SPIEL Essen, the world's biggest board game fair, has officially run out of room. Organiser Merz Verlag confirmed that the 2026 show will fill all eight halls at Messe Essen for the first time ever, bringing total floor space to 81,200 square metres. That's bigger than 15 American football pitches and over 50 percent larger than the main exhibit hall at Gen Con.
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See how it worksIt's a 30 percent jump from the 62,500 sqm that hosted the 2023 fair, marking four straight years of expansion as demand keeps climbing. The 2025 show drew a record 220,000 visitors across four days, beating the pre-pandemic high of 209,000 from 2019 and clearing the 204,000 cap from 2024 with ease.
Carol Rapp, managing director at Merz Verlag, put it plainly: "The fact that we can already plan the opening of a new hall and the full occupancy of the grounds is fantastic. It's a sign of both the international importance of our fair and the vitality of the gaming industry." Hall 1A will now serve as a waiting area, and a new north entrance opens directly into Hall 5 to ease the crush of opening-morning queues.
Got a regular group? Create a private community, poll for the best date, vote on games, and let your friends RSVP in one place.
Set up your group for freeFor UK gamers, Essen is the mother of all pilgrimages. Demos for games that won't hit UK shelves for months, import-only releases from small European publishers, and the chance to play with designers, all in one city. Flights from London to Dusseldorf run cheap, and plenty of UK clubs and Discords organise group trips every October.
Thinking of rallying your group for Essen 2026? It runs from 22 to 25 October, and pinning down a meetup early means better hotel prices. You can create a community event on Backseat Gamer to line up travel, sort plays, and find other UK gamers heading over.
Sources: Board Game Wire | SPIEL Essen
