Board game industry ticker 2022
What happened in the games industry in 2022? You’ll find out in this ticker. Here you’ll get summaries of selected articles as well as brief news items for which we haven’t written our own articles. Under Spielebranchen-Ticker you’ll find news from previous years. You can also find more industry news in the Podcast Branchennews by Brettspielbar.
Tobias Husch to become new NSV managing director in 2023
16 December – Personnel: Tobias Husch will become managing director of Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag GmbH (NSV) from January 2023. The company announced this. Husch succeeds Franz Jurthe, who has been NSV managing director since 2000. According to NSV, Jurthe himself decided to leave the publisher. Why and what plans he now has can only be answered by Mr Jurthe. As managing director, Jurthe introduced author games, among other things, thus laying the foundation for today’s publishing direction. During his time, classics such as the dice game Qwixx and the card games The Game and The Mind were released. Husch has been a procurist at NSV since October 2020 and is currently Head of Finance. Previously, he worked as a certified accountant, among other roles. According to his own statement, he wants to continue Jurthe’s work with a focus on author games. He also wants to expand and strengthen the NSV publishing programme with new ideas together with the distribution partner Cartamundi.
Rudolf Rühle: Founding and honorary chairman of the Europäische Spielesammler Gilde dies
23 November – Personnel: Rudolf Rühle died on Monday, 21 November. The Europäische Spielesammler Gilde (ESG) announced this in an obituary. Rühle was the founding and honorary chairman of the ESG. “Rudolf Rühle shaped the European board game collecting scene with his warm personality, his endless expertise and his meticulous, scholarly game research. Countless exhibition participations, specialist lectures, guided tours, articles in trade journals and, not least, his standard work on the ‘History of Games in the SBZ and GDR’ have always made experts look with respect at this incredible life’s work,” the obituary states.
In response to the news, we checked our archive and found an interview with Rühle from 2010. Back then, kulturgutspiel.de was still called zuspieler.de.
Carol Rapp new managing director of Internationale Spieltage Spiel
14 November – Personnel: Carol Rapp will become an additional managing director of Friedhelm Merz Verlag, which organises the Internationale Spieltage Spiel trade fair, from 15 November. Furthermore, the trade fair team is to be expanded in the coming months. The Friedhelm Merz Verlag announced this. Previously, Rapp worked as a consultant for the board game industry, managing director at Asmodee GmbH and, before that, marketing manager for family and adult games at Kosmos. Rapp is the third managing director of Friedhelm Merz Verlag alongside Dominique Metzler and Florian Hess. The publisher has been a subsidiary of Spielwarenmesse eG since January 2022. According to his own statements, Metzler intends to withdraw from the company in the coming years for age-related reasons. Rapp will in future share responsibility for the organisation and further development of Internationale Spieltage Spiel.
Kosmos: Personnel changes in sales
19 October – Personnel: Kosmos is restructuring its sales department in the toys sector: Torsten Berndt will in future be responsible for the specialist trade and the organisation of the DACH field sales team. In this role, he succeeds Hans Werner, who will retire at the end of 2022 after 28 years as head of field sales. At the same time, Christian Vogellehner has been strengthening the team as Key Account Manager Toys since September, reporting to Kerstin Reissig, who took over the management of the key account business at the beginning of the year as Head of Key Account and Go to Market.
Kinderspiel des Jahres to be awarded together with Spiel des Jahres in 2023
29 September – Awards: For the first time since 2009, the Kinderspiel des Jahres will be awarded together with the Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2023. The Spiel des Jahres association announced this. The award ceremony is to take place on Sunday, 16 July, at 18:00 in Berlin.
Spiel des Jahres to promote gaming in schools in 2023
29 September – Miscellaneous: In 2023, the Spiel des Jahres association will also support projects financially that strengthen the position of games as a cultural asset in society. The funding focus will be on games in educational institutions. The money will be paid out in two tranches. The deadline for applications for the first tranche is Wednesday, 30 November 2022, and for the second tranche is 31 May 2023. More information and application forms are available from Spiel des Jahres.
Arche Nova wins Deutscher Spielepreis 2022
5 September – Awards: Arche Nova by Matthias Wigge (Feuerland) has won the Deutscher Spielepreis 2022. Mit Quacks & Co. nach Quedlinburg by Wolfgang Warsch (Schmidt Spiele) has won the Deutscher Kinderspielepreis 2022. The other placings for the Deutscher Spielepreis were Cascadia by Randy Flynn (Kosmos, Flatout Games, AEG) and Dune Imperium by Paul Dennen (Dire Wolf, distribution: Asmodee).
