Essen Spiel 2026 Vlog, Day 0 — “This could have been an email”

Description provided by Luzapalooza on YouTube:

Day 0 of Essen Spiel 2026: the press conference, the Deutscher Spielepreis awards, and a first look at the Novelty Show. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:16 leaving the house 01:13 Deutsche Spielepreis 04:13 Game of the day: Fantastique 11:15 Press conference Every day during the fair, I’m picking one new game from the Novelty Show to show you here in the daily vlog. Today’s pick: Fantastique, a quick set-collection card game from Brett J. Gilbert and Trevor Benjamin at the AMIGO booth (2–5 players, about 25 minutes). Draft cards into color sets, score bonuses for the most cards played and the highest card played, and hoard your low numbers for a big payout in the final round. This year’s Deutscher Spielepreis — Germany’s big audience-voted award — went to Sanctuary, designed by Mathias Wigge, the designer of Ark Nova. It’s a friendlier, easier-to-learn take on the same zoo-building ideas, beating out Galactic Cruise and Boss Fighters QR for the top spot. And the press conference itself: I’ll just say it, it was boring. Facts and numbers thrown at us in two languages with almost no stage presence from the hosts. This could have been an email. More daily vlogs coming every day at 8 PM CET through the fair. Subscribe if you want to follow along. The Meet & Play will be at Saal Essen on Saturday, October 24th, starting at 3 PM — come sit, play, say hi, and swap sweets from wherever you’re from. Here’s a link to the event with a photo showing exactly where to find the room: https://meet-and-play.de/en/about/ LuzapaloozaBOARDGAMES · GOOD TIMES · HUGS #Luzapalooza #SpielEssen2026 #SpielEssen #BoardGames #BoardGameGeek #TabletopGames #DeutscherSpielepreis #Sanctuary #ArkNova #Fantastique #Amigo #EssenSpiel