SPIEL ESSEN 2026 – Event Report

We just got back from SPIEL Essen 2026, and we wanted to share a little bit about how it went!

We traveled all the way from Japan, arriving in Europe through Amsterdam. One of the first things we noticed was the weather difference. Japan is still relatively warm at this time of year, so arriving in the cold European autumn was quite a change! But after a train ride to Essen, we went straight from the cold outside into the warm, busy convention halls.

SPIEL Essen is one of the most important events of our year. It's one of the few opportunities we have to show what we've been developing in Japan to a truly international audience. Unlike many other conventions, Essen brings together people from all over the world, and that's one of the things that makes it so special.

Our small but very Genki Staff!

A Different Experience From Last Year

Last year was our first time exhibiting at SPIEL Essen. We landed in the expert games area of the event, surrounded by heavier games, and honestly, we felt a bit alone. We didn't know many people, and everything was still pretty new to us.

This year, things were quite different!

Our booth was located in the Asian Games area, surrounded by friends and fellow publishers from Japan. Many of them are people we've known for a while, worked with, or created content together with. We felt much more at home.

Even during the press event on Wednesday, we met other publishers, designers, and content creators we've followed for a while. It was really nice to see that some of them already knew our games. It's a small thing, but it made us feel like we're slowly becoming part of this bigger community.

That was probably one of the biggest differences compared to last year, and it made the whole experience much more enjoyable.

What We Brought to SPIEL Essen

At our booth this year, we showcased Eldertide: A Thousand Lights, our big-box game for the year, along with two smaller card games, Dream Hoppers and 99x1, which are part of our new Japan Artist Series.

We also launched the crowdfunding campaign for the Japan Artist Series on the first day of SPIEL Essen! The campaign will run all the way until the last day of PAX Unplugged in December, so these two conventions mark the beginning and end of the campaign.

Essen was our first opportunity to show these games to an international audience while the campaign was running, and we were really curious to see how people would react.

Dream Hoppers

With Dream Hoppers, we had a feeling we were developing something quite unique.

It's a cooperative drafting card game, and throughout development, we kept thinking that we hadn't really played anything like it before.

But with so many board games being released every year, it's difficult to know whether you've actually created something new or if you simply haven't encountered a similar game yet.

At Essen, we had the chance to show Dream Hoppers to journalists, influencers, and experienced players who have played hundreds, if not thousands, of different games.

And hearing some of them say, "I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this!" was incredibly rewarding.

Finding something that feels genuinely fresh in today's board game industry is no easy task. So hearing those reactions from people with so much experience gave us a lot of confidence in what we're creating.

Of course, we still have plenty of work to do on the game, but this was definitely one of the highlights of the convention for us.

99x1

With 99x1, the excitement came from something completely different.

It's a one-versus-all card game where players are constantly trying to outsmart each other. There's a lot of bluffing, deception, and sometimes even a little betrayal between teammates.

During development, we had imagined the kind of reactions we wanted this game to create. But imagining those moments and actually watching them happen are two very different things.

At Essen, we saw players laughing, trying to trick each other, and suddenly turning to their friends with expressions of complete disbelief.

"Why would you do that to me?!"

And that was exactly what we wanted!

There's something really satisfying about watching a group of people who have just learned your game immediately fall into the social dynamics you designed.

People were making alliances, questioning each other's decisions, and sometimes sabotaging their own teammates. Even though they had only just learned the rules, they were already creating the kind of funny and unexpected situations we had hoped the game would encourage.

It was one of the most entertaining things to watch at our booth, and seeing those interactions happen so naturally was a great sign for us.

Eldertide: A Thousand Lights

Eldertide was a different kind of highlight for us.

The game had only recently reached our Kickstarter backers, so before Essen, we hadn't really had the opportunity to connect with the people who were finally playing it.

At Essen, that changed.

People came to our booth specifically to share their experiences with Eldertide. Some told us it had become their new favorite game, while others mentioned how much they appreciated the faster playtime, allowing them to enjoy multiple games in a single evening.

It was especially interesting to hear that people were enjoying the game in ways we had hoped they would. One of our goals with Eldertide was to create a big-box experience that didn't necessarily require an entire evening to play, so hearing people appreciate that aspect was really encouraging.

But what really stayed with us was seeing people willing to wait at our booth just to tell us how much they enjoyed the game.

After spending so much time developing Eldertide, hearing that feedback directly from players was incredibly rewarding.

It's one thing to finally deliver a game you've worked on for years, but it's another to meet someone who's already made it part of their regular game nights.

We had spent so much time discussing mechanics, balancing the game, testing different ideas, and trying to make everything work together. At Essen, we finally got to hear about the experience from the other side of the table.

And honestly, having people come all the way to our booth just to share something positive about the game meant a lot to us.

That was probably one of our favorite moments of SPIEL Essen this year.

Seeing JISOGI at Someone Else's Booth

One more thing that was really different for us this year was the way JISOGI: Anime Studio Tycoon was presented at the show.

JISOGI was last year's release, and because of our agreement with Good Games Publishing, an Australian publisher now responsible for the worldwide distribution of the English edition, we weren't selling it at our own booth this time. A lot of people still came looking for JISOGI, and we had to direct them to the Good Games Publishing booth in another hall.

But what made it special was walking into that hall and seeing how they were presenting the game. They had a bigger booth than ours, and they were showcasing JISOGI with so much care and enthusiasm.

Until now, whenever we brought JISOGI to a convention, it was always us setting up the displays, explaining the game, and introducing it to new players. So seeing a completely different team putting that same energy into a game we created was a pretty special feeling.

It was actually the first time I had experienced something like this as a game designer.

Seeing another publisher put so much effort into presenting something we've worked on for years was amazing. It felt like JISOGI was starting to reach people beyond what we could accomplish with our own booth, and that was really exciting to see.

We're very happy to be working with Good Games Publishing, and we're looking forward to seeing where this partnership takes JISOGI next!

Next Stop: PAX Unplugged!

Now that SPIEL Essen 2026 is over, we're already getting ready for our next convention, PAX Unplugged in the US this December!

PAX will be a bit different from Essen. The audience is more focused on the North American tabletop community, and we're curious to see how people there will react to our games.

It will also mark the final days of our Japan Artist Series crowdfunding campaign, which started at Essen. We're excited to bring Dream Hoppers and 99x1 to another audience and hopefully get even more feedback before the campaign ends.

After seeing the reactions at Essen, we're feeling pretty confident about what we've been developing, but there's always something new to learn when showing games to different people.

Thanks to everyone who visited our booth at SPIEL Essen this year! Whether you came to try our new games, learn more about Eldertide, or simply stop by and say hello, we really appreciated it.

It was especially nice to meet so many people who had been following our projects and to reconnect with friends from the board game industry.

See you at PAX Unplugged in December!

— Esper Game Studio