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SPIEL Essen 2026: Day 3

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

Here we go with Day 3, the last day of my very first SPIEL Essen! If you missed the start of the adventure, you can catch up on Day 1 and Day 2.

Going solo

The sky was grey today, but at least it didn’t rain. It was cold, though!

My boyfriend wasn’t feeling well, so I went to the Messe alone. It was a different experience, with its positives and its negatives. I missed having my partner by my side to share my findings and my enthusiasm. On the other hand, without him to talk to, I ended up moving around more and talking to a lot more people.

Ready for my last day, this time on my own

Synapses Games: Chimerium

Designed by Eric Dubus and Olivier Melison · Illustrated by Alexandre Bonvalot · Published by Synapses Games · BGG page

My first stop was Chimerium. The magical universe and how beautiful the game looks on the table made me stop and take a careful look.

One of the presenters gave me a quick explanation. You draft dice to study new species and acquire powerful artefacts for your laboratory, then manage your resources to create unique Chimeras and trigger chain reactions.

Of course, I asked about the solo mode. You play against an opponent, and that was enough to put me under its spell. The game isn’t on sale yet, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on it.

Chimerium and its magical laboratory

inPatience: Karnivorous, Mazing and Mayor of Chicago

Karnivorous: designed by Inka and Markus Brand · Illustrated by Vincent Dutrait · BGG page Mazing: designed by Jim Deacove · BGG page Mayor of Chicago: designed by Xavier Georges · BGG page Published by inPatience

I’m a big fan of inPatience games, so this booth was a must, and I spent my morning there. Sofiane presented three games to me, and he was awesome. He told me he hasn’t been working at the company for very long, but he’s doing a wonderful job.

With Sofiane at the inPatience booth

Karnivorous made me fall in love straight away. First, the theme, with all its humour: scientists trying to end world hunger with giant apples used their discovery on the wrong plants, and now the plants want to eat everyone! The only ones left to stop them are brave gardener-robots.

Then there’s that puzzle-like management typical of inPatience games. Sofiane explained that the plants spread whether you complete the quests or not, but they spread less if you do. Completing all the quests every round is extremely hard, almost impossible. So you have to make choices and sacrifice things carefully. I love that side of it, and the puzzle side too. The colours are lovely as well. It’s a cooperative game for 1 to 4 players, and it came home with me!

Karnivorous: a lab overrun by hungry plants

Next, I played Mazing, an abstract game where two white and two black pieces must swap sides across the board. Some pieces can only travel on white spaces, others only on black ones, each with its own movement, and some spaces block a piece for good.

For my first two moves, I was completely lost and thinking, “this is impossible!” Then Sofiane suggested moving the black and white pieces that travel through the white spaces first, and the ones that travel through the black spaces afterwards, as it makes it easier to trace a path. Suddenly it all made sense, and I managed to win! I’m not entirely sure I didn’t cheat somewhere, but it was so much fun, and the ending was pure joy.

Mazing: impossible at first, pure joy at the end

Then came Mayor of Chicago, a solo game. Sofiane explained it and stayed to watch my game, getting excited right along with me. I had built a perfect engine and could easily have won, but I miscounted my cards and lost because of one miserable card. Sofiane shared my frustration, and honestly, that made the moment just perfect. I didn’t buy it this time, but it’s already on my shopping list for the near future.

Mayor of Chicago, already on my shopping list

A signature from Owen Davey

Fame & Fable: designed and illustrated by Owen Davey · Published by Owen Davey Games · BGG page

After lunch, I spent the afternoon moving from booth to booth, discovering new games.

Second attempt at Fame & Fable! I still didn’t get to learn the mechanics, as Owen Davey was in the middle of a signing session. But I did leave with a signature from the designer and illustrator himself! Discovering how it plays is now on my to-do list.

ICE Makes: Age of Legend

Designed by Jeffrey CCH · Published by ICE Makes · BGG page

At ICE Makes, I was presented with Age of Legend, which is coming to Gamefound. It comes in a small box, similar to Age of Civilization. I liked the art, and I loved how each card can be used in different ways: for its power, placed above the board, or for its resources, placed at the bottom. A small box, but a big promise. I’ll be watching that campaign!

Age of Legend: a small box with big promise

From my wishlist: Queen Alice

Designed by Héctor Carrión and David Heras Pino · Illustrated by Amelia Sales · Published by Combo Games · BGG page

Queen Alice was on my Essen wishlist, and it was exactly what I expected: really nice on the table, with beautiful illustrations. I watched a presentation of the rules, and I loved the shared actions on the central board and the little games inside the game. Someday soon, it’ll be on my table.

