SPIEL Essen 2024 Sold Out for the First Time and Set a New Space Record

SPIEL Essen concludes with a special success: all days of the world's largest public fair for board games were completely sold out. For four days, 204,000 people from around the globe filled the Messe Essen with their enthusiasm for board games and joy in playing. From October 3 to 6, the heart of the Ruhr region buzzed with play, laughter, shopping, and conversation. The fair once again demonstrated how international board games and the event itself truly are. Visitors from over 80 nations attended, and the 923 exhibitors presented more than 1,500 new products from 52 countries across all continents – SPIEL Essen is indeed a meeting of nations.
 
Sold-Out Days and New Space Record
 
Even before the fair started, an exceptional achievement was reached for SPIEL Essen. For the first time, the fair announced that all tickets for Thursday and Friday were sold out initially. By the end of the event, Saturday and Sunday also were sold out. The visitor count was 204,000, significantly exceeding last year’s figures. “This year, we worked with a ticket quota for the first time to create a pleasant experience for as many people as possible and to comply with safety regulations. There could never be more than nearly 50,000 people on-site at the same time,” explains Carol Rapp, managing director of the organizing Merz Verlag. “We ensured wide aisles and good walking paths for easy movement in the halls and to the booths.”
 
The fair also set a record this year for the area occupied in the halls. As early as June, the exhibition space for exhibitors was sold out, and the board game fair filled 68,500 square meters in the six halls used at Messe Essen. This made it the largest SPIEL of all time. “When we had to open a waiting list in June because we couldn’t immediately accommodate all exhibitors’ requests, we knew that this year there would be more space used again. We had to do a lot of puzzle-solving to coordinate the requests for more playing space and the wishes of new exhibitors,” says Carol Rapp. “I am very proud of us as team for tackling this huge task together and, through much communication, managing to offer nearly everyone a spot at SPIEL.”
 

Success for Exhibitors and Organizers
Exhibitors are also enthusiastic about this year’s SPIEL. “It was an impressive and successful fair,” says Yasin Ates, managing director of the DACH region at Ravensburger. “The halls were full, yet it still felt comfortable. It was great to see so many people playing with such enthusiasm.” For Ravensburger, SPIEL is also an important indicator of how a new title for autumn and winter will be received, Ates explains. “This is where we meet the entire scene: the players, who provide direct feedback through conversations and borrowing of the games on site, our trading partners with whom we discuss new products, and of course the designers and colleagues.”
 
The publisher and distributor Asmodee can also only confirm the success of the fair. “This year again SPIEL was a fantastic show. What a pleasure to see so many people here to discover so many great games from such a diversity of publishers,” says Thomas Koegler, CEO of the Asmodee Group. “The fair is always very special for us because the fans get to meet us directly and our team can show them special and new games in person, like Monkey Palace, which we are launching in collaboration with Lego.“
 
Successful Continuation of Modernization
After last year’s changes in hall planning, a significantly improved app, a new logo, and a mascot started the modernization of SPIEL Essen, Merz Verlag continued the path to the future of the leading global fair this year, focusing on fine-tuning and expansions. The thematic hall structure was retained due to excellent feedback and further improved through closer coordination with exhibitors. The app received user-requested features, such as a filter to display newly added games and the ability to integrate specific games into route planning.
 
The adorable mascot Meeps was also more integrated into SPIEL. Visitors could meet the playful kitten as a walking act in the halls or take photos with large Meeps displays in the foyers. For the first time, a plush toy was available for purchase at the fair and online. Additionally, the first official game for the fair, Loot, premiered – naturally featuring Meeps as the main character in this roll-and-write game.
 
Star Guest and Many Highlights
 This year, for the first time alongside the mascot, there was also an official face for SPIEL: Alea, the frontman of the rock band Saltatio Mortis, promoted the fair and the joy of gaming on posters and on-site. The enthusiastic gamer is part of the cross-genre project Finsterwacht, which combines music, fantasy novels, and role-playing games, enhancing each other. The fair dedicated an entire day to this unique interplay of three cultural forms as part of the SPIEL.talks – Finsterwacht.
 
Another premiere at SPIEL was the globally renowned miniatures painting competition Golden Demon, hosted by Games Workshop. Over 1,000 entries of impressively painted miniatures were displayed on-site throughout the event. On Sunday, a ceremony crowned winners in various categories and awarded the coveted Slayer Sword as the grand prize.
 
The program around the fair also included the SPIEL.talks – Sustainability, where experts from the board game world presented various aspects of sustainability in and around gaming. The Educators Day also took place at SPIEL again, attracting around 500 people from education, research, teaching, and other educational fields for international presentations.
 
On the Wednesday before the fair, the German Games Prize, Germany's largest community award for board games, was presented at SPIEL. The 1st place went to Mischwald by Kosch, published by Lookout Spiele, 2nd place was claimed by Sky Team by Luc Rémond from Kosmos and Scorpion Masqué, while 3rd place went to Die weiße Burg by Sheila Santos and Israel Cendrero from Kosmos and Devir. The Best Children’s Game award went to Die magischen Schlüssel by Arno Steinwender and Markus Slawitscheck from Game Factory and Happy Baobab.
 
Planning for 2025 Begins After Successful Fair
 “This year’s SPIEL was a complete success and again shows how closely the team works with the community and how well it copes with the many challenges of a leading global fair,” sums up Florian Hess, managing director of Merz Verlag and board member of Spielwarenmesse eG, and adds: “The fair is heading in a fantastic direction, and we have great plans ahead to keep SPIEL current and appealing for exhibitors and visitors from around the world.”
 
For Merz Verlag, it’s that time of year again: after SPIEL is before SPIEL. The team will take a short breather before collecting feedback, evaluating responses, and planning for 2025 to ensure that the next fair will be even more successful. SPIEL Essen 2025 will take place from October 23 to 26, 2025.