At long last I was able to attend my first Essen SPIEL convention in 2011. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting both old friends and making new ones, playing games, discussing game design and pitching a few games to publishers. You can read about my Essen experience here.
After breaking the tradition of missing SPIEL, however, it was time on the following Tuesday night to keep a tradition alive, namely the Annual After Essen Party in Berlin's Spielwiese cafe. Berlin game designers Bernd Eisenstein, Peer Sylvester, Günter Cornett, Hartmut Kommerell and Andrea Meyer were there, and the prize table was again filled with our newly released games: my Pala, Bernd's PAX and Pergamemnon, Peer's Singapore, and Andrea's Frigiti. As with last year, the winner and runner-up of a Rock Paper Scissors tournament were able to choose from the prizes, as were the winners of a Frigiti contest to see who could come up with the best definitions for one of the made-up words of the evening. Following is a photo essay of the evening's events:
Rolf breaks open Tom Wham's Feudalherren.
Daniel gets in a game of Survive: Escape From Atlantis!
Andrea teaches a new game to Michael, Nina & friend.
Wiebke presents her "Dice Cakes" with the number "5" showing, as it was the Spielwiese's 5th birthday!
Spielwiese owner Michael Schmitt "on a roll" - 5 years is a milestone in this business!
I teach Alfred and Günter my new Essen trick-taking game, Pala.
The wait is over: Peer poses with his first "big-box" game, Singapore.
Daniel and Tobias play Ultimate Rock Paper Scissors.
The championship match of the Rock Paper Scissors tournament.
Katrin, the winner, chooses Pala from the prize table!
Andrea teaches her popular new party game, Frigiti.
Bernd Eisenstein enjoys Feudalherren.
Michael joins a larger group for another newly released game.
