SPIEL

October is a month I look forward to. End of daylight (summer time) is a reason, but the other one is SPIEL. Around 6 years ago, I met a formidable bunch of folks at the office who were often playing board games. Quite sadly, I have never really had a group of friends in Italy with whom I could play board games. Two of these colleagues, whom I now call friends, are people with whom we play often, and every year we go together to the biggest board game event in Europe. SPIEL.

SPIEL is a huge thing in the board game world. Started in 1983, it quickly became the leading event in the industry. Manufacturers go there to showcase their infrastructure and get customers. Game designers bring their prototype to try out and get more feedback. Publishers display their new products, give demos and sell their games. Artists have a stand to show their art and sell merchandise. Some people just go to have a good time, dress up in their favourite character and spend a nice day there.

Of the 250.000 people that go to the event, some go there to try out new games, sell and buy second-hand games out of the yearly auction event, and hunt for designers to sign their copy of the game.

Probably, this is my 4th year there. What I really like is that I can try, for real, a lot of games in a short amount of time. It is also a chance to meet new people and access games that are not really available in the European market. For instance, a lot of Asian publishers do not really operate in the European market and SPIEL is the event where they get their products through in the EU market.

Together with a friend, we left Amsterdam for Essen, Germany, and there we were for 4 days of uninterrupted board game playing time.

SPIEL - Day 1

Mere mortals who are not there for business, but only to play games cannot access the venue before 10:00AM. So, most of us are outside waiting from 8 or 9 in the morning. One always has a mixture of feelings. Drained due to the long wait while standing and super excited for the coming play time.

All the halls are packed. Try to judge for yourself.

My friend and I have a simple strategy every year. We check which games we both like to try and we go to different tables, hoping to get two seats. Whoever gets two seats at a table calls the other. Our goal is to minimize waiting time and maximize play time.

House of Fado

The first game I went after was House of Fado by Vital Lacerda and João Quintela Martins. With an enormous stroke of luck, it had a free table and João in person explained the game. He is such a friendly person, we had a clear explanation of the rules, a good laugh and even took a picture together. The game has a cosy, calming graphic thanks to Marina Costa, a lovely theme borrowed from the best tradition of Portuguese nightlife and the kind of mechanism I love. Worker placement games with a compensation mechanism are probably my favourite sort of games.

Despite loving it, I wanted to wait before buying it as this is a game that can be easily bought online. I wanted to check other games first.

Sanctuary

The second stop of the day was at Sanctuary, a game that feels and looks like a downgrade of Ark Nova. The game was quite pleasant, with some nice dynamics. Cool mechanisms for scoring and nice art. The thing is that if you really like Ark Nova, Sanctuary will always feel like a downgrade. To me, having the cards from the market to shift at every turn greatly improve the friendliness of the game, but also makes it less competitive in a way. With that constant shift, we can always count on having a good set of options to chose from. The limit of your hands is 6, from the beginning. You can score what are known in Ark Nova as conservation points way more easily. All these reasons, makes me feel like I played a downgraded version of Ark Nova. On the other hand, it is a great choice if one likes Ark Nova but cannot play it because there is no group that likes to play it. Sanctuary will be a better offer, while it keeps the same vibe and game mechanics of the big brother Ark Nova.

Tax the rich

Tax the rich is a game that was quite a funny one. It is a trick-taking game with a nice theme. There is a betting phase at the beginning, where you bet on how many tricks you and your partner can take in the game. If you match that number and trump, you score the points of the bet. If not, the other players will score some points (second place points). At any point in the game, you can call the revolution (or riot, I can't recall) and the scale of values is reverted. I had fun playing this game, even if the game mechanic of trick tacking is not my favourite. It also has a very low price tag.

