As usual, Spiel Messe 2022 was packed with visitors — all exhibitors were not less busy as well. It was expected, though, since many publishers were absent last year. Hence, this year, with the full-house list of the giant publishers, all parties were trying their best to catch up with each other. We were not an exception, as we were fully occupied for the rest of the week. This article tries to sum up what we did and, in parallel, report Spiel Messe’s key point of this year during day two to the last day.
Catching up was one of our main objectives this year. There were several old friends we haven’t seen for years since Covid-19. Among them, we once again met Shima and Tomi from itten. They will have an upcoming Kickstarter project, which we tried and liked.
Still from Asia, we also visited Moaideas Game Design in Hall 4. The new deluxe edition of Joraku was, as expected, sold out in no-time. They also explained their new development for the future — an expansion to new branches (comic and multimedia) has already begun. I even got a copy of Etariya.
Capital Gains Studio from Singapore showcased their product, along with Mercat Games, their subsidiaries for family-friendly games. Since Saturday was packed with people, suitcases, and strollers, I decided to help them at the booth for a day. During the break, we also met Daryl from Origame, another Singaporean publisher, in Hall 4.
One of the Spanish publishing houses, Guerra de Mitos, brought two board games this year. Insecta attracted a swarm — and the smaller one, Festival, stole some attention, too. Nearby, both 2 Tomatoes Games and Invedars once again shared the booth together. The latter one informed me that they will have a new Kickstarter soon. Coral was sold out at 2 Tomatoes Games’ booth, which was not surprising. Luckily, we still got the last copy in Dutch version from Black Box Adventures.
Mebo Games’ new release was fascinating. Fun fact: the designer of the mentioned game is also a co-designer of Bot Factory, along with Vital Lacerda. He was generous to give us several games he created under his own company.
Spiel Messe and board game market in 2022
This is the first edition of Spiel Messe after Spielwarenmesse took it over early 2022. We didn’t feel any change, nor any difference from the previous years’ exhibition. Actually, I think it was a good thing, since the concept has been familiar to both the exhibitors and the visitors. Spiel Messe has been an important expo for the board game culture, not only for Germany but internationally. Therefore, the decision to keep this event under the management of Friedhelm-Merz Verlag despite the acquisition was spot on.
It was obvious that Saturday became the peak, just like any other year. Day two on Friday was nothing compared to the weekend. With that in mind, I decided to take a ‘break’ by helping Capital Gain Studio at their booth. Besides their educating games about financial literacy, they brought the product line from Mercat Games as well. Some smaller publishers from Singapore were also able to showcase their games.
In my observation, families dominated the demography of the visitors on Saturday. There were more strollers and kids brought by their parents to the event. The queue was longer than usual, of course. It was a bliss for the publishers, as they sold their hits out during this day. We saw the tag ‘Sold Out’ more often. I guess the inflation may have an impact on the market much, but the enthusiasm was still high to buy new games. Besides the inflation, the difficult logistic and production was the reason of the price skyrocketing this year.
Chatting with Nuno from Mebo Games, he also mentioned that many visitors came to their booth. They eagerly tried Evora, their latest game, premiering on Spiel Messe 2022. Nevertheless, the conversion rate to real sales was not as high as last year. Whether this happened to other publishers is not clear yet.
See you at Spiel Messe 2022
This year’s convention closed its curtain with a new achieved record — there were more than 1,800 new releases. In total, around 147,000 visitors were roaming the expo. There was a significant increase in the total number of exhibitors compared to last year’s number, too. Spiel Messe 2022 accommodated 980 exhibitors from 56 nations.
The next Spiel Messe in 2023 has been announced — we will see each other on 5th to 8th October next year. Book your ticket, secure your accommodation. Until then, stay safe and have fun.
I am a full-time food technologist during weekdays. However, when the calendar hits weekends, I transform into an avid board gamer. I am a hardcore Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) LCG player from Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). Current hobby: buying board games. My shelf of shame’s list is getting longer, thanks to you, Kickstarter.
