Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day

boardgame Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

trade fair A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and c ...

which is also open to the public held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the

Messe Essen The Messe Essen is the exhibition centre of the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Rüttenscheid borough near the Grugapark. It is the 9th largest exhibition centre in Germany. History Though there had been a ...

exhibition centre in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It began in 1983. With 1 021 exhibitors from 50 nations in 2016, SPIEL is the biggest fair for

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

s in the world. Many new games are released at the fair each year, especially (but not exclusively)

European-style board game A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, (generally just referred to as board games in Europe) is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and abstract physical componen ...

At SPIEL board games are offered which are hard to find in retail because a lot of international and small exhibitors present their products. While the prices for buying the games at the fair do not tend to be significantly lower than those in retail, the games are typically available sooner than in regular board game shops, come with promotional materials (mostly extra cards or tokens with a few more game mechanics, but also T-shirts and similar merchandise) and it is an occasion where passionate board gamers can meet and chat with

game design Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

ers, illustrators, and famous game reviewers. __NOTOC__

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* Annual fairs Fairs in Germany Gaming conventions Trade fairs in Germany 1983 establishments in Germany Recurring events established in 1983 {{game-stub

See also

Notes

References

External links