The Royal Society of Archaeology

The Royal Society of Archaeology has been on my list of games to try for a while. Many of the people I know have tried and bought this game. The theme attracted me in the first place. Also, the game mechanics where you have compensation if you have the lower-skilled worker in an area is one of my favourites. Despite the, cough cough, horrible explanation experience, the game was good and I even bought it. Each player is a team of archaeologists (male and female) who are trying to prepare for an expedition. You need to have enough money, secured by talking to a patron, enough knowledge of the area and preparation. If you manage to depart for a land far away to look for ancient civilizations and ruins, you may come back with smuggledvaluable artefacts to display in a museum or to use to repay your patron. The game allows for 12 actions per player, then it ends. Quite fast. Also, the scoring mechanism has a bit of a twist, so you have to plan your expeditions carefully. Another one I took home.

Trnd

Trnd is a small game about chair monopoly. You read it correctly. The market offers chairs in all sorts of forms (well, 6 in this game) and colours (3 actually). There is a 3x3 grid displaying 8 cards and the deck in the middle. Each player has a hand of a certain number of cards, and the goal is to discard cards from their hands and remain with only one type and colour of chair. Your action is to pick up a card from the grid (visible or top of the deck) and discard one or more cards from your hands (only if you took a card from the display, not from the deck). The first one to empty their hand triggers the end. It is a sort of push your luck game, with cards and a set collection mechanism.

Not really my cup of tea.

Wine cellar

Put together an Italian geek, a board game about wine, and nice art...it is an instant buy. Also the price was quite accessible for this re-implementation of Wine Cellar. Players are brokers who represent clients who are interested in wine and participate in bids to acquire specific wine and create a collection. Your collection has to be built with particular rules and scores the position of the wine you put in there. Simple game with nice art from Vincent Dutrait. Excellent filler game.

Movie Fight

Pink Troubadour had quite a stand this year. Besides the big guns like Luna and Forestry, I have noticed the game Movie Fight. The theme is Movie theatre. Each player runs a movie theatre business with two rooms. This is represented by a player board that has a depiction of the movie theatre and, on the two sides, space to put cards. All the cards have two sides. On the left, people with requirements for the movie they would like to watch, and a bonus, if you upgrade the card. The requirements can be other people in the same room, special effects like 3d glasses, or double surround, or the genre they want to watch.

On the right side, there are icons that represent the genre, special effects and the action (sometimes) to upgrade some cards.

In the game, you will draw a card from the display and place it on your player board. The game is quite straightforward and can be a lot of fun with the right group of friends. My belief is that Movie Fight can be a lot of fun if played with friends with whom you can make puns and jokes, and who are a bit knowledgeable about movies.

I was tempted to buy it.

Spiel - Day 2

With a bit less energy, the preparation for day 2 started. Alarm goes off at 7:05, breakfast, chit chat and ready to go.

Borealis: Arctic Expeditions

Oh, the poles! Fascinating environments. The theme of Borealis: Arctic Expeditions talked to me from the moment I saw this. So, I went and tried it. Each player is managing a research expedition to the Arctic. You have researchers who are conducting investigations on the environment and the species living there. As a manager, you want to move your researchers to the right and left, by using some form of transportation, to take pictures of the species that are living there.

Each player starts with a set of 3 cards. Each card, depict an animal the researcher is trying to photograph for their research. At the bottom, it is depicted the species of the animal and the transportation you can use. On the side, you have the movements you need to make to reach the location to photograph the animal.

In a round, each player will take turns where you play a card from your hand and move the researchers left or right on the board, until they reach a camp. On the way there, they will photograph animals. I really enjoyed the game and ultimately bought it.

Bohemians

Bohemians has an incredibly good art. Both on the box and the game itself. Although it was on my list of games to try, it did not have high priority. After trying it, I changed my mind. The art is beautiful, the game mechanism is straightforward and can be mean as well. Basically, in the game you are an artist, trying to find the right flow in your life to go through each day. If you strike a good balance, you can find a muse that will help you to create beautiful art. But if your life is not balanced, has excesses or lows, bad things may happen.

