The games Germany plays
Hazarding a guess, rolling the dice and making deductions are what Germans enjoy in a good game. Here are the most popular games and a gaming trend for 2018.
Germany. What do we find nowadays when we board the bus or train to work? Almost everyone has a smartphone in hand and is immersed in a digital game. But what about those good old board games? The boom in digital gaming has not made them redundant. On the contrary, the toy industry is registering a renaissance in board games. Germans of all ages are meeting for games evenings. Experts intepret this as a desire to slow down and interact with others.
Is Germany a nation of gamers?
In Deutschland spielt (Germany plays), a representative survey by the Yougov market research institute, 70% of respondents said they occasionally pay board or card games. There are up to five games of this kind in one third of households.
What do Germans like to play most?
Quiz and knowledge games are most popular, followed by logic and strategy games. Although many new board games appear every year, classics like Mensch ärgere dich nicht and Monopoly remain the best known board games in Germany. This was a finding of a survey called Spieleland Deutschland, which was conducted in autumn 2017. The favourites also include Rummy, chess, Uno and Yahtzee.
Are Germans temperamental players?
In the same survey 39% of Germans admitted having at least once stopped playing a game after losing their temper.
Which German games have achieved international success?
Germany’s best known board game designer, Klaus Teuber, produced a bestseller in 1995 with Die Siedler von Catan. As Settlers of Catan, or simply Catan, it has been enthusiastically accepted by games fans all over the world, and so far it has been translated into 35 languages. Global success has also been achieved by Scotland Yard, Carcassonne, Twilight Imperium and Taboo.
What are Germany’s most important trade fairs for toys and games?
The most important international trade fair for this sector is the Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg: over 2,850 exhibitors from roughly 60 different countries are represented and a specialist jury honours the best innovations with the Toy Award. The largest public exhibition for board games is the SPIEL fair in Essen. The order of the day during the international event is: Join in the game!
What is the gaming trend of 2018?
Teamwork is the trend of the year: games that enable children to learn how to solve tasks together. In other words, lone wolves or competitive players are not in demand at the moment.
Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg from 31 January to 4 February 2018
Internationale Spieletage SPIEL 18 in Essen from 25 to 28 October 2018
