Beer, Sausages and Board Games…

It was time again for the annual pilgrimage to the board game Mecca that is Spiel at Essen this time with added friends visiting from New Zealand along with the regulars from Europe that congregate at the friendly Handelshof Hotel in Mulheim.

The journey from Dusseldorf airport to Mulheim was a nightmare this time for several reasons; 1 – because I arrived on a later flight the ticket desk was closed and I could not navigate the ticket machine without a lot of assistance, 2- the local station had been damaged by fire so the trains were delayed, 3- the train that did arrive (and was supposed to stop at Mulheim) went an alternative route and I had to navigate back on the U-Bhan, arriving much later than anticipated. Don’t want to do that again.

We had a good time catching up with friends old and new, exploring the world of games, playing games, drinking and eating, and watching the occasional rugby match.

Some of the regulars are serious consumers of games buying them by the car load, if felt positively restrained purchasing the following:

-       Thunderbirds  - a co-op game that plays like Pandemic (lite) that can be quite hard. Dominant gamers can end up taking over if not careful;

-       New York 1901 – building skyscrapers to achieve the biggest and most prestigious addresses – a pretty game that played well;

-       Codenames– a fun party game of wordplay;

-       Celestia– another pretty game of fantastical exploration. Simple gambling – risk taking game that is family friendly;

-       Kitty Paw – a children’s game of pattern recognition and dexterity that can prove to be surprisingly difficult for adults;

-       The Game – a co-op team game with a very simple mechanic but difficult execution.