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. After the incredible rush of visitors last year, well over 200,000 people are expected to attend the world's largest fair for board games this year.

Visitors to SPIEL will encounter around 890 exhibitors from 51 countries in the exhibition halls, including a large number from Germany and all over Europe, but also from distant nations like Japan, the USA, and New Zealand. Accommodating all these booths requires space, which is why the fair is using Hall 7 for the first time this year, bringing the total exhibition area to 77,500 square meters. This marks the third consecutive year that SPIEL Essen has announced a new area record.

New Stage Area and Open Event Program

A major new feature this year is a large stage area in Hall 4. For the first time, Merz Verlag is bringing the extensive side program of SPIEL Essen directly to visitors on a modern stage, free of charge and without registration. Anyone interested can simply come to the 1,000-square-meter area and watch the panels, lectures, discussion rounds, and live shows on stage.

Information about the stage can be found here: The new stage at SPIEL

Various events will take place there every day of the fair. For example, Friday's Educators Day, where German and international speakers will present current research, topics, and ideas about games and education, will be held in the stage area this year. Other highlights include a cosplay show where all visitors in costume can show off their outfits, and a live stage show by the well-known American YouTube channel, The Dice Tower.

A complete program overview will be available in the coming days and weeks on the SPIEL Essen program page.

The world-renowned painting competition, Golden Demon, whose European edition has been held at SPIEL Essen by Games Workshop since last year, will also take place at the fair again this year. Artists from all over the world submit over 1,000 incredibly high-quality painted miniatures to be judged by an expert jury. In the end, they might not only win in one of the 14 categories but also the coveted Slayer Sword, arguably the most epic trophy in the world of miniature gaming. The awards ceremony for this outstanding competition will also be held publicly on the stage in Hall 4 on Sunday.

Anyone who wants to submit their miniature for Golden Demon can purchase an add-on to their SPIEL ticket in the ticket shop. 

Information about the Golden Demon painting competition can be found here: Golden Demon 2025

World Record Attempt with a Special Guest

A special event will take place on Friday evening. As part of SPIEL Essen, Kosmos is organizing the largest CATAN game ever. In the Grugahalle, right next to the exhibition center, fair visitors can participate in the world record attempt for CATAN – Connect. The goal is to have a good 1,200 people playing simultaneously. An extraordinary experience awaits them, with the people behind the game giving insights into the long history of CATAN live on stage. And as a special guest, Smudo, the singer of the band Die Fantastischen Vier, will commentate on the event.

Anyone who wants to participate in the CATAN – Connect event can purchase an add-on to their SPIEL ticket in the ticket shop.

Information about the CATAN – Connect event can be found here: https://www.spiel-essen.de/en/program/catan-connect-en

Helpful Hall Structure Continues 

Despite the additional hall, the team at the organizing Merz Verlag was able to maintain the tried-and-true hall concept of recent years. Once again, exhibitors are distributed by theme and category across the seven exhibition halls and the Galeria:

• Hall 1: Miniature games, collectible card games, and role-playing games
• Hall 2: Role-playing games, collectible card games, connoisseur games, and expert games
• Hall 3: Connoisseur games and expert games
• Hall 4: Connoisseur games, expert games, and stage area
• Hall 5: Family games, from children's games to party games and light connoisseur games, and B2B area
• Halls 6 and 7: Family games, from children's games to party games and light connoisseur games
• Galeria: Free activities for children and a food court (more stands in various outdoor areas)

The boundaries between the areas are fluid, so visitors can find overlapping themes, especially at the transitions between categories.

The layout of the halls and exhibitors can be found on the interactive hall maps online on the Merz Verlag website: https://www.spiel-essen.de/en/the-spiel/hall-plans

SPIEL Essen 2025 Ambassador

Last year, SPIEL Essen presented its first-ever game ambassador, who connected the worlds of rock music and gaming: Alea, the frontman of the band Saltatio Mortis. The fair's team is continuing this "two-worlds" concept this year: the well-known host of Orkenspalter TV, cosplayer, and role-player Mháire Stritter is the face of SPIEL Essen 2025.

