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It was a dour morning in Utrecht as we waited to be let into Spellenspektakel 2024, the Netherlands’ biggest board game convention. The only other experience of this kind I've had was Tabletop Scotland 2024, which was a relaxed and cheerful time. I’m relieved that I managed to wet my feet there, otherwise I may have been in danger of overloading at Spellenspektakel.
Right off the bat, you are hit with a skyline of signage advertising all the games you love and the games you will come to love over the course of the convention. The first thing to catch your eye would undoubtedly have been the Ticket to Ride stall, inviting you in with the XL version of the game outfront, where the trains were as long as your hand and the stations big enough to house a mouse. The size of the stall probably had something to do with the Ticket to Ride tournament that was kicking off that day. As someone who’d have better luck driving an actual train than winning a game of Ticket to Ride (which is, frankly, rather embarrassing to admit), I decided not to compete; but those that did were in for the chance of winning a copy of Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West, as well as entry into the Ticket to Ride tournament finals.
There were a plethora of big publisher releases as well as smaller indie games to try. One of the larger new games was Intarsia, a game by Michael Kiesling (the same designer as the Azul series) who again seeks to thrill players through facilitating the beautiful arrangement of tiles on a board. We got to try the new print of The Quest for El Dorado: The Golden Temples, which has received the same visual change that the original The Quest for El Dorado received in 2020 and, oh boy, does it look lovely. This game is designed for people who love The Quest for El Dorado formula but want an extra challenge. With a new batch of cards, The Quest for El Dorado: The Golden Temples is more of a strategic puzzle than a tactical one.
If you were clueless about which board game won the Spiel de Jahres this year, one look at the section dedicated to Sky Team could have directed you to the answer. The entire section was cordoned off, meaning you had to be let in by the representatives, who were dressed up in pilot attire and would show you to your table where a divider, made to look like an aeroplane window, was put between different groups. The centrepiece, however, was that they had managed to get a real-life light aircraft into the hall and some lucky few were able to play a game of Sky Team inside an actual aircraft. I certainly hope that next year other publishers take inspiration from this and give me the opportunity to play Terraforming Mars on a lunar module or Spirit Island in an inflatable pool with some sand in the middle.
The tables of Spellenspektakel were almost always full, so we only had a chance to try two other games from independent designers. We were sat down at the table by one of the representatives of the game (who was very nice) and soon realised that all the artwork in the game was AI generated. The entire day we’d wandered around the convention hall and marvelled at what the creative partnership of board game design and board game art produces. That partnership had been tossed aside here. Although well-designed and enjoyable, I can’t respect the design of a game which doesn’t respect its art. After feeling a bit down after that experience, the next game we played was a tonic to our condition in the form of “Dick Sit”, a party game all about what the name suggests.
As a man with more money than sense, the biggest draw for me was the Bring and Buy. I could not resist the opportunity to fill my already full cabinets with more board games. Unfortunately for me, it seemed like everyone else at the convention had the same thought as the queue for the bring and buy was 2 hours long. That however did not put me off and after a lot of waiting managed to come away with a haul of great games.
Spellenspektakel was an absolute treat, and I can’t wait to return next year. As a veteran of the convention I will end with some sage points of advice:
If you are set out on buying games, bring a suitcase. It will save you having to grovel for a cardboard box to carry them all in.
Use the first day to raid the bring and buy, and decide on what games you’d most like to play the next day.
When the next day comes, rush to what you want to play first.
Enjoy.
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