Feet aching, bodies and minds exhausted, suitcases stretched to burst, but beaming with that sweet, sweet board gaming energy. Yep, we’re back from Essen Spiel 2019, Europe’s biggest board game convention and trade show, and a conveniently close convention from Wageningen.

Together in a group of about 30 people, we have come and gone from Essen, Germany to look, play, and buy hundreds (thousands?) of board games over the course of four days from Thursday 24th October to Sunday 27th October. And boy, what a showing it was this year! The Spiel ‘19 Preview on BGG listed 1247 games from publishers all over the world.

As with last year, all of us stayed in a hostel together to condense the massive Wageningen Board Gamers energy (and some other board game aficionados) into one powerful board gaming location. This also allowed many of us to try out our purchases after the doors of Spiel closed. We will continue the tradition of staying at this hostel each year, so if this sounds like your cup of tea, keep an eye out for next year’s organisation.

But speaking of purchases, we have some haul photos from the attendees, as well as quick takes they had of the games and convention.

Boris: “It was an amazing SPIEL again, with way too many games to explore. I tried to buy less games this year since my board gaming cabinets do not fit any new games, but unfortunately I failed :) I am really looking forward to trying all of my new purchases, but I am most interested in playing Cooper Island.”

Erik-Jan: “There’s (literally) a lot to unpack here, so I’ll stick to 3 things: firstly my personal highlight was the meet and greet with the wonderful Helle and Line, where we played some games and got some stickers, pens and cookies. The Wageningen Board Gamers even made it into their vlog, so make sure to check that out. Secondly, the game-of-the-fair for me was “We’re Doomed”: think real-time Coup or a Secret Hitler where everyone is the Hitler. Basically 15 minutes of chaos, cooperation, backstabbing and the weirdest event-deck you can imagine. And last but not least: As the organiser of the group visit I got a board game organiser for Dominion, which is really cool! Thanks a lot everyone!“

Irene: “As Suraj said to us after seeing our Haul; we’ve definitely got an Asian theme going on here. This year I discovered a new Asian publisher: EmperorS4. I enjoyed every game I played at their booth and of the 14 games we got this year, 4 are from this publisher! Definitely one I will be keeping on my list of publishers to check out at Spiel 2020!

Martyn: “As a big fan of Clank! and the Dune books and video-games I knew Clank! Legacy and Dune the board game were must buys for me. I had already heard some good stories about Chocolate Factory and having played it I knew for sure that this game, which is a very nice engine builder with a tasty theme, would hit the table frequently. Two games that surprised me were Karekare and Escape from the aliens in outer space. “

Sam: “I purchased 14 games/expansions this year, making this an even bigger year than before. We played Ecos: First Continent on Saturday and I definitely think its my game of the show – very fun watching a continent, flora, and fauna grow and change. “

As at least 20 Wageningen Board Gamers headed down to Essen, these pictures are just a small take of the total haul of this year. Be sure to join us at our upcoming game nights at THUIS or Rad van Wageningen to check and try out even more new games! Do you have any games you are interested in trying out? Be sure to let us know on our Facebook page or Discord group, so we can make sure to bring them :)