SPIEL 22 is literally the BIGGEST gaming convention of the year!
Often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, Internationale Spieltage SPIEL is an annual board game trade fair held over four days in October (Thursday to Sunday) at Essen's Messe exhibition centre in Germany. It first took place in 1983, so has been going 39 years - almost as old as me (just turned 41)!
With over 1000 exhibitors from over 40 countries, SPIEL is by far the biggest fair for #board #games in the world. Lots of new games are released at the fair each year, especially (but not exclusively) European-style board games. There are thousands of games for visitors to try and publishers like Ares Games boast convention exclusives. It is common for publisher exclusives to be sold out at the event. If you're attending, do take advantage as Ares Games will have War Of The Ring the card game at the event along with some exclusive promo cards, for sure worth checking out!
So, why are DOALG not going this year?
The main reason is that we all run out of holiday this year. You must remember #DOALG is volunteer run and while we were able to attend UK Games Expo. No one on the #DOALG team had enough time and money left over to attend! We are hoping to attend next year so watch out for 2023 coverage of Spiel from team #DOALG. In the meantime, let's talk more Spiel!
This year SPIEL takes place October 6th – 9th, 2022 and tickets are still available, so if you haven't booked and are not too far away from Germany, we urge you to go!
One of the biggest attractions at Spiel is the awards, which have been running since 1990.
Winners 2022
WE CONGRATULATE ALL SHORTLISTED PUBLISHERS AND DESIGNERS!!!!!!!
The winner of the main prize and winner of the Deutscher Spiele Preis 2022 (German Games Prize)| is ARK NOVA by Mathias Wigge
Runners up from a variety of excellent publishers from Germany and beyond were:
2. CASCADIA by Randy Flynn (Kosmos / Flatout Games / AEG)
3. DUNE IMPERIUM by Paul Dennen (Dire Wolf / Sales: Asmodee)
4. LIVING FOREST by Aske Christiansen (Pegasus Games)
5. THE RED CATHEDRAL of Sheila Santos and Israel Cendrero
(Kosmos Verlag and Devir Games)
6. WITCHSTONE by Martino Chiacchiera and Dr. Reiner Knizia
(R&R Games / Huch!)
7. BEYOND THE SUN by Dennis K. Chan (Strohmann Games)
8. SCOUT by Kei Kajino (Oink Games)
9. GOLEM by Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli and Simone Luciani
(Cranio Creations / Distribution: Asmodee)
10. TERRAFORMING MARS – ARES EXPEDITION by Jacob Fryxelius, Nick Little and Sydney Engelstein (Schwerkraft Verlag)
Winner of the Deutschen Kinderpspiel Preises 2022 (German Children's Game Prize) is The Quacks of Quedlinburg by Wolfgang Warsch from the publisher Schmidt Spiele
The Inno Spiele Preis is awarded by the city of Essen and Friedhelm Merz Verlag, the events company who organises Spiel. It is awarded for innovation in the world of family and board games.
An expert jury choses the winner, the members are:
Michael Blumöhr, reviewer, organiser of Darmstadt spielt
Christwart Conrad, reviewer, editor and author
Diana Doert, author of Der Spiegel
Karsten Höser, publisher of Spielerei and Spiel & Autor
Nadine Pick, owner of Spielbrett Köln
Christoph Post, blogger from Brettspielbox
At the time of writing, the prizewinner is yet to be announced but the following are the worthy shortlisters:
ECHO by Matthew Dunstan and Dave Neale from publisher Ravensburger,
HEY YO by Takashi Saito from publisher Oink Games,
WONDERBOOK by by Martino Chiacchiera and Michele Piccolini, published by dV Giochi and ABACUSSPIELE,
If you are attending #Spiel2022 please feel free to tag us in your posts using #wishyouwereheredoalg and we will check your content!
We look forward to #Spiel2023 as this convention will be a first for us
In the meantime, folks take care stay safe and keep gaming!
Mr Chris