Glow and Krake beim Schneider receive Graf Ludo 2022 game graphics award
21 August – Awards: Glow has won Graf Ludo 2022 in the Most Beautiful Family Game Graphics category, Krake beim Schneider in the “Most Beautiful Children’s Game Graphics” category. This was announced by Leipziger Messe as part of the online expo of Spiele-Offensive.de. Glow was designed and illustrated by Ben Basso and Vincent Dutrait, with Cédrick Chaboussit as the author. In its verdict, the jury writes: “Glow is bold with its black-and-white illustrations, which stylistically and qualitatively are based on high-quality graphic novels. The colourful pictograms, game pieces and dice stand out clearly from this in this initially sombre game, in which the aim is to return colour to the world.” The graphic designer and author of Krake beim Schneider is Nadia Budde. The design is by Anja Manthey. The verdict states: “Krake beim Schneider has charming humour. You experiment with quirky poetry and cheerful illustrations by Nadia Budde, even though it is a conventional memory game. Small stories emerge during this trip to the sewing room as snappy two-liners, such as ‘Wäsche glatt – Waschbär platt’ or ‘Zitteraal – langer Schal’, which are perfectly implemented in small comic scenes.”
Spiel Doch! from 2024 also in Friedrichshafen
11 August – Events: The Spiel Doch! trade fair is getting a branch in Friedrichshafen. This was announced by w. nostheide verlag. The event is to take place on the grounds of the Messe Friedrichshafen, for the first time from 2 to 4 June 2023. The event in Dortmund is to take place, as reported, from 28 to 30 April 2023.
Toy manufacturer Haba invests in Bad Rodach
11 July – Companies: The Haba Familygroup, which also includes the board game brand Haba, wants to expand its Bad Rodach site in Bavaria. This was announced by the company. Over the next five years, a two- to three-digit million amount will be invested there. The money will be used, among other things, to expand furniture production. The Haba Familygroup wants to increase its production and expand exports to America and Asia. The state of Bavaria is supporting the expansion with 2.3 million euros.
Spiel Doch! stays in Dortmund
29 July – Events: Spiel Doch! will take place in Dortmund for the next few years. This was announced by w. nostheide verlag. The board and card game trade fair moved from Duisburg to Dortmund in 2022. In the previous venue, the Kraftzentrale in Landschaftspark Duisburg, Ukrainian refugees were accommodated. In Dortmund, Spiel Doch! will also move from Hall 5 to Hall 4. Hall 4 is about 3,000 square metres larger than Hall 5 at 8,300 square metres. The move is intended to enable further growth. The trade fair is to take place in future always on the last weekend in April, so next year from 28 to 30 April 2023. According to the organiser, around 11,200 visitors attended the third edition of Spiel Doch! at the new location in Dortmund. For comparison: in the pre-corona year 2019, around 14,000 people visited the trade fair in Duisburg.
12,400 visitors at Berlin Brettspiel Con 2022
20 July – Events: According to the organiser, 12,400 people visited the Berlin Brettspiel Con 2022. Next year, the Berlin Con is to take place from 14 to 16 July 2023.
Cascadia is Spiel des Jahres 2022, Living Forest Kennerspiel des Jahres 2022
16 July – Awards: The jury of the Spiel des Jahres association has named the tile-laying game Cascadia by Randy Flynn (Flatout Games/AEG/Kosmos) as Spiel des Jahres 2022. Kennerspiel des Jahres 2022 is Living Forest by Aske Christiansen (Pegasus Spiele). In their verdicts, the jury writes: “Cascadia is a true feel-good game. The moves are always rewarding, even when the available choices are not always suitable. Particularly successful is the two-part puzzle task, for which a good balance must be found between the matching landscapes with the correct animal symbols.” For the Kennerspiel, the jury writes, among other things: “Three central factors create the thrill and appeal of Living Forest: the exciting race to twelve points, the risky gambling when revealing cards, and the high interaction with the other players.”
