Dale Yu: 9 Reasons why you can’t go to Essen in ‘09…. Debunked
A quick house-keeping note, I’m going to take a break from my sports games review – but don’t worry – I’ll be back to it soon! I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about some more timely issues; namely – Spiel ’09 in Essen… While at GenCon this year, I had a similar conversation with a number of new friends as many of them had questions about going to Essen. When I looked back, collectively, at those conversations, it became clear that there are a lot of misconceptions about the trip and the experience! So… I’d like to present a list of reasons why you can’t go to Essen (from an American standpoint) – and why those reasons may not hold true!
1) It’s not worth it –
Well, I’m starting the list off with one of the most subjective arguments – but I would argue that a trip to Essen is most definitely an experience that any gamer should do at least once! By the very fact that you’re reading this column on this website – I can assume that you’re serious about your gaming (or at least very interested in the hobby). The Spiel Fair in Essen is for many (including myself) the highlight of the year in gaming. Many new games are released at the fair, and most of the major companies are involved at the show. But, it’s more than the new games. The magic of Essen, for me, is the constant anticipation of finding the next great game. Everyone has different tastes in games, but this show seems to offer something for everyone. And with hundreds and hundreds of booths there – your next favorite game may be just around the corner!
2) It’s too expensive –
Let me start by saying that it’s certainly not cheap to visit Essen from the United States. But, I think that you’d be surprised about how you might be able to cut your costs and make it manageable. I think that it would be possible to make the trip for $1,200 plus whatever you spend on games. Yes, I understand that $1,200 is a considerable amount of money, but I think that it’s reasonable for a 5-day trip to Europe – and it’s a much lower number than some estimates that I’ve heard in the past month.
$596 for a flight from NYC to DUS (as priced on Hotwire.com on Sept. 14, one layover in Munich)
$100 for baggage fees (since you’ll be bringing games home)
$250 (45EUR/night x 4 nights for a split hotel room at Holiday Inn Express Essen, with free breakfast included – found on www.hotel.de)
$150 (20EUR/day in food x 5 days) – assuming modest lunches and dinners
$100 for a 4-day train pass (which can also get you to and from the airport – via www.bahn.de)
Of course, the amount of money that you spend on games would be up to you (and your willpower)!
3) I don’t know where to stay –
Yes, it’s hard to figure out where to stay if you’ve never been there before – but the magic of the Internets makes it as easy as possible. I’ve used www.hotel.de in the past to find places to stay. There is also several threads on BGG (such as http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/440821) where people are sharing where they are staying.
4) I won’t be able to communicate because I don’t speak any German –
In my travels to Germany, I’ve actually found that the majority of Germans are able to get by in English – certainly better than I’ve been able to get by in German! At the fair, most of the folks that you will deal with should be able to understand some English. Admittedly, you might not be able to get a full demo of a game in English at some of the smaller booths, but by and large, language should not be a barrier during your trip to Essen.
5) I can’t stand cigarette smoke –
The exhibition halls at the convention center have been “smoke free†for a few years now. Of course, there are still a few lawbreakers who smoke in the halls, but overall the atmosphere is quite clean within the buildings. Of course, if you try to take the shortcut through the internal courtyard, you might be overwhelmed by the smoke out there – but at least most smokers have taken it outside.
6) I can get the new games here –
While it’s true that many of the new releases can be had via your friendly internet boardgame retailer – especially since a few of them make a trip to Essen just to pick up games for your shopping pleasure! However, the quantities are limited, and frankly, there’s just no way that anyone can get all the different games available each year. Furthermore, there are (sadly) plenty of super-limited editions or convention promos which can sometimes only be had by being there in person.
7) I don’t like the food -
To be honest, I really like German food. For the most part, it’s either sausages (of some variety) or breaded schnitzel. Yum! And, after multiple trips there, it does seem like the predominant vegetable in German cuisine is the French fry (not that that’s a bad thing at all). The doner kebab (the meat found in a gyro) is an adopted dish from Turkish immigrants, and this can be found on just about every street corner. And, there’s always plenty of Starbucks, Burger Kings, and McDonalds if you don’t want to stray too far from your regular diet.
