Board games exhibition in the world

For the past 25 years, the board game hobby has been a distinctly growing industry, expanding both simply in terms of volume and popularity, but also in expanding its diversity. As the number of enthusiasts grew, of course, at some point there was a desire and need to allow these enthusiasts to meet at various events, which has resulted in various board game expos, festivals, camps, and countless smaller events. It should be noted that this article will be about all these events during the "good times", or before the changes in the world order introduced by Covid-19. When these events will return to their former grandeur, we can only speculate, however, we are not denied to look back at what scope was achieved in 2019, which is what this article will be about.

Board game expos are many and varied, but two are bigger and better known than the others. We are talking, of course, about "Spiel" in Germany and "GenCon" in the US. From the available data, it is quite difficult to judge which one is bigger or more important, so I will put them in a fairly equal category. They also have differences - GenCon is more about gaming, while Spiel is more about shopping (although you can do both things in both). Below is a little more detailed description.

"Spiel" (Essen, Germany)

Of the two big exhibitions, this one is, of course, much better known to Latvians - as Essen is one flight and train ride away (as well as others have gone there by car), which means that visiting the exhibition is not a problem and is visited by quite a few people every year Latvian. Although it is popularly called "Eseni" (in board game circles the phrase "Will you go to Eseni this year?" is absolutely unequivocal, and no one imagines that they are asking about, for example, a family vacation in the summer), the real name of the exhibition is simply " Spiel " present the specific year ("Spiel '19"). The event usually takes place during the last full week of October , from Thursday to Sunday.

I myself have been to Essen 7 times, six of them as an employee of "Brain Games", and the seventh time as a regular visitor. During these 7 years, you could easily observe how the exhibition grew from big to very big - almost every year another hall was added to the already large exhibition complex, so that there was enough space for everyone who wanted to exhibit. Of course, the number of participants increased significantly, both in terms of companies and visitors (for those who have been there is no secret about moving at 1 km/h in the main halls or missing three subways to barely fit in the fourth one).

The Spiel is essentially a sales/shopping event, and many companies use the event to present their new games, while visitors naturally rush to buy new releases to be among the first to get them (as well as, of course, an important nuance is games that are in limited quantities or not available locally). For many companies, Spiel is the starting point for preparing new games for the first time they are presented to the public.

From the point of view of playing games, "Spiel" is not the most friendly event - there are basically no places to play games, the only option is the stands of the companies themselves, where, of course, it is accepted to play only the new/imported games of these companies (and there are also quite a few places - many must have seen in person or on video how at 10:00 in the morning at the door opening people literally run just to take a seat at a certain table (or buy a certain game)). Playing the new games usually takes place in hotels or rented apartments (well, maybe the most impatient ones find a freer spot on the ground in an emptier hall).

When everyone has done their shopping for four days and on Sunday evening a little after At 18:00, the loudspeakers announce the end of the exhibition, the exhibition is over and a wave of applause from all the employees is heard through all the halls. Visitors, on the other hand, try to find an effective system with the obtained news, how to get it inside their plane luggage.

Of course, it's not just shopping - there are also various board game tournaments, contests, and various fan events are also important, in recent years more and more cosplayers have been seen dressed up in some kind of costume, so you can definitely say that the event has become much more diverse .

GenCon (Indianapolis, USA)

Unfortunately, I didn't get to be at GenCon myself, so there won't be such a detailed description. From everything that has been read, seen and heard, it must be concluded that in essence it is almost the same with one rather significant difference - GenCon has a lot of space dedicated specifically to playing games. Halls full of tables that you can just walk up to or reserve, as well as many different tournaments. Of course, shopping is still possible, but the socializing factor here is therefore much bigger and more tangible. Also, all the fandom stuff is more popular in the US though and cosplay plays a bigger role in this event.

UK Games Expo

This is another exhibition in Europe, which has grown several times over the course of a few years from a relatively small event, becoming, if I am not mistaken, the largest exhibition in Europe after Spiel. The concept is basically the same as the big fairs, only everything is smaller (and in a way friendlier) - there are sellers, there are buyers, there is a place to play games. There is also another bonus - UK Games Expo nominations and awards, which are awarded in many different categories ("Spiel" and "GenCon" do not have their own awards, to be honest, it's hard to imagine how it could be added in such a saturation ).

B2B events

Although these are not relevant for the average hobbyist, there are also exhibitions where only business people meet, including board game publishers. These events mostly involve talking and making deals about which company is going to release some other company's game. Obviously, at the executive level, such conversations also take place electronically and at the other exhibitions mentioned above, however, there is much less background noise and activity in these, so you can focus on the conversations. The most important in Europe is the " Nuremberg Toy Fair ", which takes place every year at the turn of January-February in Germany.

Other board game events

Board gaming culture, as in all hobbies, has many and varied events organized by enthusiasts, resulting in quite a number and variety of small events with only tens or hundreds of participants.

One of the types of events is certainly all kinds of small "-coni", or, in other words, events intended for a specific niche or audience. For example, it can be for a specific game genre (wargaming events lasting several days are quite popular) or even for a specific game (Lord of the Rings LCG fans gather in a castle in Germany every year to play this exact game for several days).

Of course, these can simply be small local events that try to bring hobby enthusiasts together. Also in Latvia, for example, "BaltiCon" was held for two years, which is intended specifically for board games, as well as "Unicon", which has a wider spectrum of activity, has been taking place and growing for quite a few years now. If we do not take into account the state of the world at the moment, then these events have only tended to increase in terms of number and volume, whereas this trend will continue.

Going to an even more local level, there are already private or semi-private events - gaming clubs, as well as regular or mini board game camps. Right here in Latvia, a board game summer camp has been held for 10 years, and there are also events in autumn and winter, the same is happening in other countries, besides, more and more such events are being organized by people who simply want to gather together others who want to play, to devote themselves to the common hobby for several days .

The article was written by Edgars Zaķis