This is going to roll a couple of days all into one post. Mostly because the train ride to Germany was fairly uneventful and we basically stumbled our way to the hotel and just relaxed. And then the next two days were walking through the Spieltage and taking breaks from walking through the Spieltage.
We are very lucky, with a hotel right next to the train station so the amount of lugging luggage was minimal. Although the new luggage that we got has been great and I’m very happy we got it.
I think this is the third time that I’ve been lucky enough to make it to Essen Spiel. The first time was maybe 7 or 8 years ago. It seems very different. I’m not sure, but the energy seems a bit different. I wonder if it has to do with the industry or the media around the industry maturing, but the first visit it seemed the crowds were much more exploring to find something interesting...this year it seemed that a large majority had an idea and were focused on getting somewhere specific. I think there was still the desire to see if the game met a person’s liking but it was more “I want to try this game I’ve heard about that sounds interesting to me” rather than “oh, this game looks interesting. I wonder if I will like it.”
The convention does seem to have grown, but I don’t think to the same extent that Gen Con has grown. Gen Con has seemed to have become massive and sprawling, Essen more dense and tightly packed growth. (That isn’t to say that Gen Con isn’t packed...it definitely is.)