With her passion for games and her active role in the community, she brings a deep connection to the subject. Her enthusiasm is contagious, which makes her the ideal person for this honorable task. Mháire herself is very excited about her new role: "Games mean a lot to me—as a refuge, as a community, and as a way to live out my creativity. For me, they are a chance to share my excitement and joy about playing and telling stories with others, whether as a writer or an entertainer."

Tickets, Prices, and Opening Hours

Last year, all tickets for SPIEL Essen sold out for the first time, which surprised many visitors—something that had never happened before. This year, Merz Verlag has therefore created more ticket allotments by selling only single-day tickets and will regularly provide updates on the current ticket status so that no one misses the chance to get their tickets early. At the same time, there will no longer be on-site ticket counters; all ticket purchases will be made online through the ticket shop—this can also be done on-site with a smartphone, if tickets are still available.

Visitors have been able to secure tickets for the fair in the SPIEL Essen online ticket shop since the end of July. Currently, about 50% of the available tickets for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday have been sold, with Sunday slightly behind. 

The ticket shop can be accessed at the following link: https://www.messe-ticket.de/SWM_Shop/Spiel2025

Ticket prices:

• Day Ticket – Adult:50 Euro
• Day Ticket – Child (4 to 12 years):00 Euro
• Day Ticket – Reduced (students, apprentices, severely disabled, social year, cosplay):50 Euro
• Day Ticket – Family (2 adults plus up to 3 children):00 Euro
• Day Ticket – Trade Visitor (proof required):00 Euro

Additionally, there are individually bookable add-ons that can be added to the shopping cart.

• Lootbag (large bag, official game of SPIEL 2025, lanyard): 20.00 Euro
• Educators Day – Certificate of Attendance:00 Euro
• Golden Demon – Participation:00 Euro
• CATAN – Connect – Playing:00 Euro
• CATAN – Connect – Watching:00 Euro
• Trade Visitor Parking (only with trade visitor ticket): 12.00 Euro 

Community Feedback Implemented for the App

The free SPIEL Essen app, which has been one of the fair's most successful innovations since 2023, will be available again this year. It will once again contain all new releases, including descriptions, images, and in some cases, videos, as well as lists of exhibitors, vouchers, interactive hall maps with navigation functions, and much more.

The app is extremely well-received by the gaming community; over 55,000 people downloaded it in 2024, and it recorded over 2 million views during the fair. And it is constantly being improved. This year, for example, the SPIEL team was able to implement a major community request and will make it possible to sort favorite games by high, medium, and low priority. This will allow visitors to distinguish whether they want to buy a game directly, just look at it, or try it out. The app will also now show and filter which language a title is available in at the fair.

The SPIEL Essen app will be available in all app stores starting September 4th.

For Press Representatives and Media

For press representatives, SPIEL Essen opens on Wednesday, October 22, with a press conference at 10 a.m. in the glass foyer at the East Entrance of Messe Essen. The press conference will last about 40 minutes and will provide insights into the organization, current facts and figures about the fair and the industry, and highlights of SPIEL.

Afterwards, the German Board Game Awards will be presented live on-site, with the trophies being handed out in an approximately 20-minute ceremony.

From around 11 a.m., the New Release Show will open, where publishers will present their latest titles to the media representatives present before the fair begins.

Media can also register for the press conference via the accreditation portal by selecting a ticket for Wednesday.

To apply for a press ticket for SPIEL Essen 2025, an online portal is available at the link on our press website: https://spiel-essen.de/en/press#akkreditierung 

About SPIEL Essen

SPIEL Essen is the world's largest public fair for board games, bringing passionate gaming fans together with national and international exhibitors in the heart of the Ruhr region. The fair has been around for over 40 years, presenting thousands of new releases from exhibitors from over 50 nations. The focus is on community and playing together, as visitors to SPIEL Essen can try out the new titles directly at the stands.