8) I won’t know anyone there –
5 years ago, I might have agreed with this statement. But, the number of non-Germans at the fair is frankly staggering. I would guesstimate that there are at least 200-300 American tourists/journalists at Essen in addition to the many people that are there because they work for one of the exhibitors. It is nearly impossible to wander through the halls without seeing a familiar face. Furthermore, this year, it appears that www.boardgamegeek.com will have a booth this year, and this will bring (hopefully) even more people together.
9) I don’t have a passport yet –
Well, this one is obviously a deal-breaker… if you don’t have a passport, you’re not getting over to Europe. However, the current processing time is 2-3 weeks if you use the expedited service… Send your application in today, and you’ll have more than enough time to spare to get the passport!
http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/get/processing/processing_1740.html
Well, now that you don’t have as many reasons to say “No!†to the trip – I’ll meet you there in a few weeks? Let’s just look for each other on the main staircase in Hall 10. Should be easy to spot one another!
Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor
© 2009 Dale Yu
Posted by Dale Yu on Sep 16, 2009 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Dale Yu / 2078
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Nice article, Dale! ...or should I call you… The Tempter? Posted by Nathan Morse on Sep 16, 2009 at 07:50 AM | #
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Um, not everyone lives on the East Coast. I just got a quote from Orbitz on the cost of travel from LAX to Essen. It was $913. I can buy a ton of games for $913, heck I can even go to BGG.CON, play many of those Essen games, and still have money left to buy them! You also forgot the flight times for those of us from the other coast. Try 20 hours. Thanks but no thanks. I wish that I wasn’t on a budget, and I wish that I could stand to travel for 20 hours to get somewhere, unfortunately but both of those are true. And particularly with BGG.CON getting the good Essen games, I just don’t see myself ever going. Glad you enjoy it and thanks for the article! Posted by Jennifer Schlickbernd on Sep 16, 2009 at 08:56 AM | #
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How about, “If I leave my wife at home with the preschoolers for a week, the rest of my collection will be on a bonfire when I get back”? What’s the answer to that one? :) Posted by James Ridgway on Sep 16, 2009 at 09:28 AM | #
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Ditto James’ expected result. :) Have a great trip! Posted by Scott Russell on Sep 16, 2009 at 09:33 AM | #
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@Jennifer—my apologies for being east-coast-centric! Too bad that LTU stopped flying out of LAX. I know in the past they used to have a $600 non-stop from LAX to DUS. @James/Scott—well, I only put reasons on the list that I could debunk. Sounds like your excuse for this year is in the ironclad variety. Nothing I can do to help there, I’m afraid <g> Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Sep 16, 2009 at 09:37 AM | #
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You left out: 10) I can’t go to Essen because I am going to CharCon. ;-) Oh and I would love to go to Essen one year, I think it would be great fun. The big problem for me is that there is no way I can justify the expense of traveling to Europe and leaving the family here, and it is definitely cost prohibitive for me to take the whole family to Germany! I have a hard enough time with all the things I already attend! TR Posted by Travis Reynolds on Sep 16, 2009 at 09:57 AM | #
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If you have a rewards card like the Starwoods one from AMEX (conveniently gaining rewards for each stay at BGG.con...), you can accumulate points to stay for free in Essen, admittedly about 1.5 miles from the Fair. But free is free. Tack on at least $200 more if you live in the middle of the US, and not near a hub city. That wipes out some of the hotel savings, but still gets it within your listed budget Posted by Sean Brown on Sep 16, 2009 at 11:00 AM | #
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11) Your spouse works in a school and can’t go on vacations in October. And she would want to go too!
