Dorka Peter
2025. October 15.
A behind-the-scenes look at Essen SPIEL from a publisher’s view: pitches, demos, deals, and the energy that powers the biggest board game fair in the world.
Essen SPIEL is the world’s largest public board game fair, held every October in Essen, Germany, at Messe Essen. Over four packed days (Thursday to Sunday), the halls swarm with gamers, designers, publishers, retailers, influencers, and industry professionals.
For our European team, those four days are arguably among the most important of the year. You’re not just there to sell games - you listen to new game design pitches, forge licensing deals, meet media, handle massive demo schedules, meet fans, publicly test the prototypes on your upcoming games, and meet your friends from the industry. In this article, I’ll walk you through exactly what we do at Essen: the roles, the challenges, and work you never see from the outside.
Before the Doors Open: Arrival, Booth Setup & Novelties Show
We usually fly to Essen on Tuesday, two days before the doors open to the public. Those first days are all about getting everything in place: setting up the booth and the demo tables, collecting our stock, filling the storage room, setting aside pre-orders, and getting our payment systems set up.
Up until about three years ago, we built our booth completely from scratch, usually sitting on the floor, screwing Kallaxes together until we were politely kicked out of the hall for the night. It was chaotic but strangely fun, and it always felt like a proper team effort. These days, we work with a professional booth builder, which makes things a lot smoother, even if part of me misses those messy late-night setups.
Of course, most of the preparation happens long before Essen. The booth plan, the graphics, the signage, the demo signup sheets - all that gets designed and printed weeks, sometimes months, in advance. But even with everything “ready,” the final setup still takes a lot of coordination on site.
On Wednesday, we participate in the Novelties Show, a preview event for media, press, and retailers where new games are displayed before the official opening. This is where we will first show Emberheart this year.
At the Novelties Show, games are usually presented without full booth environments; it's a basic game setup, photo-friendly, and focused on first impressions. That’s where media capture images, content creators see what’s new, sales teams start conversations, and distributors browse before the crowds arrive.
Demos, Sales, Pre-Orders
On Thursday, the real fun begins as the hall gates open to the public. At most conventions, you can tell the show has started because people slowly start arriving and the hall fills up over time. Not at Essen SPIEL. At Essen, the opening feels like a race from the very first minute. It is a full-on stampede of gamers running to secure their carefully chosen new releases.
People come fully prepared with long shopping lists, huge bags, trolleys, and a kind of enthusiasm that you rarely experience anywhere else in the world. It is honestly my favorite moment of the whole weekend! Their excitement is contagious, and it gives our team the energy for the long days ahead.
During the show, most of our energy goes into demoing our new and upcoming board games. Our demo team, a mix of staff and dedicated volunteers, spends the day explaining rules and guiding players through short sessions (usually a round or two). We always do time-slot demo signups in the mornings after realizing that the usual “come by and grab a chair” type method simply does not work at Essen. It always ended in confusion and arguments about who was next.
There is always a queue forming for the demos right after opening, but we do our best to find everyone a slot that works. (Although last year we got yelled at by the fire department because the queue was blocking the exits, which was both a proud moment because so many players were looking to play our games, and made us even more nervous to speed up the signup process). Thankfully, everyone is always so kind and patient. It is always a bit of a puzzle because some of our volunteers only demo in English or only in German, so matching players and languages correctly in the morning has become one of the most important tasks of the day.
Outside the demo area, the other big focus is sales and pre-orders. This year will be especially busy since almost 700 pre-orders of Emberheart will be picked up on site. We are also running a 10 percent sale on all older titles to celebrate our 10-year anniversary. You will usually find one of our core team members working the cashier, helping customers, and keeping the line moving smoothly. This year’s new release will be Emberheart, Perseverance Episodes 3&4, and the Trickerion Anniversary Edition (in limited quantities). We will also demo Revenant, the new Voidfall expansion, and of course, Emberheart!
Behind the Scenes - Pitches, Deals & Networking
While most visitors spend the fair playing new releases and hunting for the best deals, the real business of SPIEL happens behind the booth. The annex of our booth is a meeting room where our team members conduct business meetings.
Robin, our in-house game designer and developer, spends much of the fair listening to game pitches from aspiring designers. Essen is one of the few places where you can meet publishers face-to-face, so people bring their best prototypes and a lot of enthusiasm. Some are polished, some are still rough, but we always try to give real feedback. Occasionally, something catches our attention and becomes a proper follow-up after the fair (for example, Emberheart is the result of one such successful meeting back in 2023).
Meanwhile, Soma and I spend most of our time meeting content creators, influencers, and reviewers we usually only talk to online, or mending the dedicated media table of our new release. Essen is the one time of year when almost everyone from the board-gaming world is in the same place, which makes it perfect for reconnecting or discussing future collaborations. It’s also a great opportunity to finally match faces to email addresses.
Then there are the meetings with international partners, which usually Viktor, our CEO and Robert, our sales associate, handle. They sit down with other publishers who might want to publish our games in their language, or with distributors and retailers looking to carry our titles. These conversations often continue for months afterward, turning into licensing agreements, print runs, or long-term partnerships.
Why SPIEL Matters
SPIEL isn’t just four days of meetings, crowds, and demos. For a publisher, it sets the pace for the year ahead. The connections made at Essen often grow into international editions, distribution agreements, or creative collaborations that shape the months to come. It’s also one of the best testing grounds for upcoming board games, where you can watch players interact with prototypes, see which mechanics resonate, check whether the iconography works, and hear genuine, unfiltered feedback.
The visibility SPIEL provides is unmatched. Every conversation, photo, and post can reach thousands of players around the world, because for one long weekend, the entire board gaming community is watching Essen. Yet beyond the noise and numbers, what matters most are the relationships built there. A quick hallway chat or a short demo with another publisher can lead to something lasting. The sales, the buzz, and the coverage all play their part, but the real heartbeat of SPIEL Essen is the shared excitement for creating games people love to play.
See You Next Week
As you can see, we have a very exciting week ahead of us – new releases, nonstop board game demos, meetings, and of course, the chance to meet so many of you in person. Essen SPIEL is the highlight of our year, a celebration of creativity, community, and our shared enthusiasm for board games.
If you’re visiting this year, come by our booth, say hi, play a game, and be part of the fun. We can’t wait to see you in Essen!
Thanks for reading!
Dorka