Queen Alice, beautiful on the table

A familiar face

In the middle of the crowd, I bumped into some friends from Legião dos Jogos, my board game group in Braga, and we stopped for a little chat. Even in a fair this huge, you can still find people from home!

Kinson Key Games: Excursions

Designed by Ben Rosset · Illustrated by Ian O’Toole · Published by Kinson Key Games · BGG page

I stopped at Kinson Key Games to understand the difference between Galactic Cruise, which I own, and their new game, Excursions. Excursions comes with a lovely circular board, and it’s smaller and easier than Galactic Cruise.

But after the presentation, I couldn’t really find enough differences between the two to make me back it. In my opinion, it overlaps a bit too much with Galactic Cruise. That said, I didn’t play it, so this is based on the presentation only.

Excursions and its circular board

Thistroy Games: Micro Architects

Designed by Michał Jagodziński and Kamil Langie · Illustrated by Jarosław Wajs · Published by Thistroy Games · BGG page

At Thistroy Games, a lady presented Micro Architects and its expansion, Big City Vacation, to me. The game is lovely! I liked the mechanic of selecting buildings to construct your city and meet objectives. It’s beautiful, even though the theme doesn’t leave much room for big illustrations. What I liked most is that it comes in a small box, so it’s easy to carry around.

Micro Architects: a whole city in a small box

KYF Edition: Behind

Designed by Cédric Millet · Published by KYF Edition · BGG page

Behind had been on my wishlist for so long that I was really happy to finally get the chance to test it! I played the convention scenario alone, and I managed to solve it.

It was so much fun to put the pieces together like a puzzle while following the clues in the design. The game made a lot of sense, and building the solution was a real pleasure.

I’m deliberately not sharing a photo, so I don’t spoil anything for those of you who might be at the Messe tomorrow and want to try it!

Quick looks

A few more games crossed my path today, more briefly:

Skirmish: Battle for Draconia (Jeffrey CCH, ICE Makes): the card design is what made me stop. It’s a card game for 2 to 4 players where you battle your enemies, and where you place each card matters, because it fights the card in the same place on your opponent’s side. I only saw it presented.
Timespan (Kristian Amundsen Østby and Kenneth Minde, Alion – by Dr Ø): another one from my wishlist. I only took a quick look, and it seemed crowded on the table, but maybe that’s because I saw a 5-player game. I’d like to dig a little deeper into this one.
Fear of the Dark (InterHuman): I went back, as promised on Day 2, and realised it’s a dungeon crawler. The art didn’t attract me that much in person, so I didn’t ask for an explanation. The feeling just wasn’t there.

Skirmish: Battle for Draconia

Timespan, with a full table of five players

Lucky Duck Games: Accidental Heroes and Oakspire

Accidental Heroes: designed by Wojciech Grajkowski · BGG page Oakspire: BGG page Published by Lucky Duck Games

Last but not least, I stopped at Lucky Duck Games, where Ben presented their crowdfunding projects.

Accidental Heroes launches on Kickstarter on 27 October. It’s a digital hybrid adventure board game with a companion app. To be honest, when Ben mentioned the app, I froze a little, because I prefer games without app dependency, even though I own some that have it. Ben explained that most of the game happens outside the app, but it’s still hard for me.

And then there was Oakspire, which made me fall in love as soon as I looked at it. The game is gorgeous: the illustrations of cozy animals are simply beautiful, and the boards are lovely too. It’s a tableau building game where each card can be used in multiple ways. In solo, you play to complete challenges from the back of the rulebook. I haven’t played it yet, but what I saw and what Ben told me was enough: I’ll be following the project, and I definitely want to play it.

Oakspire: love at first sight

My favourites of the day

The inPatience booth was my favourite moment. I felt at home there, like playing with a friend while discovering exciting new games.

And for the eyes, Oakspire and Chimerium win the day: they both conquered me with how beautiful they look.

Goodbye, SPIEL Essen

And that’s a wrap on my very first SPIEL Essen!

Being on my own today, I managed to see more games than on the other days. And since I was alone, I really had no excuses: I had to be the one asking for explanations, so there was no room to be shy. I loved the experience.

See you at SPIEL ‘27?

Over three days, four games came home with me: Chopstick Tightrope, Light in the Dark, Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs and Karnivorous.

Will I go back? For sure! If you’re into board games, it’s the place to be.

Have you ever been to SPIEL Essen? And which of today’s games would you have stopped for?

