SPIEL Essen 2026 Recap: The Games, the People and Everything in Between

Four days of board games, interesting conversations, impressive booths, unexpected encounters and very tired feet. We’re back from SPIEL Essen 2026, and somehow we’re already missing it.

Every year, we look forward to SPIEL Essen. And every year, we return home wondering how four days could possibly have gone by so quickly. You’d think that after attending several editions, we’d have figured out how to fit everything into those four days. But no. There are always publishers we didn’t manage to visit, games we wanted to try, people we only briefly bumped into and conversations that could easily have lasted another hour.

And yet, we came home feeling completely satisfied. Because while SPIEL is obviously about board games, we’ve come to realise that what we enjoy most isn’t necessarily discovering the next big release. It’s meeting the people behind those games, hearing their stories, catching up with familiar faces and occasionally having conversations that make us look at the industry a little differently.

Before the doors opened

For us, SPIEL 2026 started on Wednesday, October 21, a day before the exhibition officially opened to the public. We attended the press conference, where Carol Rapp and Robin de Cleur from organiser Merz Verlag shared the latest figures, developments and plans for the fair.

And those figures were quite something. SPIEL Essen 2026 eventually welcomed a record 230,000 visitors across four completely sold-out days. With 997 exhibitors from 53 countries, 2,012 new releases and 81,200 square metres of exhibition space, it was officially the largest edition yet. For the first time, all eight exhibition halls of Messe Essen were in use, with Hall 8, previously a waiting area, transformed into additional exhibition space.

It’s difficult to imagine what 81,200 square metres actually looks like until you’re standing in the middle of it, trying to remember which hall you need to be in for your next appointment.

The organisers also discussed how SPIEL continues to evolve beyond simply being a place to buy and play games. There were more professional networking opportunities, industry discussions and activities taking place both inside and outside the exhibition halls. And with every available hall now occupied, it’ll be interesting to see how the event continues to develop in the coming years.

A little recognition for some excellent games

Wednesday also included the presentation of the Deutscher Spiele Preis, the German community award voted for by board game enthusiasts. This year’s main prize went to Artengarten (Sanctuary) by Mathias Wigge, published by Feuerland Spiele. Boss Fighters QR took second place, followed by Galactic Cruise in third. The children’s game award went to Toriki: Eine Insel voller Abenteuer.

It’s always interesting to see which games have made the biggest impression on players over the past year, especially when you know that the next few days will introduce you to plenty of possible contenders for the following edition.

A first look at what’s coming

Another highlight of Press Day was the Novelty Show, where publishers presented a huge selection of their latest and upcoming releases to the media. It’s a rather overwhelming experience, in the best possible way. Tables filled with games, colourful components and interesting ideas, all competing for your attention.

The nice thing about attending as press is that you can take your time looking around, photographing interesting projects and gathering information before the exhibition halls become considerably busier. Of course, there’s still no chance of seeing everything, but it was a great way to get an early impression of what we’d encounter over the following four days.

Back in the halls

Thursday morning. The doors open, thousands of visitors make their way inside, and suddenly SPIEL is properly underway. There’s something about that first morning that never gets old. The halls are full of people carrying shopping bags, studying maps, looking for particular publishers or trying to get a seat at one of the demo tables. Everywhere you look, there’s something happening.

And yes, it was busy. Very busy. According to the organisers, SPIEL 2026 attracted 10,000 more visitors than the previous edition, and all four days were sold out. But personally, I can’t say it felt dramatically busier than in previous years. SPIEL has been incredibly crowded for as long as we’ve been attending, and at certain moments, moving through some of the halls takes patience, especially when everyone seems to be heading in the same direction.

Luckily, after several visits, we’ve learned a few tricks. You don’t always have to walk through the exhibition halls to get from one side of the venue to another. Sometimes it’s much easier to go outside and take a shortcut. And when you’ve collected a few too many games, a quick trip back to the car can be a very welcome break.

What continues to impress me is the sheer variety of what’s on display. Huge international publishers stand alongside tiny companies presenting their very first game. There are elaborate demonstrations, beautiful prototypes, family games, heavy strategy games, miniature games and plenty of things that are difficult to put into any particular category. You can spend an entire day in just a couple of halls and still feel as though you’ve missed half of what’s there.

Sometimes the booths are an attraction of their own

Speaking of things to look at, some publishers really go all out when it comes to decorating their stands. We spent quite a bit of time admiring the elaborate displays throughout the fair, and Asmodee in particular had some of our favourites.

At some point, we started calling their part of the exhibition Asmodeeland, because walking around there felt a little like visiting a board game theme park. There was a huge LEGO ship from Temple Bounty, an old-fashioned train, a giant Cthulhu in a display case and all sorts of themed play areas. And then there was Mischwald: Smoky Mountains, which had its own little rocky waterfall, complete with fish and actual running water.

It’s easy to underestimate how much work goes into creating these displays, especially when everything has to be built, decorated and eventually dismantled again within a matter of days. But they certainly make wandering around the halls more enjoyable, even when you’re not planning to sit down and play anything.

The people behind the games

If there’s one thing that made SPIEL 2026 particularly enjoyable for us, it was the people. Over the four days, we had the opportunity to meet publishers, designers, fellow content creators and plenty of other board game enthusiasts. Some were people we’d been looking forward to meeting for the first time, while others were familiar faces we’d met at previous editions.

And that’s one of the things I love about SPIEL. There are people in the board game industry whom we only see once a year, usually somewhere in the exhibition halls in Essen. But when we meet again, it often feels as though we can simply continue the conversation from where we left off last October. It’s lovely to hear what they’ve been working on, how their projects have developed and what has changed for them over the past year.