To me, the folks behind Bohemians really nailed the theme. Well done. To also appreciate how they arranged the stand. People could draw whatever they wanted and it would be hung on the wall of the stand. Like an art exhibition.

Cat and the tower

Another cat game. Cat and the tower is a re-implementation of Babel. Obviously, I went to try it. Players take turns choosing a card from the set of two from the display. There are also two goals describing a specific configuration of cats per one floor. Each card will allow them to build a layer of a tower or place a cat. You have 4 different kinds of cats to place. Once a configuration matches the one depicted in one of your goal cards, you can claim it and move the black cat up in the tower. It was not my cup of tea, but I think it is a good game to play with kids.

Railway boom

This re-implementation of Railway Boom with art from Ian O'Tool and some additional changes from Simone Luciani is visually appealing and gives new life to the original game from 2022. In the game, each player is trying to develop the railway infrastructure in Japan. You do so by bidding for your rails to build, the locomotive and the wagons, trying to develop the industry and earn as much as possible. The open auction mechanism at every stage of the game is a nice twist. The auction determines the player order for that stage. This is something I would love to play again.

Urban sketchers

It is bigger on the inside! This could be a great addition to the list of a lot of fun in a small box. A compact game with quite some complexity in it. In the game, each player is an artist trying to gather enough resources to draw, travel, publish the sketches and become famous. It uses dice as a way to acquire resources and take actions. One can be easily misled by the cute art and theme. The game has a lot of complexity and fun for the size of the box it comes in.

On the negative note, the main board may have a lot of condensed information. A bit crowded in there. It is not bad per se. Just unexpected, given the prejudice that a small box may be a simple game. Sadly, I could not buy it as they have a problem with the delivery. The goods were still at the harbour.

SPIEL - Day 3

On the third day, the tiredness starts to kick in. I have the feeling I will play fewer games today.

Ants

Ants had me stuck on the thought that even the game designers were the same as those of Rats of Wistar. I loved the latter and I tried the former. The art is appealing, and you can recognize the symbols used in the Rats of Wistar. Players are Ant queens that have to grow their colony, make eggs, which in turn will become larvae that need to be fed in order to become ants. Ants have specializations: explorer, digger, and harvester. During the game, you play your ants so that you can explore territories on the main map, defeat predators and gain food to bring back to the colony so that your peopleants can survive and thrive.

This game is quite complex and seems pretty slow at first, but it is not. I would love to have it in my collection. But it is both expensive and a big box. So, for now, it stays out. Sadly.

Tolleno

This game had a beautiful cover. I was intrigued and wanted to try it. The game was quite abstract, with no concrete theme besides the river that you have to extend in the map. Likely, I was hyped by the art on the box. Tolleno is not my game. Each player takes turns by getting a tile and placing it on the map, adjacent to an existing one and then places up to two buildings along the river crossing the newly places tile.

Iliad

Reiner Knizia is an absolute guarantee. Iliad is a two player game where you fight over a 6 x 6 grid to gather the favours of the Deities. Players have a hand of two tiles. At each turn they place a tile on the grid in a space of their respective colour adjacent an existing one or the centre (first move). The player then proceeds to pick up a new tile, so that your hand always has 2 items. Each tile has a value between 0 and 5. Each time a row or column is complete, you evaluate the sum of the values for both players. The player with the highest score can choose the tile on the border to get first. So they can get the favours of the Deities.

Of course, some tiles have special abilities, like the possibility to move one of your opponent's tile somewhere else and similar. The game has quite some complexity, and the art and theme are good. I regret not buying it. This kind of game is probably something I could only play with one friend. I thought that if I had bought it, it would have ended up in the shelf of shame, together with Weather Machine :(

Wolfstreet

Wolf Street is a re-implementation of Panic on Wall Street. It is a part game for 5 to 11 people. To tell the truth, I was a bit reluctant to try it, but I came to turn on this. The game is a lot of fun. You have two categories of players. Investors and managers. Investors have money and are trying to invest it in businesses run by managers. Managers, on the other hand, bid on businesses to run and try to convince investors to put money into their businesses.