Zauberberg is Kinderspiel des Jahres 2022
20 June – Awards: The children’s game jury of the Spiel des Jahres association has named the marble run co-operative game Zauberberg by authors Jens-Peter Schliemann and Bernhard Weber (Amigo) as Kinderspiel des Jahres 2022. In their verdict, the jury writes: “In Zauberberg, the popular marble run is used in a new way. It becomes the setting for a magical race – co-operatively, in teams or even alone. The attractive game setup draws the children to the table, and the innovative marble mechanism keeps them there. Lively discussions about marble placement are followed by spellbound gazes at the marble run. This is a complete package that enchants all children time and time again.”
Changes in the Spiel-des-Jahres board
31 May – Personnel: There have been changes in the Spiel-des-Jahres board. Tim Koch is the new treasurer of the association and is no longer, as previously, deputy chairman. Koch succeeds Udo Barsch, who did not stand for re-election after eleven years on the board. Christoph Schlewinski in turn succeeds Koch as the new deputy chairman, while also remaining coordinator of the children’s game jury. Harald Schrapers was confirmed as chairman. The same applies to Bernhard Löhlein as spokesperson for the jury. Barsch will now engage with the Spiel des Jahres as a regular association member.
Maren Hoffmann new Spiel des Jahres jury member
31 May – Personnel: Journalist Maren Hoffmann (54) from Ahrensburg near Hamburg will join the jury for the Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel des Jahres from August. Hoffmann is an editor in the jobs and careers section at Spiegel magazine. She studied philosophy and German at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. She has been involved in board game criticism since the mid-1990s. Today, she writes game reviews and columns for SPIEGEL and the specialist magazine spielbox.
Nominations for Kinderspiel, Spiel and Kennerspiel des Jahres 2022
23 May – Awards: The “Spiel des Jahres” association has announced the nomination and recommendation lists for the Kinderspiel, Spiel and Kennerspiel des Jahres 2022. The Kinderspiel des Jahres will be awarded on 20 June, the Spiel and Kennerspiel des Jahres on 16 July. In the commentary on the year it states, among other things: “In the last two years, there have been significant changes due to the pandemic.”
Nominated for the Kinderspiel des Jahres 2022 are Auch schon clever by Wolfgang Warsch (Schmidt Spiele), Mit Quacks & Co. nach Quedlinburg also by Wolfgang Warsch (Schmidt Spiele), and Zauberberg by Jens-Peter Schliemann and Bernhard Weber (Amigo). The jury has also published a recommendation list with four additional titles.
Nominated for the Spiel des Jahres 2022 are Cascadia by Randy Flynn (Flatout Games/AEG/Kosmos), Scout by Kei Kajino (Oink Games) and Top Ten by Aurélien Picolet (Cocktail Games). The jury has also published a recommendation list with six additional titles.
Nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres 2022 are Cryptid by Hal Duncan and Ruth Veevers
(Osprey Games/Skellig Games), Dune: Imperium by Paul Dennen (Dire Wolf) and Living Forest by Aske Christiansen (Pegasus Spiele). The jury has also published a recommendation list with three additional titles.
German Toy Industry Association establishes Advisory Board for Play
25 April – Industry: The German Toy Industry Association (DVSI) has established the Advisory Board for Play. The committee is to support the DVSI in raising awareness of the societal importance of play. Over the next four years, the board intends to focus on two priorities: first, play should become an intangible cultural heritage. Second, a federal institute for play studies should be founded.
The following people are members of the advisory board: Prof. Dr. Karin Falkenberg has been director of the Nuremberg Toy Museum since 2014. Prof. Dr. Sonia Fizek is a professor of Game Studies and Game Design at TH Köln’s Cologne Game Lab and editor of the Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds. Prof. Dr. phil Martin Geisler has been teaching at EAH Jena’s Department of Social Work since October 2011. There, he heads the part-time degree programme “Play and Media Education”. Prof. Dr. Jens Junge is an entrepreneur, play researcher and has been director of the Institute for Ludology at SRH Berlin University – School of Design and Communication since 2014. Junge is also responsible for setting up and operating a central teaching and research collection for board games in Altenburg. Dr. Volker Mehringer teaches as an academic advisor in the field of childhood and youth pedagogy at the University of Augsburg. He conducts research on play and toys, toy evaluation and toy selection. Prof. Dr. Wiebke Waburg has been a professor of pedagogy with a focus on migration and heterogeneity at the University of Koblenz Landau since 2018. She is also a member of the German Society for Educational Science.
