Tickets to the world’s largest board game fair, Germany’s SPIEL Essen 2025, sold out this year, with 220,000 people attending to get first looks at more than 1,700 new board games from 948 exhibitors, hailing from 50 countries. (For perspective, Gen Con, the biggest board game convention in North America, brings in 72,000 people and has 575 exhibitors.) Many of the most anticipated titles quickly sold out, and people gathered just to watch fully booked demos of some games that won’t be available to play at home until 2027, like Don’t Starve: The Board Game.

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