Editor and writer Ward Batty, who has over 30 years experience in retail management and publishing, sent us this report from the recently completed game fair in Essen, Germany.

Every October, over 150,000 board game enthusiasts fill a space about nine times that of Gen Con to check out the hundreds of new games that debut at the show each year.  This year's fair is against a backdrop of continuing softening sales in the German boardgame market, which would have fallen even more last year except that Germans discovered Texas Hold 'em Poker and everyone bought poker chips, which are included in the game sales totals.

 

A famous designer that I'll decline to name once told me the reason board games sell so well in Germany is "there is nothing else to do."  Stores close early; few businesses are open on Sunday.  However, it appears that the same forces that have reduced the time many families in America spend together, such as the XBox, or cell phones, are now having the same effect in Germany and families, especially with older kids, simply don't play boardgames the way the once did.

 

Still, for an American gamer, it is amazing to attend an event where publishers have the resources to erect massive displays and hire dozens of people to teach games.  Just to see boardgaming as a mainstream activity is a delight.  Nothing is more attractive than a cute girl with big bags of games in each hand.

 

The most common theme for games this year seemed to be race games.  A number of them should appear on store shelves throughout the year.  My favorite was Fast Flowing Forest Fellers, a new Friedemann Friese game race game about log-rolling that could be compared to a simplified Robo Rally, which will be available from RGG.

 

Kosmos is continuing their line of games based on books with Der Hexer von Salem by Michael Rieneck, based on Wolfgang Hohlbein's book series which in turn is based on H.P. Lovecraft's mythos.  It's a cooperative game, not to be confused with Arkham Horror.  Der Schwarm by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling, based on the book by Frank Schätzing, has tons of action cards in German so let's hope somebody translates this one.  And In the Name of the Rose by Stefan Feld is a monk deduction game, not to be confused with Mystery in the Abbey.

 

FRED Distribution is releasing what they call their Gryphon Games line of family-friendly titles.  These have matching box sizes, are a numbered series, and have a retail price of $19.99.  They had display copies at the show and the copies for sale should be available soon.  The first five games include Gem Dealer, a remake of Attacke, High Society, Money (all by Reiner Knizia) For Sale, and Roll Through the Ages, a Yahtzee-style dice game.  They are also distributing Take it Easy! in the U.S. for the first time in many years.  I think this line of games is something the market can use, good games for $20.

 

FRED is also releasing Take it Easy! in North America for either the first time ever or the first time in many years.  This is a very solid family game where all players play their identical tiles in the same order on a same personal board, players who play their tiles in the most effective manner win.  This game can be played with literally any number, I've played in games with over 100 people (and won one, too!)

 

The most intriguing game at the fair had to be Planet Steam by Heinz-Georg Thiemann and published by Heidelberger Spieleverlag and LudoArt.  The box is huge, just short of a yard tall and several inches deep.  The game won the Hippodice contest, a prestigious game design competition.  Here's how Hippodice describes this game of farming, economics, space exploration, trading and commodity speculation: "The players have landed with their ships and enter an untouched world that they want to subjugate.  They plant and harvest and search for resources.  The surplus is sent to their far home land.  But instead of plows and oxen the settlers have robots and super robots available to them, as we write the year 2185 and the Terra Incognita is situated on Mars.  In this rock-hard economic simulation only the smartest can win! Planet Steam is a complex simulation where the goods flow is very interconnected.  On the other hand the game is not complicated, but each round requires advanced planning." Agricola in space?  I can't believe that Fantasy Flight won't be all over this, but no U.S. publisher has been announced.  If it does get picked up it may well have a MSRP of $100-$150.

 

Speaking of Agricola, Lookout Games generated a lot of buzz with the release of Le Havre, a new game by Uwe Rosenberg.  While the ratings at BGG are strong, the game dropped down and finally off the Fairplay top games list at the show, and I hear a number of comments about the complexity and time it took to play the game.  I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I don't think this will be as accessible or popular as Agricola.  I don't believe a U.S. publisher has been announced, although I'd imagine that it will be available in North America soon.

 

Machu Picchu is the new game by Mac Gerdts and should capitalize on the popularity of Hamburgum.  If you sold Hamburgum, you should be able to sell this.

 

Galaxy Trucker had a big expansion, as did Race for the Galaxy.  After years of claiming that gamers have no interest in space and tons of interest in European history, publishers slowly seem to be figuring out that this may not be the case.  In fact there may have been as many space games as race games at Essen.

 

A game that I think may have a lot of sales potential is Kaleidos by Spartaco Albertarelli with artwork by Marianna Fulvi and Elena Prette and to be published in the U.S. by Z-Man Games.  This is a fantastically original game, sort of a visual Scattergories.  Players randomly select a letter and then must list everything in a fantastically complicated picture that begins with that letter.  Agony for some, like me, who don't file information in their head alphabetically; ecstasy for others.  People who like this really like it.  This is a strong family game and it is good to see this very nice new edition available in North America.

 

For retailers the best news may be the steady supply of expansions to popular games that are coming. Carcassonne: Das Katapult I assume will also be available from RGG, and Carcassonne: Mayflower originated from RGG.  Days of Wonder continues to mine Battle Lore, Memoir ‘44 and Ticket to Ride, to the delight of retailers I would think.

 

Finally, retailers should check out Dominion, a new card game from RGG.  This is a new game system, the base game has a number of action cards, only a few of which are used in each game.  Players use the action cards to accumulate gold, which will later be spent on victory points.  It is a nice balance between a CCG and traditional board game mechanics.  The game is packaged like a board game, so shops will need to make it a point to show this to their CCG customers, as that should be a natural fit.