Wieland Herold dies
24 April – Personnel: Wieland Herold died on 21 April 2022. He was a headteacher, game critic and shaped the industry. Wieland was, among other things, a co-founder of the Göttingen game designers’ meetup, editor of the magazine “Spiel und Autor” and a member of the Spiel des Jahres jury from 1995 to 2019. In recent years, he had focused on his family, but still wrote almost daily about games and book reviews for his blog mit80.de.
Spiel Doch! moves from Duisburg to Dortmund
22 April – Events: The Spiel Doch! trade fair will not take place in Duisburg as planned this summer, but in Dortmund. According to the organiser, the move was forced. The original venue, the Kraftzentrale in Landschaftspark Duisburg, is expected to be used as accommodation for Ukrainian refugees until September and is therefore not available for trade fairs. Spiel Doch! will therefore take place from 1 to 3 July on the grounds of Messe Dortmund.
Cartamundi Deutschland to distribute NSV games from September
16 February – Companies: From 1 September, Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag GmbH (NSV) will transfer its distribution in Germany and Austria to Cartamundi Deutschland GmbH. This was confirmed by NSV upon request. The decision affects both new releases and older games such as Qwixx, The Mind and The Game. The decision was made for strategic reasons, as there is a desire for broader distribution. NSV will continue to develop games. This will now leave more room for that. The same applies to more intensive support for the promotional items sector and the expansion of relationships with international distribution partners. “The author games will continue to be sold under the NSV brand. The rights to the games and graphics as well as marketing and press relations will remain with NSV. However, our card games (Skat, Schafkopf, Doppelkopf etc.) will be removed from the specialist trade range,” says NSV spokesperson Lukas Schmidt.
Kennerspiel and Spiel des Jahres to be announced on Saturday evening
15 February – Awards: The Kennerspiel des Jahres and Spiel des Jahres 2022 will be awarded on Saturday evening, 16 July, in Berlin. In previous years, the award ceremony always took place on Monday mornings. The Kinderspiel des Jahres 2022 will be awarded as usual in Hamburg. This year on Monday, 20 June. According to jury spokesperson Bernhard Löhlein, moving the event to Saturday is intended to give the Spiel des Jahres award ceremony a more festive character. If possible, there should also be a pre-evening reception for invited guests on Friday as usual.
Berlin Con to take place in July under 2G conditions
15 February – Events: The Berlin Con is scheduled to take place from 15 to 17 July at Station Berlin. At present, the event is being organised under 2G conditions. According to the organisers, plans include an exhibitor hall for publishers and retailers, a free gaming area with a thousand seats and free game lending, a community playground for influencers, a board game flea market, a tournament area and a prototype gallery for authors. The RatCon Berlin will also return, bringing back a special area for pen & paper role-playing games. Additionally, a new event called “B2Brett” will make its debut. In the neighbouring Hotel Aletto, publishers will have the opportunity to present their new releases to press representatives and cultivate industry contacts.
Distribution partnership between Helvetiq and Hutter Trade
10 February – Companies: The distribution company Hutter Trade and the Swiss publisher Helvetiq have entered into a distribution partnership. Under this agreement, Hutter Trade will represent Helvetiq’s range in Germany and Austria. The game and book publisher Helvetiq has been publishing games since 2008, primarily targeting families and casual players. The distribution company Hutter Trade was founded in 2004. At the same time, the publishing brand Huch! was established, which is also distributed by Hutter Trade. In addition to Helvetiq’s games, Hutter Trade distributes games from publishers such as Iello, Gmeiner and Megableu.
Ravensburger invests in crowdfunding platform Gamefound
10 February – Companies: Ravensburger is investing four million euros in the Polish company Gamefound. The international crowdfunding platform for board games is thus the first start-up in which Ravensburger has invested as part of its new innovation and investment programme, “Next Ventures”. Gamefound was founded in 2019 as a spin-off of the successful board game publisher and crowdfunding expert Awaken Realms. Gamefound launched in 2021 with a beta phase and has since run more than 30 campaigns, raising a total of over 22 million US dollars. With Ravensburger’s investment, the platform is to be opened to all interested parties worldwide. Ravensburger will also work with Gamefound on content and strategy to successfully establish the platform in the market.
Sales of board games and puzzles up by four percent in 2021
8 February – Miscellaneous: Sales of board games and puzzles in Germany increased by four percent in 2021, reaching just under €747 million according to our calculations. The overall toy market also grew by four percent. You can find more information in this article.