Top reasons to go to Essen
Flights are a bit much from the west coast just for a long weekend… Maybe someday we’ll go and plan a longer trip around it. Posted by Steve Dupree on Sep 16, 2009 at 11:07 AM | #
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Regarding the passport, you can actually get one even faster if you go straight to your local passport office. I’m not sure how long it takes these days - it may be longer than in July 2001 when I did it. However, at the time, we were able to get a passport *same day*. There was an extra fee for doing it so quickly, but if you really need it tomorrow, it’s the only way. Posted by Michael Leuchtenburg on Sep 16, 2009 at 01:00 PM | #
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I’ve been four times now, and I live in Vancouver, which is as West Coast as you can get (well, except for Vancouver Island, but we’ll just ignore them for now). Dale’s numbers are optimistic, but then he’s an optimist at heart, right Dale? :) My logistics costs (i.e. anything not games) have usually run close to $2,500 CDN each time, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less depending on exchange rate. Mind you, I’m there a little longer too. To get the most out of the trip, I fly out Sunday night, arriving Monday daytime. Monday is downtown shopping day, Tuesday is setup / help publishers do stuff day, Wednesday is press day and then of course the fair from Thursday to Sunday. Fly home on Monday again. Not counting the day you lose on the way over, that’s 7 nights instead of 5, so, um, call it an extra $300 just like that. And you know what? It’s still so worth it, and I’m gnashing my teeth at not being able to make it this year - because while funding might be okay, the other two commodities required - time and wifely goodwill - are in rather shorter supply. :( Enjoy your trip, Dale! pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Sep 16, 2009 at 09:47 PM | #
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One of these years I’ll make it… for now BGG.CON will have to suffice. Thanks for the interesting article Dale, and enjoy Essen! :-) Posted by Tom Rosen on Sep 17, 2009 at 12:08 AM | #
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Dale: “And with hundreds and hundreds of booths there – your next favorite game may be just around the corner! “ Or you may miss it altogether, because there are so many booths that four days is nowhere near enough to try every new game. Heck, even four weeks wouldn’t be enough :-) If it would cost me $1200 or 20 hours of travel, no way I’d be going to Essen. But I’m lucky in that regard, Essen is just a 3 hour car drive for me. On the other hand, I’ll never go to GenCon or BGG.CON. Posted by Marcel Sagel on Sep 17, 2009 at 05:09 AM | #
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Yes, we Europeans have the same problems with the U.S, Cons ;-) There are plenty of them which I want to visit at least once, however funding is limited as is time unfortunately.... Posted by Klaus Knechtskern on Sep 19, 2009 at 03:30 PM | #
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I went to Essen a few years back, I enjoyed it, as a gamer I’ve glad to say I’ve been, but it really is a tough sell to go back. It depends a bit on where you’re flying from in the US, but honestly, it is very expensive. Just from a games-acquisition standpoint, you could buy everything with a 2x-3x markup and still come out way ahead by staying home and using eBay, the retailers who go, BGG Marketplace, etc. Anything you can’t get through those channels is overwhelmingly likely to suck, and if it doesn’t, it’ll come back as a reprint (actually, most of the small-press and other rare-ish games you’ll end up buying there will suck, so it’s good to be prepared for that; my hit rate for decent games on my trip was extremely low). Just getting your hands on cool, rare games is not a sufficiently valid reason to go in my opinion, at least, not from the US. While it’s also true that you can get by without any German, it is likely that you will run into a situation where a lack of any German will hurt, especially if you try to do something other than the Fair, which I recommend. Essen is not exactly an international tourist hub, and my experience was that many information desks, ticket vendors, etc., did not have English, and I was very thankful for my minimal ability to communicate in German. We were waiting to get a bus to the train station for a day trip down to Koln, and some helpful locals pointed out to us that the bus station we were waiting at was closed, which we would likely have remained clueless about if I hadn’t been able to speak and understand the language a little. The train ticket vendor also spoke no English. This is far less of an issue if you don’t intend to leave the game fair. But it would be a shame to go all the way to Germany and see only the inside of the Messe. It would be worthwhile to get one of those audio crash courses in German if you’d like to get out a bit. Posted by Chris Farrell on Sep 21, 2009 at 01:57 PM | #
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Chris is right - and there’s another reason to go - an opportunity to learn another language and use it on site! Posted by Melissa Rogerson on Sep 21, 2009 at 04:34 PM | #
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I have never been to Essen (intending to next year) but it’s worth adding that Germany is actually a very cool country - Berlin is seriously my favourite city in the world. I also love Nuremberg ..also, I got married there actually). Anyway, wanted simply to comment that if your normal diet is Starbucks, McDonalds and Burger King surely you need to have a look at your diet?! Far better to eat German sausage and drink German beer… Posted by Ian Ryan on Sep 26, 2009 at 05:26 AM | #
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