Essen Spiel is big. Really big. It’s difficult to play everything, especially when you’re really awkward about hovering awkwardly by a table for ages. Not that it stopped us by the end, but early on, the three of us were a bit twitchy about it.

Here are a few notable games I saw, with the caveat that I didn’t play them so they may be better or worse than my impressions.

Don Quixote: The Ingenious Hidalgo

By Llamascape Games

The very first game we saw was this one. It’s in a little storybook-style box and has you all taking the role of people boasting about your accomplishments. I made a joking comparison to Hare & Tortoise for the similar case, but actually the race to all control the narrative direction is strangely comparable.

The boasts are all entertaining and include things like fighting windmills, if course. It’s part of a series with Moby Dick coming in the future. I’m going to have to keep an eye on this company.

Canadian RPGs!

This isn’t really like the others, but still worth talking about.

I didn’t expect much from the RPG scene here, but there was a lovely big stall of Canadian roleplaying games. I got to gush with the people at the stall about the works of Avery Alder and about Mothership.

I ended up picking up a small Mothership trifold adventure. 

The Long Catan

I love how tabletop games and analogue game technology has advanced over the years. This lends me more to a ‘cult of the new’ than an old gamer, but there are some I still love. Carcassonne, for instance. On the other hand, there’s Catan, which I feel I don’t really need to play again.

There was a really long Catan game, which I think was attempting to build a record. It looked cool, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Catan Dobble

A game I don’t care to play and a game I can’t play with my beloved as she’s far too good with it. I had to share this with her, more as a shared in-joke between us.

Galaxy Trucker: Do What?!

By CGE

I don’t know what the expansion contains and didn’t pick it up as I’ve not been able to get Galaxy Trucker to the table enough. Still, this expansion has the same name as an exclamation my dad would shout, so it tickled me.

Squirrel Away

By Floodgate Games

I was waiting for Alex to pick something up and didn’t want to get in the weird German fan game pen, so I hovered elsewhere. There was a fun game about hiding little plastic gem acorns from each other in a hand, shaking them and people guessing what’s there.

Winnie the Pooh: Serious Detective

By CrowD Games

A cute cover goes far, and a (let’s face it) generally incompetent Winnie the Pooh solving crimes sounds like a fun idea. I didn’t see more than the cover and a skim of the back of the box. It looks like you’re travelling through scenes trying to solve puzzles.

Junk Art Revolution

By Ludonova

I love Junk Art. I think it’s something about my dyspraxia where I love tempting fate in a completely free environment. Or that I’m thinking all the time about how not to knock into everything while other people don’t think about it as much, so that’s given me practice for the game.

So what is Junk Art Revolution? I imagined a standalone sequel with new pieces or something like that. No, it’s a new printing of the game, with a couple of changes. 

The person at the booth excitedly told me what they are:

• Three new city challenges (which you can see online in their rulebook)
• You can now agree to use two hands instead of one when placing pieces.

I think I’ll stick with my edition.

Kingdomino Second Edition

By Blue Orange Games

Again, I was faced with an interesting prospect. What is this new edition of Kingdomino? They’ve released Queendomino and several other versions of the game.

This time, the person at the booth said:

• They’ve polished the art to make it a bit fresher
• There’s a scorepad

Again, I think I’ll stick with my version and the brilliant scorepads in the BGStats app.

Jisogi: Anime Studio Tycoon

By Esperanto Game Studio

My app was decluttered enough to make questing through the halls a lot easier. That said, we came to the Esperanto Game Studio booth way too late and they’d sold out of their game. There was still a copy to check out.

Jisogi’s a worker placement game about all the stages of making an anime series. You start out with some pre-burnt out creators and gain more over time, putting together the ideas, the writing, the art and so on. It sounded simple, but was very pretty. Apparently a reprint campaign is coming soon.

The Presence

By Purple Lantern Games

We didn’t manage to get into a game of this, but it looks fun. It sounds a bit like a cross between Mysterium and Betrayal at the House on the Hill.

Magnetic Wall Holders for Board Games

By Fryxgames

I’m sure they’re good, but this felt like inviting disaster, especially with a chunky Terraforming Mars box on display. I’m amazed it stayed on.

Those were some games and game-related things I encountered at Essen Spiel but did not get around to playing. Did you play any of them and have anything to say about what I missed?