The Blurb:
ESSEN the Game is a strategy game where each player is a visitor at the International Game Fair of Essen. With your wishlist, face the crowd and make your way to the stands of your favorite publishers. However, beware that games availability is limited. To achieve your goals, you have to manage your budget and encumbering. The number of games that you carry will reduce your moves in the fair. You will need to come back to the parking lot to store your purchases in your car before getting back to the fair in search of that special game.
The Gist
Play a board game about going to the Essen game festival and buying board games. So meta. So great.
The Play
Tyler had never played a eurogame before, so this was his first attempt at one. Wikipedia defines a eurogame like so:
We got the game set up and eruos take a little longer to set up so I let him go back to playing minecraft while I finished. I called him back and sat him down and explained the board to him and what to look at and what he should be watching for, and he ignored pretty much all of what I said. Tyler was rushing through the convention, buying all the high-end games and focusing on his wishlist. By the end of the morning, he had a nice pile of games, but was running low on cash, while I was slowly building my purchases. In the afternoon phase, Tyler had to make a trip to the ATM so he could buy more games, and when you take money out from the ATM, it costs victory points. This trip to the car by Ty enabled me to capitalize on some lower-priced games and build up some momentum. In the end, Tyler ran out of money and I was able to grab a couple more games, securing the victory.
"Eurogames are usually less abstract than chess, but more abstract than wargames. Likewise, they generally require more thought and planning than party games, such as Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit, but less than classic strategy games, such as chess and go."
We got the game set up and eruos take a little longer to set up so I let him go back to playing minecraft while I finished. I called him back and sat him down and explained the board to him and what to look at and what he should be watching for, and he ignored pretty much all of what I said. Tyler was rushing through the convention, buying all the high-end games and focusing on his wishlist. By the end of the morning, he had a nice pile of games, but was running low on cash, while I was slowly building my purchases. In the afternoon phase, Tyler had to make a trip to the ATM so he could buy more games, and when you take money out from the ATM, it costs victory points. This trip to the car by Ty enabled me to capitalize on some lower-priced games and build up some momentum. In the end, Tyler ran out of money and I was able to grab a couple more games, securing the victory.
The Bits
Dad
"It's not hard to see that the board is the main event here. Just look at it. Real companies, real games."
Ty
"I like the board the best. I like the way it's set up like the convention. You can stop to eat, you can take games to your car. I have never been to a convention, but I think that is exactly how it would be."
The Good, The Bad, The Rating
Dad
"I am a huge fan of this game. The market fluctuation on the hotness of games, the inclusion of BGG and trick track, everything in this game works for me. I know a lot of people say it will get outdated because some of the games in this game have faded from view, but I don't care. Load up the car, we're going to Essen!"
4.5/5
Tyler
"I think that the expensive games should be worth more victory points. I have never played a euro-style board game before. It was fun, but I won't be looking to play it again soon."
3/5
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