Each round, dice are used to re-evaluate the profitability of each business. There are quite stable ones (dice goes from -1 to +1), very volatile ones (from -7 to +7 steps on the value track) and so on.

At the beginning of each round, players have two minutes to start and conclude affairs. For investors to find good businesses to invest in, and for managers to get as much money as they can for their businesses. When the round comes to an end, all businesses are evaluated and investors may earn or lose money, while managers always get the money invested in their businesses. Managers have to pay the bills at the end of the round.

There are also two winners. A manager and an investor. The two players in these two categories with the highest amount of money.

Oliva

Another theme that speaks to me. Making olive oil. Oliva is a 1 to 4 players card game about making olive oil. In the game, players are farmers who are trying to become the best oil producer of the region. Players take actions to harvest olives, churn them, sell them and so on. The funny part is that the power of your action is directly tied to the cards other players have in play. I liked that. One has to foresee what other players are gonna do, to maximize their action impact.

Almost an instant buy. Keep in mind that there was a problem during production, so the English version has the Portuguese rulebook. You can get the English one online, or email the publisher.

SPIEL - Day 4

Night soil

I have been trying to get a seat at this table for days. Finally, I managed. The game is about cleaning the streets of Tudor's London. Literally, moving shit around the city and pushing it into the water at night time. The gameplay is divided into three phases. Day, evening and night. During the day, players place their available workers in districts of the city, adding more production to that area. Each district may bring some special action. Plus, players can fight for the favours of the influential families of each district. Each family has a special ability that can be used later on. During the night, each player can play their workers, who capable of moving the soil in different ways. The goal is to clean an area and keep it clean for the entire round. If you manage to do so, you can keep everything that is in that area, workers, money and other things.

It is quite a mean game, and you literally move shit around. I enjoyed it, although I had a set of 4 French people at the table that kept talking in French the whole time. This is a game where interaction matters and it becomes funnier the more you talk and joke about the actions. Not including other players is not ok. In my experience, this is often the case with a group of French people. Not the first time that this happened.

Anyhow, the game is hilarious, funny, mean and quite strategic. Sadly, I was late and I could not buy it.

Koi

Koi was a random finding. It is cute, with the transparent Koi fish tokens. It has some depth, nice art. Overall, a good game. Each player has to build their pond and fill it with fish of different sizes, lilies, and temples. You score based on the number of fish, if they are completely surrounded by water, if there are lilies next to them and other special scoring cards. At each turn, you take one of two possible action: build part of your pond, or get a card from the common market.

It would be a nice addition in the light-medium category.

Forestry

Forestry is another big box from Pink Troubadour. It was very hyped and I only managed to get a seat at the table on the last day. Because of the complexity, the demo was run with a script. Maybe it was me being tired, but I could not get all the rules by following the script.

Still, a game worth trying if you are into heavy euro game.

Blaffosaurus

This one was a demo only. The booth was in a corner, difficult to see, but I had a hearty and felt conversation. The author told me that this was still a prototype and he made the game for his daughter, who loves dinosaurs. How cute! Basically, the game is about two decks of cards. Metrics, like speed, weight, height and so on. The other cards are dinosaurs. Both sides of each card has the same picture of a dinosaur. On one side, there are stats. One for each metric. The game goes like this. Each player places a card in a sorted order, with the stats facing down. When a player believes that one played card is positioned in the wrong order, you call the bluff. At this point, all cards are uncovered, and if your call is correct, you gain the metric card, which is a point.

Random beauty

You can always find funny, crazy things at SPIEL. Hanging cat silhouette, dinosaur animatronics and so on.

Home

Another year, another SPIEL. At the end of the convention, I bought 4 used games, sold 4 bulky games, and bought 6 new games. I have tried a lot of different stuff, had fun, had dinner with a group of nice fellas from Zwolle and overall had a good time.

Now back home with more board games to spend the winter with.