Come share your comments on Mastodon, Facebook, and BoardGameGeek.

SPIEL Essen 2026: Day 2

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

Here we go with Day 2 of my very first SPIEL Essen! If you missed the start of the adventure, you can catch up on Day 1 here.

Day 2 was a day of contrasts, with some wonderful moments, some frustrating ones, and one big lesson: a good presentation can change everything.

Getting there

The day started with a lovely sunny morning, at least until we left the hotel. Then it turned windy and rainy. 🌧️

Getting to Essen was easy this time, no Uber adventure needed! The metro between Essen Central Station and the Messe was packed, but nothing abnormal.

We were both more tired than yesterday, though, and the Messe was already crowded when we arrived. That brought a feeling of tiredness and impatience for both of us.

Tired, but ready for Day 2!

Esper Games: 99x1 and Dream Hoppers

99x1: designed by Rodrigo Esper · Illustrated by OKU · BGG page Dream Hoppers: designed by Rodrigo Esper and Alex Olteanu · Illustrated by Gou Eisuke · BGG page Published by Esper Game Studio

Our first stop was Esper Games, where we talked with Rodrigo Esper, the founder and designer. He presented two games to us, and the story behind them won me over straight away. They first talked with the artists, and only then designed the games around their art. Instead of art made for a game, you get a game made for the art. I love that idea!

In Dream Hoppers, you are guardians of a child’s dreams, preparing good dreams and memories while keeping the nightmares away. It’s a cooperative game for 3 to 6 players, illustrated by Gou Eisuke in a colourful Japanese style. Even the backs of the cards are gorgeous!

99x1 is a competitive/cooperative game where one player is the swordsman and the others play the demons, to see who wins the fight. It’s illustrated by OKU, and I loved how the red demons are drawn as a family, happy and close together, while the swordsman in blue looks colder and less friendly.

99x1: the red demon family against the cold blue swordsman

Dream Hoppers and its colourful Japanese-style art

We only saw the games presented, without playing. Even though the ideas and art are gorgeous, both are games for 3 players or more, so they don’t really fit my way of playing. Still, I loved the presentation and the games themselves.

Vesuvius Media: the Dwar7s saga

Designed and illustrated by Luís Brueh · On BGG: Dwar7s Fall, Dwar7s Winter, Dwar7s Spring and Flame & Forge

I’ve been following the Dwar7s saga for a while now, so I was curious to hear about it at Vesuvius Media. The person at the booth was so enthusiastic, and it was refreshing: everything made sense. The way he explained the gameplay of each game, and the story that connects them, was magnificent.

What I love most is how the saga follows the cycle of the seasons. In Fall, you fight against each other for power. In Winter, you fight creatures. In Spring, you start exploring more and more. And you end in Summer with Flame & Forge, and a dragon destroying everything. The image of that cycle is wonderful.

The Dwar7s saga, my favourite discovery of the day

I was completely charmed, and I wasn’t the only one: the presenter’s enthusiasm made my boyfriend smile too, and I think he’d say yes to playing it. Unfortunately, only half of the four games in the series can be played solo, and I don’t feel like buying them right now. Maybe another time! Either way, thank you for this joyful moment. 😊

Into the crowds

Next, I went looking for Fame & Fable from Board Game Circus. I was so curious about this one, and the art looks gorgeous, but the only copy available was in German. I’ll try again tomorrow!

After that, we spent a lot of time moving between booths, trying to avoid the most crowded spots. The thing I noticed most today was the big bags and suitcases everyone carries around for their games. They turned moving around the Messe into real confusion and madness.

A tougher stretch: Gaudí and Oniro

Gaudí: designed by Dani Garcia · Illustrated by Edu Valls · Published by Devir · BGG page Oniro: published by Magic Box

After that frustrating moment, I stopped by Devir hoping to try Gaudí, but all the tables were taken. Looking at it more closely left me with mixed feelings. I was expecting a wow moment from the board, but it felt confusing and not as bright as I’d imagined. Maybe I was just too tired to enjoy it, and I’d need to play it to really understand it.

Gaudí, with every table already taken

Then I tried Oniro at Magic Box, a solo puzzle game where you’re in a labyrinth, shown on a single card, and have to find the best combination of moves to get out. The explanation was so superficial that I couldn’t understand the goal or the story behind it. I played two challenges and struggled to solve them, which is unusual for me, as I’m normally good at this kind of game.

