As every year… SPIEL is happening.
(I’ve booked a backup hotel room in Mülheim-a-d-Ruhr in the hope of switching to somewhere closer when they open bookings.)
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The SPIEL Preview is about halfway filled on BGG.
This year SPIEL is happening from Thursday October 3rd to Sunday October 6th.
So is anyone going? When? Where?
What games are you excited about?
My partner and I will drive up with friends on Thursday morning and stay until Saturday night when we‘ll return home.
I have made a Geeklist with the new stuff I am excited or somewhat excited about. Including games I‘ve backed or already own because I am a completionist: Yashima's SPIEL 2024 Watchlist
My FOMO/Hype is less than in other years.
Possibly because the games I am most interested in are either ones I already own (Daybreak, Harmonies, Arcs), games I will receive shortly from backing them (Cyclades Legendary, Unconscious Mind), or games I know I will blind buy and which will be available en masse by Christmas at the very latest (Black Forest—remake of Glassroad, Dorfromantik Sakura) due to being made by large German publishers.
There are a few games I mean to check out at the fair. But I am fairly skeptical about all of them. Which is quite a desirable state to be in really. I am sure the closer the fair gets the more likely I am to join into some kind of hype cycle for the latest almost unavailable small-batch game someone is bringing to the fair in suitcases… but I‘ll try my best to avoid that.
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Initially, I was planning to only go there Thurs and Fri, but now I’m tagging along with a group so I will do the whole (I’ll probably be staying in the B&B on Sat)
You’ll see me in the Asian section first thing. Korean reprint of Lifeboats I’m super keen on and will check out Playte and others to see what they got.
I’ll be tempted on grabbing Black Forest and some trick takers like Seers Catalog. I’m sure it will be in the UK eventually, but this is trading money for time. Stalk Exchange is also in my list. If copies of Witness are reasonably priced, then maybe.
Will check out Play to Z, which is former Z-Man and Wizkids lead’s new publishing house.
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I will definitely be there, all days, working as usual.
The Sunday is my birthday so if anyone’s hanging about I could go out for several beer somewhere…
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If anyone wants to participate in the no-ship auction
I’ll be happy to drive winnings back to England for you (then post / meet as appropriate).
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I haven’t heard much about exciting launches this year. To be fair, I don’t follow a lot of hype channels. Anywhere I should be looking for a more nuanced take than “it is new you must get it”?
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see above my personal watchlist.
i have added quite s bit of info to most games.
Check out The Gang and Fischen for small card games. first one is coop poker second is 2F tricky stuff. I bought both already😇
since starting new job i have had very little time. so I’m mostly basing this on my going through the preview at BGG.
I’d add Daybreak and Harmonies. but I’ve written about both plenty of times here
as huge Uwe fan: Black Forest has me unreasonably excited.
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So the preview suggests the SPIEL hotness will be:
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SETI the new CGE thingy… space exploration! Definitely have to check out any new CGE game. It looks a little like Planet X… same designer as the Galileo game and Tea Garden-- Tomáš Holek whom I haven’t heard of before this year’s SPIEL preview.
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Civolution: Stefan Feld does a Civ game? Seems like a big one. But I rarely get on with Feld games, still need to see any big new civilzation game. The tech tree looks kind of neat here:
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Inferno: from Red Mojo the people that made Tindaya. Don’t know the designer but some busy looking board has you do the Dante…
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Arcs… obviously
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Daitoshi: the new big Devir this year. The board looks less busy than Bitoku … and there is a steampunky setting? It looks to be set in the same “world” as a few of their other games (Bitoku, Bamboo, Sand, Silk) so if you are into that this might be exciting?
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Cities (another Devir): Phil Walker Harding and Steve Finn do a city building game ? It looks like they took the city part of Tapestry and designed a game around that? The cover looks hideous in my opinion. They took all the textures they couldn’t use for Bitoku and:
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Let’s go to Japan was pretty big on Kickstarter a good while ago. It looked really cute but I felt the gameplay in the previews lacking. Something something set collection. A mechanism I am not big on most of the time. AEG publishes that one. It might still be good. Has a solo, decent playtime… (also has been out for a bit I think)
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Windmill Valley is a primary color eyesore about tulips and windmills.
