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 addition, he and the band, together with other star guests on site, will offer a special program relating to their cross-genre project Finsterwacht.

"Games and music have something in common: they both connect people. And SPIEL is the most epic event to experience this connection and the joy of gaming. When I got the invitation to be the face of this mega show, there was no question about it, I just had to do it,” says Alea enthusiastically about his participation in the fair in Essen. The whole band is already looking forward to the show. "We all love playing and some of us regularly go to SPIEL privately. It will be a real party for us and at the same time a great opportunity to further the link of music, games, and books as we did with the Finsterwacht project”, Alea continues.

For Carol Rapp, Managing Director of Merz Verlag, organizer of SPIEL Essen, the collaboration with the musician is a great opportunity to bring together what belongs together. "You can just tell how much Alea's fire burns for games and for SPIEL. And we are passionate about music, just as much. Together, we can reach and inspire people who might not have had us on their radar individually." This passion for gaming and the Finsterwacht project were the reasons why Carol Rapp wanted Alea to be the face of the board game fair. "SPIEL is passion, our ambassador has to have that too - it just fits. At the same time, gaming is culture, just like music and literature. Being able to show this together is a stroke of luck."

The Finsterwacht project is a cross-genre cooperation in which the publisher Ulisses Spiele, the bestselling authors Bernhard Hennen and Torsten Weitze and the rock band Saltatio Mortis interlink role-playing games, fantasy novels and a concept album about The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) and the world of Aventuria. At SPIEL Essen, they will be providing insights behind the scenes and the development of this project.

Pictures of Alea as face of SPIEL Essen and from the Finsterwacht project can be downloaded here: Alea SPIEL Essen