Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called Essen after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day game trade fair held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen exhibition centre in Essen. Many german-style board games are released at the fair.
Unlike the other major German game fair, the Nuremberg International Toy Fair, Spiel is open to consumers as well as publishers and designers. The fair often has over 130,000 guests with 154,000 in 2011, although numbers were low in 2007 due to a German rail strike.
The Deutscher Spiele Preis, the International Gamers Awards, and Essen Feather are presented at the fair.
It is currently the biggest gaming convention for board gaming, role-playing games, etc., in the world, followed by Gen Con Indy in Indianapolis, Indiana and Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio. It is reputedly the biggest and best public show for boardgames, card games and collectible card games, with designers and publishers demonstrating their newest games, retailers selling games at discount, and a large flea market with a wide range of new and used games. In addition, there is usually a hall of comic book sellers, and one or two halls with RPGs and live action material, and a hall of large inflatables and activities for kids. The show sometimes has computer games, but these are unusual.