Getting Ready for Essen

I chatted the other night with my friend Andreas Keirat in Germany who has done a series of great game reviews over the years that I was reading long before BoardGameGeek existed. I’ve done a bit of editing to protect the innocent, etc. There are some interesting tips about Essen buried here; Andreas goes almost every year.

KC: I think we are planning to give you a copy of Havoc for you to review. And if you'd like to help in the booth you'd be welcome of course.
AK: Maybe I have the time for this, but it depends on how I can get my visits done… Usually there isn’t much free time in between. But I certainly will do my best.
KC: I appreciate that - I think we are in booth 4-52.
AK: I already read about your info you gave to Spielbox-Online.
KC: Oh good - what did you think?
AK: The presentation is well done at the news page, and it doesn’t have too much info to read, which helps at this page. I hate reading all about a game in advance. I want to be surprised ;)

AK: How many games do you want to sell?
KC: We're bringing 300 total.
AK: Only 300? You usually will sell about 500 I guess. If the game is good and you do some promotion...
KC: OK, we may have to shrink wrap some more games then!
AK: What would be the price for the game ?
KC: $18.95 list price - - 15 euros at Essen (or $18.00 US)
AK: Maybe 300 is better than to get sure you will be sold out. Plus about 30 for reviewers, like Spielbox, Spiel des Jahres.

KC: Might be hard to get lots of people to play (small booth!) Do people vote for us if they like it?
AK: Yes - there is a voting poll at one game magazines table. The more plays of the game, the more will vote. Usually voting is 1 (best) to 6 (worst). 10 votes or 15 are good enough to get the game listed and that’s a big point for after-sales.

KC: Do you know where you're staying in Essen? We're staying at Hotel Arosa.
AK: ah... Behrs Park Hotel, which is located right next to the fair (about 0.4 miles away).
KC: Nice. I think we're in walking distance too.
AK: The fair is easy to find and has lots of parking lots. If you have a car... use it. You don’t want to walk all day and bring back games to the hotel. I even use my car to store everything ;) It’s easy to just walk out of the fair with bags full of games, afterwards return within 10-15 minutes!

AK: Don’t forget to bring money with you. Credit cards hardly will be accepted at the stores there.
KC: Euros I assume - or dollars?
AK: Euros: you can use the credit card at the bank, but not at too many stores at the fair. Credit card payments are expensive here (for the seller) so they don’t use that too often. Europeans like to "feel" the money.
KC: Sure - and we'll get some money from sales of Havoc ...
AK: hopefully lots of money. ;)

KC: This is great info - I sure appreciate your help!
AK: No problem. That what friends/board gamers are for. ;)