Wow, where do I start on Essen Spiel 2022. It was the first time I've attended the convention and it was mind-blowing; from the sheer scale of the event, to the number and variety of individuals and organisations present.
I had a super time meeting so many amazing people - designers, publishers, manufacturers, distributors and more. As it was our first time there (just as visitors this time), and we were only able to attend for a day, we wanted to make the most of the event by trying to do everything - of course, when we entered through the doors, we quickly realised we wouldn't be able to even scratch the surface of this event in a day!
We wandered around initially, not knowing where to start, but luckily my partner (the extrovert of our duo) said, "Yog, we just have to dive in!". So we did exactly that. I quickly lost the feeling any pressure to impress or sell myself, and instead had open discussions with those I met - explaining that I was new to the board gaming world, and wanted to learn as much as possible from those I was speaking to. The conversations were easy and I realised I had no reason to be anxious. We didn't expect how we would be welcomed with open arms by people we met, and how helpful and insightful they would be and how willing they would be to transfer knowledge even in a short conversation. As an introvert and someone who admittedly has been getting more social anxiety post-pandemic, I truely had the best time there - and this was mostly down to the wonderful people we met.
Based in the UK, one of the things I've struggled with over the last few months was creating prototypes that could be sent to board game reviewers rather than for play testing. Most prototype manufacturers that I could find online were based outside the UK, and the shipping costs alone to produce the prototypes are insane - e.g. I was quoted around £500 for 4 prototypes of Under and Over, and that was with blank hex tiles and not including the event card components. Thankfully, I was immediately advised by both Alley Cat Games and Dragma Games to contact Robb Butler (https://www.zwargame.com/prototyping), who is based in the UK and creates prototypes at a reasonable price.
Next, as we continued to wander around Hall 5, we came across the best artwork that we saw in the exhibition - this was at Pektis Studio's stall, for their game "Wanderlust". I met the two architects of the trio, and had a great chat with them - both from our 'day' careers point of view (my partner has to separate us at one point because we went off on a tangent talking about architecture and engineering!), and from being newbies in the board games world. It was great to share some common experiences with them and again get the feeling that we're not in this journey alone - we have the help however big or small from all the others that are on this journey too.
As well as speaking to designers and publishers, we spoke to some manufacturers - in particular it was nice to speak in person to manufacturers that I had been emailing with. We met with the Essen representatives for Whatzgames and Long Pack Games, and it was great to see what they produce.
Next we took some time to actually play some games - you can't come to Essen Spiel and not play board games! We left with only 3 games, but one that we wish we had time to go back to buy was Gigawatt - we really liked the game play and wanted it but we were too late coming back to get it at the end of the day :(
My tips for visiting Essen Spiel (and any other expo):
Definitely get there early! I'm glad we got there when it opened in the morning, even though we were exhausted by the end of the day, we still feel like we had so much to see.
I think going again as a visitor I would get a 2 day pass. There is not enough time in one day to play all the games we wanted to and also speak to all the people we wanted to speak to.
Do your research beforehand to make it easier on the day - as new designers, we had an idea of what we wanted to check out (games, designers, publishers, distributors, manufacturers, etc.); we managed to tick most of the checklist, but as above, going for 2 days would have definitely helped.
If there are any games you want to get - get in the queue early, and if you're unsure about whether to buy, just buy the game! We thought we can just get the games another time because we didn't want to carry them around the whole day, but in hindsight, we would just buy the games!
Don't be shy - easier said than done, but it's a welcoming industry and once you dive in, you realise everyone is there to have a good experience. Ask your questions, play your games, help each other out.
Ask for samples - I regret not getting samples from every manufacturer I visited - I would have saved a lot on shipping of the 'free' samples. Again, this comes down also to lack of experience that I could do that, and also time, where I could have sat down for a more detailed chat and talk through what I wanted and see relevant samples.
Book your appointments - some stalls require an appointment slot to be booked for a longer chat - go check out the ones you're most interested in first (if you can't book them in advance of the event), and make sure you get yourself a convenient slot.
Do you have any top tips that I've missed in my list above? Let us know in the comments below.
We're already looking forward to 2023, and hope to attend UKGE and more as well.
Wow seems like you had an amazing experience. 😍🥰