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Rock Hard 1977 a game designed by Jackie Fox of Runaways fame(?) and 70s rock musicians taking drugs … sorry candy. It seems to be evoking the theme better than being an actually balanced fun game. Radho disliked it so much he actually dissed it. Spacebiff had some kinder words to say but only some. I really wanted it because I want a game with that theme. But I also prefer something I want to play. It might be one I will try to check out because it might be my best chance to make an informed decision about it.
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Unconscious Mind is now at the fair for 4 years running I believe and what I can’t believe that I backed the Kickstarter and still don’t have the game. I fell for the awesome cover. I’ll let everyone know what it’s like when it finally arrives. I am not enthused these days.
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Tir Na Nog. a game about irish myth that looks real pretty. It’s been out a while now but Spiel might be a good time to check it out.
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Saltfjord norse themed remake of Santa Maria. That is one I am actually excited about. But Aporta is also known for not having enough copies available during and after the fair and their booth is usually tiny so… but it’s the Revive crew so I am kind of excited about this one.
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Ada’s Dream published by Alley Cat Games – I previously had a game about Ada Lovelace that I hated, so I am less interested even though the board looks cool and less mathy than Lovelace and Babbage.
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Galileo Galilei (same guy as CGE’s SETI game) at the opposite end of space exploration. Also space exploration with a beige cover is … a bold choice. Although it is not categorized as such but as Astronomy themed. So that. Deck/Bag/Pool Building and area majority sounds lik a tried formula that could be good or just boring. Board looks interesting enough:
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Black Forest remake of Glass Road with a beautiful Black Forest cover. I have to have it because I live here and also I don’t have Glass Road and also Feuerland does nice productions.
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Men-Nefer some Egyptian themed manufacturing game with lots of pieces it looks like.
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Andromeda’s Edge a Sci-Fi remake of the biggest Kickstarter I haven’t played enough in my collection: Dwellings of Eldervale. There is obviously some hype there from the same corner that loves Dwellings.
(I am now moving down the listings somewhat faster, I don’t have opinions on every single game in the preview)
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Rebirth the new big Knizia tile placement game published by Mighty Boards. Seems to have something of an environmental theme. Maybe the good doctor did the math about this theme after seeing the success of Daybreak and decided to get in on the action… I’ll check it out but await the verdict of masses before jumping on this. Knizia is too hit or miss for me.
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Resafa the new Suchy by Delicious Games. Something camel-themed with multi-use cards and some tile placement, route building… the board looks more enticing than Woodcrafter but less than Evacuation. Neither of which I ever played, the first because I ran away after seeing the board and the 2nd because there were only 3 tables at SPIEL and it was impossible to get a spot.
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Flat Iron a 1-2 player game in 3 dimensions… well building up by the Red Cathedral designers. You build the famous NYC building. I need to check this out, first thought this looked boring, then read part of the designer diary and … well I am curious.
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Spectacular another game from one of the Revive designers (Eilif Svensson along with his brother). Chilifox games seems to be making smaller, less complex games with a quick playtime. This one has hex fields and so I am keen
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Beyond the Horizon takes the Beyond the Sun tech tree back to where tech trees originated: a civ game
I will very likely buy this. I really really liked BtS… -
Lord of the Rings Duel a retheme of 7 Wonders Duel which I enjoyed a lot at the start of this year and so I’ll go have a look.
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Shackleton Base by Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Mangone (they did Autobahn together which I avoided)… this one is about building a moon base or so. The board looks tasty to me:
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Undaunted Callisto finally an Undaunted version I am keen to try. Yay for SciFi wars.
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Kanal the re-release of Oranienburger Kanal with a much less yellow cover. I highly recommend for Uwe fans and/or solo players
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Intarsia Kiesling is finally stopping naming his tile layers Azul something… but it’s probably still Azul.
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Fischen 2F Trick Taking game that has you play the next round with the cards you won the previous one and if you don’t have enough cards you get new more powerful ones from the deck and they have some fun abilities on them. I haven’t played yet so I don’t remember how it ends
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Altay: Dawn of Civilization Paolo Mori does a civ game something something deck building.
