by Tom P
It's kind of s pain to write this on my phone in the Ibis lobby with its terrible WiFi connection, but I'm soldiering on after a pretty intense first day.We got an early start but not it seems early enough as we joined a packed rush hour metro from Essen main station full of beardy men with large empty holdalls, myself included. After acclimatising to the sub-tropical temperatures of Messe Essen, the doors finally flung open and we rushed forward. Or rather, everyone else did and I found myself caught in a crowd surge only to emerge blinking and terrified in the middle of gaming nirvana.
Well at least that's what it should have been. For all my planning, excitement, sleepless nights and colour-coded lists, when confronted with the reality of 12 massive halls of boardgames my brain went into overdrive and I couldn't think where to start. Luckily, I managed to lose my whole group and wonder into a game of Palaces von Carrara, somehow managing to win by some margin.
That proved to be the perfect start to my day as I settled into the atmosphere and reminded myself what it was all about. From then on it was wide eyed bewilderment, getting lost, bumping into friends randomly and playing a few games. Oh and ticking 24 1/2 off my want list, too :D
So after a long day on my feet it was great to come back to the hotel and get a few played. In fact I had such a productive day I have a feeling I'll have finished all I want to do tomorrow leaving Saturday free for all-day gaming while the Messe heaves.
Boardgames eh?