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WELCOME TO THE PRESS AREA OF SPIEL ESSEN.

Here you will find press information about our fair as well as downloads of picture material and logos. You can register for our media mailing list and get accredited for SPIEL. All information about our press conference, the novelties show, services on site and contact persons for all inquiries are also bundled here.

Press Conference and Novelties Show

For accredited media there will be a press conference on Wednesday before the start of the show in the foyer east of Messe Essen.
After the press conference the novelties show will open for media and exhibitors.

PRESS RELEASES
PRESS MAILING LIST
ACCREDITATION
DOWNLOADS
CONTACT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASES
PRESS MAILING LIST
ACCREDITATION
DOWNLOADS
CONTACT

PRESS RELEASES

HERE YOU FIND PRESS RELEASES OF SPIEL ESSEN

The TCG Awards 2026: Categories and Submission Process Unveiled

17 April 2026
                The TCG Awards are proud to announce the official categories and the roadmap for the first ever international Trading Card Games Awards. As the premier award in the trading card game industry, the TCG Awards recognize excellence in game design, community building, and business innovation – and will be presented at SPIEL Essen, the world’s largest boardgame fair and international hub of TCGs. Starting May 1, 2026, players, collectors, and industry professionals worldwide are inv…
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Board Games on 81,200m²: SPIEL Essen Opens Hall 8

05 March 2026
                World’s largest consumer fair for board games reaches maximum venue capacity SPIEL Essen continues its impressive growth of recent years and is heading toward an unprecedented milestone: for the first time the world’s largest fair for board games will occupy all eight halls, reaching the maximum capacity of the Essen exhibition grounds. This step is a direct response to the overwhelming interest from the industry, which has already exceeded all expectations. With the addition of…
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First Global Industry Awards for Trading Card Games to Launch at SPIEL Essen 2026

02 March 2026
                To celebrate and honour the entire TCG landscape together with community and experts Trading Card Games are more than products. They are culture, creativity, competition, community, and craftsmanship. Yet despite its scale, innovation, and cultural impact, there has never been a dedicated platform that formally recognizes this. There is now! The global Trading Card Game industry will receive its first dedicated international recognition to honour dedication and excell…
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SPIEL Essen 2025: The Festival for the Board Gaming World ends with a new visitor record after four sold-out days

27 October 2025
                Essen, October 27, 2025 – It was a fair of records: SPIEL Essen 2025, which took place from October 23 to October 26. With 220,000 people from all over the world, the largest board games fair surpassed the previous visitor record from 2019. The fair was sold out on all four days. A new exhibition space record of 77,500 m² was already announced before the event began, as a completely new hall, Hall 7, was opened for the first time and all areas were fully booked. 948 exhibitors f…
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The world's largest board game fair expects over 200,000 gaming fans again in October

28 August 2025
                With a new hall, the premiere of a stage area, and a world record attempt, SPIEL Essen offers superlatives and innovations once again this year – and, of course, a huge selection of the latest games.  Essen, Germany, September 2, 2025 – From October 23 to 26, 2025, Essen, in the heart of the Ruhr region, will once again be the venue for four days of playing, shopping, and having fun together. At SPIEL Essen, board game fans from all over the world gather to celebrate their hobby…
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German Board Game Award (DSP) 2025 – Top 10

27 August 2025
                Essen, German, September 1, 2025 – The community has spoken! Board game enthusiasts have cast their votes for their favorite games of the year for the German Board Game Awards (Deutscher Spiele Preis, DSP) 2025. The entire German-speaking gaming community was invited to participate. Now, the top 10 in the Family and Adult Game category and the top 3 in the Children's Game category have been announced. The Top 10 Deutscher Spiele Preis – Family and Adult Game  Places 1 – 3 (in al…
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SPIEL Essen 2024 Sold Out for the First Time and Set a New Space Record

07 October 2024
                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…
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SPIEL Essen 2024 opens beginning of October for hundreds of thousand board game fans

02 August 2024
                Essen, August 5th 2024 – There are two public holidays in Germany this year on 3 October: the Day of German Unity and the day on which board game fans from all over the world make a pilgrimage to Essen to celebrate their favorite hobby for four days. That's when SPIEL Essen begins. The largest board game fair in the world with around 200,000 international board game fans and exhibitors from all five continents will make Messe Essen in the heart of the Ruhr region the cen…
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Star guest at SPIEL Essen 2024: „Saltatio Mortis“-lead-singer Alea is the face of SPIEL