We visited publishers such as Quined Games, Dranda Games, Board&Dice, Mindclash, Mighty Boards, IELLO and Bombyx, among many others. Some conversations were about new games or upcoming expansions. Others were about projects that are still in development, the decisions that go into publishing a game or simply how things are going. And sometimes, the most interesting conversations have very little to do with the particular game sitting on the table in front of you.

We also enjoyed meeting people from different parts of the world. SPIEL really does bring together an international community, and it’s wonderful to see how a shared interest in board games can lead to conversations with people you might otherwise never have met. Our visit to Taiwan Boardgame Design was one of those moments that reminded us just how international this hobby has become.

And then there are the unexpected encounters. Every now and then, someone comes up to say hello because they recognise us from Tabletopping. We might never have met them before, but apparently they’ve been following our reviews or Instagram posts for quite some time. I don’t think that’s something we’ll ever really get used to.

It’s always a little surprising, but also genuinely lovely. You spend so much time creating content behind a screen that it’s easy to forget there are real people on the other side of it. So if you came up to say hello during SPIEL, thank you. Those little encounters really do mean a lot to us.

Conversations that stay with you

One of the advantages of meeting publishers in person is that you get to hear much more than what’s written on the back of a game box. I particularly enjoy hearing the stories behind a design. How did an idea first come about? Why did certain mechanics change during development? What made a publisher decide to work on a particular project? Those are the kinds of conversations that can make you appreciate a game even before you’ve had the chance to play it.

This year, we also had some interesting discussions about the board game industry itself. One publisher, for example, shared a perspective on expansions that I hadn’t really considered before. They explained that expansions aren’t always particularly attractive commercially, either for the publisher or for players in general. Instead, they sometimes see them almost as a gift to the dedicated fans who have already invested so much time in a particular game and would love to explore it further. I thought that was an interesting way of looking at them.

We also spoke with publishers who are planning to release fewer games in the coming years, choosing instead to spend more time developing the titles they do publish. When you consider that more than 2,000 new releases were presented at SPIEL this year, it’s not difficult to understand why some publishers might be thinking carefully about how many games they bring to market.

Of course, these were individual perspectives shared during conversations, not necessarily opinions held by the entire industry. But that’s precisely why I enjoy these meetings. Different publishers have different experiences, priorities and ideas about what makes a good game or a successful release. Hearing those perspectives gives you a better understanding of everything that happens before a finished box reaches a shop. And you don’t always get that from a press release.

So many games, so little time

Of course, we did manage to spend some time looking at actual board games too. One of the challenges of attending SPIEL as content creators is finding a balance between appointments, taking photographs, discovering new projects, catching up with people and actually sitting down to play. Four days might sound like a lot of time, but they disappear remarkably quickly.

This year, we encountered all sorts of interesting projects. At Quined Games, we had the opportunity to take a closer look at the new edition of Troyes, a game that already has a special place in the board game world. We also learned more about Rebirth II, an upcoming project from Mighty Boards, and had the chance to see its prototype.

Other games that crossed our path included Katana Spirits, Robo Run, Ipso and The Secrets of Warden Keene, alongside many more titles that caught our attention while exploring the halls. Some games we actually played, others were demonstrated to us, and some were still prototypes or upcoming releases that we learned about through conversations with their publishers.

Seeing a promising game at SPIEL isn’t the same as spending several evenings playing it at home, which is why we’re not going to turn this article into a ranking of the best games of SPIEL 2026. We brought home quite a few interesting titles, many of them kindly provided by publishers, and we’ll be giving them the time and attention they deserve over the coming months.

So expect plenty of new reviews on Tabletopping once we’ve had the opportunity to explore them properly. For now, let’s just say that our gaming calendar is looking rather full.

The little things you remember

When you think back on a convention like SPIEL, it’s not always the biggest announcements or most impressive games that come to mind first. Sometimes it’s the smaller moments. The conversations that lasted longer than expected, running into someone you hadn’t seen since last year, discovering a publisher you’d never heard of before or realising that you’ve been so busy going from one appointment to another that you’ve completely forgotten about lunch.

By Sunday afternoon, our feet were definitely reminding us that we’d spent several days walking around an enormous exhibition centre. But we were still enjoying ourselves, meeting people, discovering interesting projects and exploring the halls right up until the end.

And that’s perhaps the nicest thing about this year’s SPIEL. We didn’t leave feeling disappointed about everything we’d missed. We left feeling happy about everything we’d experienced.

Already missing Essen

On Sunday, October 25, SPIEL Essen 2026 came to an end. Four days of conversations, discoveries, photographs, games and encounters had somehow flown by. And although we were certainly looking forward to sitting down and giving our feet a rest, there was also that familiar feeling of not quite wanting it to be over.

SPIEL has become much more than a place where we discover new board games. It’s where we reconnect with people we’ve come to know over the years, meet the people behind projects we’re excited about and hear different perspectives on the hobby we love. We came home with plenty of games to explore, photographs to sort through, stories to share and reviews to work on. But more importantly, we came home with some wonderful memories.

A big thank you to Merz Verlag and the entire SPIEL Essen team for organising another wonderful edition of the fair. And of course, thank you to all the publishers, designers, fellow creators and visitors who took the time to talk to us, show us their games or simply stop by for a chat. You all helped make these four days special. And to everyone we didn’t manage to see this year, hopefully we’ll catch up next time.

SPIEL Essen 2027 is already scheduled for October 21–24. Our feet might appreciate having almost a year to recover, but we’re not entirely sure we want to wait that long, though.