Dewan — not the gateway game we were promised (SPIEL Essen 2026)

Description provided by Luzapalooza on YouTube:

Dewan is a competitive area-placement game from Space Cowboys, designed by Johannes Goupy and Yoann Levet (the duo behind Discover and Sky Team): you spend terrain cards to build a path of camps across a modular island, racing to lock down territory before anyone else does. This video is part of our Essen Countdown on Luzapalooza: every day until SPIEL Essen 2026, we spotlight one game worth putting on your radar — from the big anticipated releases to the tiny games you could easily miss in the crowd. Dewan actually was available in Essen, although official release was in January this year. I only just caught up with it. Dewan on BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/439742/dewan It was pitched to me as the next Cascadia or Ticket to Ride — a new gateway game for people who already love those. My wife Ilka and I love both, so we were excited. Five minutes in, Ilka was ready to flip the table: she’d committed to a goal with only two possible spots on the board, and I’d already taken one without realizing it. The rules themselves are clean and genuinely easy to teach, and the player board does a nice job of guiding you through your options. But easy rules don’t make it a gateway game if the experience at the table is this confrontational. We’d only owned it for two months, and it’s already leaving our collection. The Meet & Play will take place at Saal Essen on Saturday, October 24th. We'll be there starting at 3 PM — here's a link to the event with a photo showing exactly where to find the room: https://meet-and-play.de/en/about/ If this is your third video on the channel, maybe it's time to subscribe. :-) Luzapalooza on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/Luzapalooza This Game Is Broken — the board game comedy podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GXyynkXltlLY3hGNoYtnB Thanks for watching, and check out the rest of our Essen Countdown for more games! BOARDGAMES · GOOD TIMES · HUGS #Luzapalooza #SpielEssen2026 #SpielEssen #BoardGames #BoardGameGeek #TabletopGames #Dewan #SpaceCowboys #AreaControl #BoardGame #TabletopGaming #EssenSpiel