17 June 2024
                Essen, Germany, June 17th 2024 – A real rock star is showing his face at SPIEL Essen 2024, quite literally: Alea, lead singer of the well-known German rock band Saltatio Mortis, is this year's face of the world's largest public fair for board games. Dressed in his personal original Geralt of Rivia armor from The Witcher 3, the musician, who is an enthusiastic gamer himself, will be inviting people to play on posters, online, and banners even before the fair begins. In ad…
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SPIEL Essen 2024: Record – Space for exhibitors completely sold out for the first time

11 June 2024
                Essen (Germany), June 11th 2024 – For the first time in its history, SPIEL Essen will occupy the entire space for exhibitors in six exhibition halls from October 3 to 6 and is therefore sold out. Never before have so many exhibitors wanted to enlarge their booths at SPIEL and at the same time so many new publishers wanted to present their titles to around 200,000 visitors. With this growth in exhibition space, Merz Verlag is setting a new record this year even before the…
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WE ARE GLAD THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED
IN RECEIVING OUR PRESS-NEWSLETTERS

With this form you can enroll for our press mailing list:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASES
PRESS MAILING LIST
ACCRETITATION
DOWNLOADS
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ACCREDITATION

We are delighted that you are interested in accreditation for SPIEL Essen 2026.

The tool for requesting a press ticket is expected to go online in July.

Please be patient and check back then or sign up for the press mailing list to be informed about the start of accreditation.

OUR ACCREDITATION GUIDELINES:

We are happy that you would like to apply for accreditation, visit SPIEL Essen, and report on the fair.

Please note that we can only grant accreditation to media representatives who intend to report on SPIEL, events taking place within the framework of SPIEL, or other content related to the fair.

Since we have only a limited number of press tickets available, we cannot guarantee accreditation and will review each request individually. We can only provide a limited number of tickets per media outlet.

YOU CAN REQUEST ACCREDITATION FOR SPIEL ESSEN UNDER THESE CONDITIONS:

1. You are a journalist with a valid press ID from your country and intend to report on the fair for an established media outlet.

2. As a journalist, photographer, camera operator, or in a similar capacity, you have an editorial assignment from an established media outlet to report on the fair, which you can provide to us..

3. You write for a website that is established and well-known in the gaming world and have published content there within the last six months for which you can provide a link.

4. You are active in the board game world as a content creator, blogger, YouTuber, Instagrammer, podcaster, or you publish regularly on other online portals with a certain reach regarding board games.

The following figures for followers, subscribers, or average views on social media channels are guidelines. Starting from these figures, we will review an accreditation more closely and take a closer look at the content of the channels. Reaching these figures does not guarantee accreditation for SPIEL Essen.

  • Instagram: 4.000 followers
  • YouTube: 4.000 subscribers
  • Facebook: 5.000 followers
  • Podcasts: 700 average listeners per episode
  • Twitch: 500 average viewers per broadcast
  • TikTok: Individual case decisions based on the type of content

For accreditation, we review each channel individually and do not add up reach figures.

If your channels do not reach these figures but you have compelling reasons to be accredited as media personnel for SPIEL Essen, please state these in the remarks section of your accreditation request.

If you are a content creator or influencer outside of the board game scene, we are also happy to review your request. However, for creators outside the board game world, we must evaluate each request individually and require information regarding the planned type of coverage.

WE REVIEW ALL ACCREDITATION REQUESTS AND RESERVE THE RIGHT TO DECLINE REQUESTS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASES
PRESS MAILING LIST
ACCREDITATION
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DOWNLOADS

HERE YOU CAN FIND DOWNLOADS OF LOGOS AND IMAGES

LOGOS SPIEL ESSEN

To the images

DEUTSCHER SPIELE PREIS

To the images

BILDER DER SPIEL

To the images

MERZ VERLAG

To the images

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASES
PRESS MAILING LIST
ACCREDITATION
DOWNLOADS
CONTACT

CONTACT

WE ARE HERE FOR ALL PRESS INQUIRIES.

If you have any further questions about SPIEL, need more information about an announcement or would like to contact us in any other way, please feel free to get in touch with our press contact.

ROBIN DE CLEUR

Director Communications
+49 151 74454565

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