/pic2297198.png)
Seriously, you think that Spiel or Gen Con are big — and they are, relative to local cons — but then you attend something like this and are blown away because not only does this fair feature games of all types, but also every variety of toy that you can imagine. Think Spiel, but with all twelve halls being open in the Messe and all of them being 2-5 times larger than they currently are and some of them having two floors, and you'll start to get a feel for how large this fair is.
In terms of numbers, Spielwarenmesse featured 2,857 exhibitors and approximately 72,000 visitors, with those visitors being buyers, retailers, distributors and media. Spiel, Gen Con and Cannes double that number, true, but those attendees are mostly individual players and buyers; folks at Spielwarenmesse determine what shows up in stores over the next twelve months, thereby affecting what's introduced to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. The videos below and those to come over the next 1-2 weeks are my tiny contribution to this effort, with thanks as always to cameraperson John Knoerzer for lots of effort behind the scenes.
We'll start the video coverage with a look at Pandemic: State of Emergency, a multi-module expansion for Pandemic from Matt Leacock and Tom Lehmann that Z-Man Games plans to release in the U.S. on March 9, 2015:
/pic2247789.jpg)
/pic1958919.png)
/pic2391878.jpg)
/pic2391882.jpg)
Please forgive me.
/pic2377660.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic2395733.jpg)
/pic2387850.png)
:strip_icc()/pic2391515.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic2390349.jpg)