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Courtisans French/German editions are only just starting to be available
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Rebel Princess the badly translated German edition hasn’t been out long
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Algae Inc the final Game Brewer game
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The Gang new Kosmos coop card game. This one has you play Texas Hold’em while deducing who has the strongest hand without talking about it
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Chu Han awesome looking 2 Player Thomas Lehmann
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Inventions is the new Lacerda. Ah well… they get more expensive as time goes by. They are up to 150 monies now.
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Stamp Swap the new Stonemaier. I prefer the German title “Tauschrausch” but I am unexcited about the actual game. Stamps? Really?
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New versions of: Yokohama, Nusfjord (the big box), Bus (Complete Edition), Dorf Romantik (Sakura Edition), Patchwork (10 year anniversary), Orleans (anniversary box), Skull King (now a queen), The Crew (family), Tinder Blox (Storm Edition)
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Expansions for: White Castle, Planet Unknown, Forest Shuffle, Nucleum, Barcelona, Age of Steam (some really weird ones with Steampunk and animal themes?), Akropolis, World Wonders, Gaia Project, Ancient Knowledge, more Ark Nova zoo plans, Nekojima, Colt Express, Hamlet, Flamme Rouge Grand Tour, Terra Forming Mars Prelude 2 (mine should arrive tomorrow yay), Power Grid (because there is never a year without a new map, is there?), Unmatched (there is always more of it), Apiary,
PS: One last one Landmarks | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
I saw this on a Radho preview of all places but it looked like quite the exciting thing if you like cooperative word game deduction stuff. And it has hexes.
pps: Essen - Spiel 2024 - collection of lists - the list of hype lists
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Civolution is reallly a civ game game which I find is funny but gets around some of the problems of doing a civ game (eg inventing a Time Machine before pens, or complex interactions with neighbours)
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Kraftwagen! Did not expect that. One of the few heavyish Euros I’ve really enjoyed.
Yeah I didn’t include that one, as I have never heard of it or don’t remember
There are also more expansions and probably even more remakes and in the case of Santa Maria → Saltfjord I included it “upstairs” because I expect significant changes beyond theming.
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Here are the ones I’m keen on:
Black Forest - Rosenberg farming game.
Seven Empires - a new Mac Gerdts. S, I am gonna look out for it
Lifeboats - reprint of the old Lifeboats, and I am keen to see the changes they’ve made. The OG does take some time to finish
Funkenschlag: Outpost
Stalk Exchange
Witness
Altay - this will be on demo. Would be great to try it as I like Mori’s stuff
Battallion - Paolo Mori co-design
Ascending Empire’s: Zenith Edition - Z-Man guy created a new publishing house, Play By Z, and this is one of their releases.
Preordered some Playte and Mandoo Games stuff
Trick takers/Shedders:
- Seers Catalog - I’ve already bought this from UK retail shop
- Panda Spin - Chudyk trick taker
- Xylotar
- Prey
- Sandbag
- Skull Queen
- The Gang
I won Galactic Renaissance from the BGG auction and also some old games that are cheap to buy in Germany.
- Knizia’s Qin
- Caesar’s Empire
- Medieval Merchant
- Inca Empire
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For reference, I’ll be working at Indie again, 3V210, on Thursday morning, Friday and Saturday all day, and Sunday afternoon. I’m happy to chat at the booth, but my job there is demoing games and that takes priority.
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I‘ll be by to say hello at least maybe we can do a tekeli.li lunch meeting on one of those days. we‘re there Thu/Fri/Sat (arriving Thursday morning and returning home Saturday immediately after the fair to save on hotel → to buy more games obviously)
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I haven’t got my exact hours but on past form I should get away at 2pm or so on Thursday.
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Apparently the 4 day tickets are sold out …
I am not sure this is a first for SPIEL but I’ve been expecting this to happen for years. Every year there are more people coming and it’s not like there is tons more space to put them.
The Messe will be packed–again.
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I am keen on avoiding Saturday and do something else
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Yeah, since the east entrance reopened last year I think they’re basically using all the indoor space there is. Maybe they could add the Grugahalle? I think it comes under the same organisers at least.
Luna - this is why I usually work full time on Friday and Saturday, because that’s when I don’t want to be pushing through the crowds. Don’t know how the holiday on Thursday will affect that though.
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For anyone going to Essen it might be worth checking this one out
It looks really limited in numbers so it might be hard to stumble upon late in the day. but it looks neat to me (on appearance only) so if it looks interesting check it out early!
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