Oniro: a whole labyrinth on a single card

Archona Games: Light in the Dark

Designed by Kai Starck · Illustrated by Daniel Cunha · Published by Archona Games · BGG page

At Archona Games, I got a presentation of Light in the Dark, a solo dungeon crawler set in the Pest universe. I love the theme: you defend the city against animals and invaders, while trying to grow your renown and become a reference in the city by fighting the plague and healing it. So it caught my interest, and I came back later to buy the base game! There’s also an expansion in late pledge on Gamefound, but it wasn’t available yet.

The Pest universe at the Archona Games booth

The presentation itself, though, lacked enthusiasm and didn’t explain the theme well, when it could have shone. If I hadn’t already known the theme, I probably wouldn’t have been won over. The purchase was a bit odd too: when I asked for a receipt, I was told it needed the boss’s approval first, which surprised me.

Cephalofair Games: Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs

Designed by Joe Klipfel and Nikki Valens · Illustrated by Yanis Cardin and Mofei Wang · Published by Cephalofair Games · BGG page

And then came the presentation that changed everything.

As I told the presenter, I’ve never been able to bring myself to play Gloomhaven. The size of the box, how big the game is, the theme, the way it looks: none of it attracts me. I’ve even tried watching videos on Facebook, and there was no way.

So he presented Buttons & Bugs to us, with a full explanation of the rules. His enthusiasm and clear explanations changed my mind, and I decided to give it a try. I bought it! My boyfriend liked it too, especially the fighting side. A brilliant presentation. 👏

Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs, the game that changed my mind

Lovemore Games: Jewel Box

Designed by Zac Loveless · Illustrated by Megan Galura · Published by Lovemore Games · BGG page

At Lovemore Games, we discovered Jewel Box, a lovely-looking game about collecting beetles. Sadly, the presentation didn’t manage to sell it to me: I still don’t know what the goal is, who we are or what we’re doing. It sounded a little like In the Footsteps of Darwin, but I didn’t really get it, which makes me a bit sad, because the game looked beautiful.

Jewel Box and its beautiful beetles

XOLLOX Games: The Fog: Escape from Paradise

Designed by Robert Müller-Reinwarth · Illustrated by Unique Litani Soparie · Published by XOLLOX Games · BGG page

The young woman presenting The Fog: Escape from Paradise was very nervous, even shaking, but her presentation was good! The game takes place on an island where a sudden fog starts spreading, and you need to bring everyone to the boats to keep them safe. Everything sounded nice, and visually it made sense too. They also mentioned their next game, The Voyage, which will follow the journey of the people from the boats, though it wasn’t on display at the fair.

Then I was invited to join a table that was just starting, so I did. The game was shortened on purpose for the fair, and we played three rounds. That was too short to feel its whole potential, but enough to get a taste. My only criticism is the way rounds work, as you can spend a lot of time waiting without playing. Still, I enjoyed testing it and figuring out how to use the different movement types, and having to think about who was left behind is a nice twist.

Joining a table at the XOLLOX Games booth

Racing the fog to get everyone to the boats

My favourite of the day

The Dwar7s saga, without hesitation. The art by Luís Brueh has that childlike touch that is so characteristic of the series, and the cycle of the seasons gives the whole saga a wonderful sense of story. If I ever dive in, Fall would be my first season to play, right at the start of the cycle. ✨

What I take away from Day 2

On the second day, tiredness sets in and people become less patient. The fair is very crowded, and there’s almost nowhere to sit unless you take a booth table to play or a seat in the busy food areas. My boyfriend isn’t that keen on board games, so it would have been nice if he could rest somewhere while I carried on with my visit. In the end, he managed a little break on one of the few booth couches. A fair this big really needs places to rest.

The bags and suitcases alone would be manageable, but a lot of people don’t mind pushing you to get past, and that’s not nice at all.

As for the presentations, today showed me both sides: some people clearly loved board games and shared that love, while others seemed less engaged. To be fair, by the second day, the people working at the booths are probably just as tired as we are. Still, for me, the presentation and the story behind a game are a big part of the experience. I didn’t come here to buy on impulse. I came to discover our industry, and publishers and games I didn’t even know existed. That’s why a presenter who takes a moment to understand who’s in front of them makes such a difference.

End of Day 2

A tiring day, but one full of discoveries, and two new games coming home with me: Light in the Dark and Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs.

And a small confession: remember my promise of a notebook full of names? Today I was too tired to write any down. 😅

Tomorrow is my last day, with second attempts at Fame & Fable and Fear of the Dark on my list!

Have you ever been to SPIEL Essen? And what makes a booth presentation win you over?

Come share your comments on Mastodon, Facebook, and BoardGameGeek.