Ravensburger launches innovation programme “Next Ventures”
1 February – Companies: According to its own statement, Ravensburger is launching “Next Ventures”, a programme for innovation projects and start-up investments. Up to four projects are to be invested in annually. A two-digit million amount is available for this purpose. Together with the start-ups, products and services are to be brought to market that align with Ravensburger’s business areas. In addition, “Next Ventures” will expand internal innovation management. This is intended to enable Ravensburger to create further successful in-house developments like Tiptoi or Gravitrax. To date, Ravensburger has already made individual investments in start-ups such as Wonderbly or Lingokids. “Next Ventures” is now a long-term programme. It is aimed at start-ups or founding teams in the early-stage phase from the areas of toys, children’s books, edutainment or offers for families with younger children.
Yvette Vaessen new Head of Marketing and Sales at Brandora
25 January – Personnel: From February, Yvette Vaessen will support Brandora as the new Head of Marketing and Sales. The company operates, among other things, a trade information portal for toys and a toy and licensing database. Previously, Vaessen was responsible for the marketing department at Asmodee GmbH as Commercial Director. She was also Deputy Head of Sales there. Brandora also announced a new content database. The aim is to involve more toy manufacturers and provide retailers with as comprehensive a database as possible containing all suppliers. The sister company Brandoraplus GmbH also plans to hold the Brandmate for the first time in July, a new B2B event focusing on brand cooperation and licensing.
Birthe Hestermann new Head of Marketing at Asmodee Germany
19 January – Personnel: Since January, Birthe Hestermann has been leading the 15-strong marketing team at Asmodee Germany as Head of Marketing. Hestermann has over twenty years of experience in marketing, including roles at Amazon and Handelsblatt Media Group. With her expertise in online and dialogue marketing, she stands for data-driven marketing. With this experience, the 39-year-old from Düsseldorf is a major asset for Asmodee, enabling the company to explore new paths and promote key ranges and titles in the mass market and niche markets in a targeted manner over the coming years. “In addition to increasing our recognition as board game experts, I will also focus on positioning our strong and growing range of children’s games,” says Hestermann.
Smart Cookie Games represents Rudi Hoffmann’s game portfolio
17 January – Companies: According to its own statement, the rights and licensing agency Smart Cookie Games UG has been representing the programme of the late game author Rudi Hoffmann, who passed away in 2008, since 1 January 2022. On behalf of Elisabeth Kaufmann, who holds the sole copyright to Hoffmann’s games, Smart Cookie Games will act as the point of contact for publishers. “As with the estate of Alex Randolph, we will proactively strive to have Hoffmann’s games republished,” says Michael Tschiggerl, Managing Partner of Smart Cookie Games. Three games from Hoffmann’s extensive body of work are excluded from the licensing agreement: Café International, Halali and Schatz in Sicht. Hoffmann was born in 1924 and published more than forty board games with various publishers.
Spielwarenmesse 2022 cancelled due to Corona
13 January – Events: The Spielwarenmesse 2022 in Nuremberg was cancelled just a few days before the planned date. According to the organisers, the reason was the sharp rise in the Omicron variant in recent days and the resulting increase in exhibitor cancellations. Making matters worse, the lack of planning certainty due to the possibility of official cancellations at any time. Both exhibitors and visitors have the virtual Spielwarenmesse Digital available as an alternative.
Spielwarenmesse Nürnberg takes over SPIEL Essen
10 January – Events: Spielwarenmesse eG took over the Internationale Spieltage SPIEL in Essen on 1 January 2022. The sale was primarily due to age reasons, said long-time managing director of Spiel Dominique Metzle to the Deutsche Presseagentur (dpa). She did not disclose the purchase price. You can find more background information in our article on the takeover.
Yvette Vaessen leaves Asmodee Deutschland
6 January – Personnel: Yvette Vaessen is leaving Asmodee Deutschland. Since November 2018, Vaessen had established the Commercial Department at Asmodee, closely linking sales and marketing. Now she wants to take on new challenges and pursue her own creative projects. As already reported in the industry ticker 2021, Udo Fischer has also been the new managing director of Asmodee Deutschland since 1 January. His goal is to develop the Essen-based distribution into a one-stop solution for all customers and players in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. With Fischer’s start, the time of Alexis Desplats and Alexander Dubynski at Asmodee Deutschland comes to an end. Desplats had been leading the company since 2019. Dubynski, who was also managing director of ADC Blackfire GmbH, initially joined Asmodee Deutschland as COO, until early 2021 when both jointly led the companies as co-CEOs.