By the folks at Funagain Games

The annual Game Fair at Essen (in Germany) is an intense four-day event. Spiel '99 was certainly no exception. The game halls were expanded and there appeared to be more going on than ever before.

This is the third year that Funagain Games has attended the Essen Fair and each year we've gained experience. In years past there never seemed to be enough time to cover all the necessary ground and find all the games that our customers wanted. In years past we've taken requests for games that seem to have disappeared (e.g., Ave Caesar, Big Boss, Metropolis, Ausgebremst, McMulti, Attacke, etc.). Frequently some of our favorite game designers/companies (e.g., db Spiele, 2F Spiele, Bambus, Jean du Poel, Glucksritter Spiele, Gerard Mulder, Warfrog, etc.) would produce games in such limited quantities that few or none would be available by the time we saw them, often selling out the first day of the Fair.

And then there are the undiscovered gems, the games for which there is virtually no information, the new products by up-and-coming designers. Once discovered (usually the 2nd day of the Fair or so), these games would go quickly, possibly never to be seen again.

Well, amazingly enough (and no one is more amazed than we are), we were able to do it all this year! We have copies of 95% of the older, out-of-print games that were requested, some still in original shrinkwrap (e.g., McMulti and Big Boss). We have copies of the newest games by our favorite designers (e.g., Yukon by db Spiele, FrischFleisch by 2F Spiele, Autoscooter by Bambus, Wortelboer by Gerard Mulder, etc.). We have copies of the very limited production runs by the "newbies" (e.g., Bus by Splotter, Isi by Cwali, Die Erben von Hoax by Spielzeit, etc.). And we have plenty of the new games mass-produced by the bigger companies, stuff by the more established game designers (e.g., Alan Moon, Reiner Knizia, Klaus Teuber, Uwe Rosenberg, Doris & Frank, etc.).

We've also had a firsthand look at the highly-acclaimed (already) Andromeda by Alan Moon, Stephenson's Rocket by Reiner Knizia, and Vino by Klaus Palesch. Since our friend Jay Tummelson and his company Rio Grande Games will be releasing English language versions of these titles (and more) very soon (mid-November - right, Jay?), we exercised uncharacteristic restraint and didn't grab any of the (tempting) German versions of these games.

Regarding new games, however, we did get some quantities of several games we should bring to your attention.

The ever popular Siedler von Catan (Setters of Catan) series has two new additions, both of which were getting a lot of play at Essen and which are receiving potential Spiel des Jahres 2000 (Game of the Year) accolades. They are not expansions! They are both standalone games. According to our sources, the first printing of Die Siedler von Nuremberg (Settlers of Nuremberg) numbered only 3000 copies and was difficult to get in any quantity. This looks like a great game, and we know of no plans for an English edition (it has minimal German text anyway, no more than the original Siedler von Catan).

The second Settlers game, Die Sternenfahrer von Catan (Starfarers of Catan), is a huge, gorgeous game with great looking (and plentiful) bits. It does have some text on the cards, but certainly translations of these will follow soon. Mayfair Games is talking of an English language edition but the timing of its release is uncertain. We did pick up a limited quantity of Sternenfahrer of Catan for those of you who want it now, and who appreciate Kosmos' attention to production detail.

Spacebeans is the newest bean game by Mr. Bohnanza himself, Uwe Rosenberg. It is a standalone game, not an expansion to Bohnanza. At this time it is uncertain whether or not Rio Grande Games will have an English language version available for next year (text is certainly no issue with this game). We purchased a limited quantity for those of you who want to be assured of a pre-Christmas arrival; we'll look forward to carrying the Rio Grande Games version if it becomes available.

Funagain has even more to report from Essen 1999. They also published a preview that includes descriptions of many of the games.

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