Berlin Brettspiel Con 2024 (Saturday Review)

Over the weekend during a hot July in Germany at a different, but much cooler location compared to last year, around 16,000 people attended the “big summer board game festival for gamers, geeks and the whole family”, as the event describes itself. Located in my home city, the convention I am talking about is, of course, Berlin Brettspiel Con 2024.

Location, Location, Location

This year, the show moved to a very modern and fully air-conditioned location. In previous years, Berlin Brettspiel Con had suffered from sweltering heat in halls that don’t have the facilities to keep conditions cool. The buildings of the old train station that comprise Station Berlin created a wonderfully cosy and charming atmosphere, but just got too hot. The modern Estrel Convention Center has a much cooler feel and reminds me more of American-style conventions, but its air-conditioning kept temperatures inside cool. At no point did I feel hot, despite the number of visitors and the high temperatures outside.

The layout of the convention halls and rooms worked well. The two main exhibition spaces, Hall 2 and Saal Europa, were next to each other and had connecting doors to go directly from one area to the other. While smaller exhibitors were mostly in the smaller Saal Europa and the bigger names were in Hall 2, it didn’t really feel like there was a hard physical separation between the two. You could easily go from one to the other and enjoy both areas equally.

The open gaming area was in Hall 1, a short walk from the exhibitor space. In between was the family area, which featured a LEGO exhibition and toys and games from publisher Haba.

At the other end of the convention space was the Estrel Saal, which hosted the bring-and-buy sale. Next to that was the stage area for the very busy seminar programme.

All in all, everything was grouped nicely together. So while you had to walk along the tall, wide corridors to go between the main areas, nothing was too far away from each other to make it feel like you were leaving the convention altogether and re-entering it somewhere else.

Business and Friends

I had a number of people and publishers on my list whom I wanted to see while at Berlin Brettspiel Con.

First of all, I wanted to say hello to Uli Blennemann from Spielworxx. After all, under my Make My Game Travel moniker, I was working on the translation of the currently crowdfunding game EPOS: A Gentes Game from German into English. I went to see him first thing on Saturday morning to catch up and see a physical copy of the game set up on the main table of their stand.

As you can imagine, it was amazing to finally see the game that I played a small part in for real. I won’t review EPOS, but I do strongly recommend you check it out. It looks amazing and the giant box it comes in should give you a good idea of how much playtime you’ll get out of it. On top of the base game, there are eight scenarios that you can play independently of each other or as one large campaign. There is also a solo mode. So, yes, it’s a massive project, the biggest Spielworxx has so far worked on.

While I was there, I also had to make sure I would say hello to Heike and Stefan Risthaus of Ostia Spiele. While Stefan is the designer of EPOS, Ostia Spiele is an independent publisher of a number of great games from a wide range of types and genres. I couldn’t resist buying their mint tin game Tee oder Kaffee, because… well… I love mint tin games. I can’t wait to give it a go soon.

Exhibitors, Exhibitors, Exhibitors

Over the weekend, I visited a lot of stands and got many demos. So rather than talking about the publishers, let me tell you about the games I saw. In fact, let me start with the three games I brought back with me.

Apart from Tee oder Kaffee, I also bought Schnitzeljagd, the German version of Prey Another Day. The wonderful team at Edition Spielwiese showed me how to play this really quick and simple bluffing card game. I will review it in due course, but let me say that you do have to play it with the right group of people. If you take it too seriously, it won’t work. It’s about table talk and banter.

I also bought a copy of Pixies from Bombyx. While I didn’t get a demo myself, I watched others being taught and really enjoyed what I saw. It’s similar to the other small box games in the publisher’s catalogue in its length and weight. It’s a really simple card drafting game where you try to get cards of matching colours adjacent to each other and score points off those patterns as well as points marked on the cards themselves. There are even negative points. The illustrations are really wonderful again featuring photos of tiny handmade woodland fairy creatures.

I also got a brief overview of the sci-fi tabletop miniature skirmish game Snap Ships Tactics from Grimspire, where you each get a space fighter which you can upgrade by snapping on little guns, modules and other bits and pieces. The upgrades you select are represented by cards that you add to your tableau. You spend tokens to activate these cards to manoeuvre your ship and attack the opponent. The twist is that your ship will always move because you’re in space and have momentum.

Designers, People and More

I also met quite a few designers. Apart from Heike and Stefan Risthaus, it was also really wonderful to meet Jeffrey Allers for the first time in person. He was demoing Pandoria to me on the Iron Games stand. Bernd Eisenstein joined us as well and it was great to see that this wonderful tile-laying game is getting a reprint and refresh.

In the open gaming area, Juma Al-Joujou from Karma Games told me about the upcoming expansion to Clans of Caledonia. Industria moves the game forward in time to the Industrial Revolution and introduces new tiles, modular game boards and additional action selection spaces and mechanisms that create a completely new player experience. I can’t wait to give it a go when it comes out.

I also was able to catch up with Matthew Dunstan, who was there because the German version of The Guild of Merchant Explorers, a game he co-designed with Brett J Gilbert, was nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres. It was so great to see him again and talk to him about all sorts of things board game related.

Generally speaking, it was wonderful to have time to properly talk with people. The location certainly works well, even though it cannot match the charm of the old halls. People were able to stay at the Estrel Hotel, meaning they could quickly nip back to rest or stay up late to play games and simply wander next door to find their bed when they were finally ready to call it a day.

So, yes, Berlin Brettspiel Con 2024 was certainly a success and I can’t wait to come back again next year.

Useful Links

• Berlin Brettspiel Con: https://berlin-con.de/en/homepage_en/
• Estrel Convention Center: https://www.estrel.com/en/congress
• Spielworxx: https://www.spielworxx.de/
• Make My Game Travel: https://makemygametravel.com/
• EPOS: A Gentes Game: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/spielworxx/epos-a-gentes-game
• Ostia Spiele: https://www.ostia-spiele.de/
• Tee oder Kaffee: https://www.ostia-spiele.de/games_teeoderkaffee.htm
• Schnitzeljagd: https://pegasusshop.de/en/product-line/games/family-games/16426/schnitzeljagd-edition-spielwiese
• Edition Spielwiese: https://spielwiese-berlin.de/edition/
• Pixies: https://studiobombyx.com/en/jeu/pixies/
• Bombyx: https://studiobombyx.com/en/
• Snap Ship Tactics: https://www.snapshipstactics.com/
• Pandoria: https://www.irongames.de/wordpress/index.php/the-games/pandoria-2024-2/
• Iron Games: https://www.irongames.de/wordpress/
• Karma Games: https://karma-games.com/
• Industria: https://karma-games.com/clans-of-caledonia/industria-expansion/

Transparency Facts

I feel that this review reflects my own, independent and honest opinion, but the facts below allow you to decide whether you think that I was influenced in any way.

• I was given a free press pass to attend the event.
• I have done paid work for Spielworxx, one of the exhibitors at the event.
• At the time of writing, neither the event organiser nor anyone linked to the event supported me financially or by payment in kind.

Audio Version

Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/)

Music: Tripoli by Blue Dot Sessions

Playlist

These are the songs I listened to while I was writing this review: