipping. I’m already curious to see how others fare, because that’s going to have a big impact on how I acquire games at this show moving forward.
(Andrew)
I was certainly not going to be shipping anything home, which is what I’ve done in previous years. I managed to thread the needle perfectly on bag capacity. If I had taken so much as one more game, we would have had problems, either due to weight or volume or both. Lugging four bags worth of games to and from the airport wasn’t fun, but this is the price we pay. I managed to fit 48 games into a large suitcase, a medium suitcase, and two backpacks. Not bad for government work.
The Games Business Appears to Be Doing Alright (Justin)
Almost every partner I spoke with did really well at this show. Some broke their own SPIEL sales records. Others had a signature title that moved hundreds, if not thousands, of copies. New titles brought in customers who stayed long enough to pick up legacy and/or evergreen titles they wanted to add to their shelves. The used game stands at the convention seemed to always be packed. By late in the day Friday (the show’s second day), Spanish publisher Ludonova was sold out—of everything. All the games. They didn’t run their shop Saturday and Sunday because the games were all gone, and dozens of the booths I visited sold out of one or more titles early in this show.
That has made for a fun environment in the tabletop space. Even though nearly everyone agrees that yes, in fact, there are too many games, publishers keep pumping games out and players keep hoovering games up. A couple of people I spoke with at SPIEL were buying games simply to add them to their collection; in these cases, the players indicated that these were being added mainly for show on their shelves, not to actually play them. (This is funnier to me because a lot of people I know buy games at shows to intentionally play them…only to never break them out of the shrink wrap.)
The addition of Hall 7 tells me that more attendees seemed to translate to more buyers. I’ll learn more about this as I see more post-show analysis from other media, but business at the larger industry players seemed to indicate that tabletop continues to be on a solid path.
(Andrew)
This year looked good, but I am worried about next year. The United States doesn’t have anywhere near the same amount of market penetration as Germany, but even as a market in which board games remain a relative niche, we represent a significant portion of publisher sales. So long as we continue to isolate ourselves with tariffs and an unpredictable environment, publishers will have to make difficult choices. I know of at least one or two publishers who were present at Essen who closed immediately after, and that is entirely due to tariffs. There will be more. This year, everything looked fine. Next year is when I believe we’ll see the contraction. I hope I’m wrong.
“I’ll Be Back”
220,000 visitors attended SPIEL Essen 2025. There were nearly a thousand exhibitors and many more thousands of games. Combined, our team got their hands on nearly 75 new games to cover, which only scratches the surface of all the games that were on display at the show.
As we have said each of the last four years, we’ll be back. Every year it gets just a little easier to come back for another run, and we have so many great connections that it’s a lock on the convention schedule for us each year.
Our main goals for next year’s show? Meet new publishers, establish new connections with other creators, players, and extended industry members, then try to play (actually play!) more games. On that last point, we are getting better; Justin spent an entire day playing games, and extended that to nearly a day and a half thanks to a couple demos that took place on Saturday afternoon. Progress is a thing, people!
Thanks to everyone we had the chance to see in Germany…and we will see you in 2026!
