Postcards From Berlin #32: After Essen

By Jeff Allers
November 5, 2008

German Word of the Month: Feier (celebration)

After many sad good-byes and a maddening week of packing that resembled one of those popular home-organizing television shows ("…this goes, this stays, this gets sent to my parents to bring with them on their next visit…"), we boarded the airplane in the sunny southeast of the U.S., landing eventually in Berlin. One of our two-year-old twins remained awake almost the entire flight, finally closing his eyes as we landed for the last time. Exhausted, we were greeted by friends who helped carry our luggage and children to our car, and we made our way down the dark, cold and very wet streets of the city. It did not bother me one bit. It is good to be home again.

Not long after, I was able to catch up with friends at my favorite café, the Spielwiese. I thoroughly enjoyed dropping in on various gaming groups when I was in the U.S., but there’s nothing like being back with old friends. I could hear the theme from the TV series Cheers, an “Ohrworm” ("ear worm") that I could not get out of my head: “…where everybody knows your name…”

It was an exciting evening, too, as Michael Schmitt of the Spielwiese was celebrating his birthday, Günter Cornett brought a cake, and several of us were exchanging copies of our new Essen releases, hot off the presses: Peer Sylvester’s new Bambus Spieleverlag book on card games from David Partlett called Entensuppe, Bernd Eisenstein’s Zack und Pack – beautifully produced in that big Kosmos box – and my Circus Maximus and Aber bitte mit Sahne. We spent the evening looking forward to the Spielmesse in Essen when they would be available for the general public, played some prototypes that will be released in the future, and helped pick out box colors for Günter’s new Bambus game Tokugawa, designed by a pair of then-junior-high-age students, Tizian Blumenthal and Victor Gilhaus.

Although I was not able to travel to Essen, we later held the second annual, open-to-the-public “After Essen Party” at the Spielwiese, also celebrating the café’s second birthday. Michael has done a great job of serving the community and promoting Berlin’s game designers, and the Spielwiese was a great place to celebrate the publishing of the game ideas that had been playtested there week after week. It’s also become an excellent opportunity to actually play the new Essen releases, as the sheer number of titles and huge crowds at the convention usually prevent many from playing more than a round or two before making a quick decision to pass on the game or purchase it.

I arrived that evening to a packed house as every one of the five tables was full and many visitors were standing.

Designer/publisher Andrea Meyer had a big group at her table to learn her new and very unique BeWitched Spiele game, Die 3 Gebote, which was designed by Friedemann Friese and Gordon and Fraser Lamont.

Veteran game designer Hartmut Kommerrell and his partner Wiebke Mast were also there, and although neither of them had a new release this Essen, Wiebke was very pregnant. I recalled last year when she told me that she had some exciting news, and I wrongly guessed “You’re pregnant?” Back then, her excitement was due to some positive news from a potential publisher. Now, though, she really was expecting a baby, and so I congratulated her, um, again.

Hartmut has also been busy with game design and will be following up this year’s Finito from publisher Schmidt Spiele and developer Thorsten Gimmler with his first big-box game since 1998’s Die Seidenstrasse (The Silk Road, not to be confused with Z-Man’s later game with that name). I hope to see more of both Hartmut and Wiebke, as my family and I just moved into their neighborhood.

Designer and friend Bernd Eisenstein was also there with his partner Michaela to celebrate his first published game since his Hippodice Competition winner Maya was produced by Abacus in 2002. Zack und Pack is much lighter than most of his prototypes that we have had the pleasure of playing, but it’s great fast-paced family fun, the kind of game that instigates alternating groans and cheers from around the table.

I was thrilled, of course, after two years of signing contracts, to finally hold in my hand published versions of two of my games. I felt young and giddy, as if I was just turning 18 again. Perhaps it had something to do with finally earning the right to vote in the Spielautorenzunft (the international Game Designer’s Guild). And all this just a week before Election Day in the States.

As we introduced and played our new releases, a Japanese television crew weaved its way through the tables and standing-room-only crowd. They were producing a show about the German gaming scene, and Günter was happy to show them a copy of Tokugawa, which has, as its setting, medieval Japan.

One of the Japanese hostesses of the group thought Aber bitte mit Sahne looked tasty, and asked if they could interview me as well. I asked if I should speak English, and they informed me that the show was all in German because it was an educational program for Japanese who wanted to learn the language. After a pleasant interview in the bright lights with the microphone boom grazing my curly hair, I apologized for all of the Japanese who would now be speaking German with an American accent.

They did take a copy of the game with them, however, so I may be able to claim someday that I’m “big in Japan.”

And thanks to Alphaville and the 1980s, I now have another “Ohrworm"…

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