Cyryl in Essen

Da Cyryl, das Maskottchen des Posener Spieleclubs Gramajda, inzwischen schon mehrfach in Artikeln auf spiellust.net aufgetreten ist und auch über die Grenzen Polens seine Fans zu haben scheint (s. BGG), darf er an dieser Stelle auch seine eigenen Messe-Erfahrungen aus Essen präsentieren. Und da es sich bei Cyryl wie gesagt um ein weltweit bekanntes Eichhörnchen handelt, wird er dies ausnahmsweise (für diese Website) in englischer Sprache tun. Ich übergebe das Wort:

Hi amigos, I'm Cyryl the Squirrel back from my mission to Essen. As most of the other Gramajda members had to stay at home, I took it upon me to represent them on the world's biggest board game fair – and fair enough, I'd say, as I'm surely the biggest board game fan among squirrels and, furthermore, a real lightweight, so I managed to hitch a ride to Essen in Kinjiro's pocket. Unfortunately, my usual caretaker, Kasia, didn't fit in and had to survive a whole week without me. Days of wondering what might be happening to me, I'm sure...


Here she'll find the answer. After a whole day's journey, we arrived on Wednesday evening in Gelsenkirchen and I felt very much at home, because soon after our arrival, the first game was put on the hotel table… Saigo no Kane – the game is set at a Japanese high school, but everybody around the board was talking in Polish (some worse than others though…), so I didn't have to feel homesick. The game belongs to the editing house Wolf Fang, and as you will see, I came into contact with some more animal fangs later in Essen. But when first entering the fair on Thursday morning, we just met old acquaintances – Kinjiro came across Michael Rieneck five minutes after squeezing through the entrance, and together we went for a first tour through all the different halls. Already in the second one I came across some old pals with whom we had just had a lot of fun at Gramajda three days earlier… I was only surprised how they had grown in the meantime, but, of course, I'm no squirrel to be scared easily, so I hurried up the stairs for a big ghost hug.


Scarily it went on when passing by the Kosmos stall, where Michael's new game Der Hexer von Salem was on display – a cooperative game in which you all have to band together to fight off the evil forces. And a tough fight is it, but – hey, you won't scare me – as a good Polish squirrel I, of course, know that there's no way evil will ever get at you if you carry a cross … and as you can see (though the picture is slightly dark and gloomy), I was well prepared!
The next day, Kinjiro bought another game of a similar type from the "Belgiums with the Sombreros" (too bad, I didn't bring my Tequila hat!), called "Ghost Stories"… but as you know, I'm well acquainted with ghosts.


Now, don't get a wrong impression, not all of my encounters in Essen were off a creepy kind. Though at one point it was just a slip of the tongue that made me escape from a very wild dinosaur game – it said it was only a card game, but somehow I got a very different idea. After that, I tried to stay away from all dangerous looking animals – extinct or not – and I even met another squirrel which was busy though being decorative for Friedemann Friese's new game Flussfieber… it didn't even pose with me for a souvenir picture. Well, suit yourself. Instead I made friends with some sheep who were in no shear panic, so a picture was easily taken.

But enough of the animals – I also met lots of nice people as you can imagine - thinking of the crowds that populate the game halls all day long. As you have probably noticed in pomimo's relation of his visit to Essen, I got to know Sébastien Pauchon who's game Jamaica we've often played at Gramajda, so I definitely had to pose with the prize he and his co-authors received for its innovative rulebook – especially as the winners keep the trophy for one year only. After that it moves on to the next creative mind. And who knows whether next year's winner will like squirrels!?!


Another person, who received me in a very friendly way, was Dr. Thole from the German Game Archive in Marburg who had a stall in the same hall as all the Polish editing houses. On Friday, we stopped by for a cup of tea and guess what! At first he thought every member of Gramajda had a "Cyryl"! Hey, wait a minute, I'm unique! Anyway, he was very nice to me and we met a number of interesting people at the Game Archive's stall – among them even a woman from Russia who was planning to organize a games café in St. Petersburg to introduce a more fulfilling past-time than just filling glasses with vodka to the Russian people. The idea was to make board games more popular in Russia than they currently are, and she was looking for advice how to plan the proceedings for such an enterprise. Actually, I was wondering whether I shouldn't have offered to become a missionary and bring enlightenment to the Russians … Hm, I wonder how Kasia will think about this plan…

While sitting with Dr. Thole and the Russian lady, Klaus Jürgen Wrede walked by, but vanished too quickly into the crowd, so we didn't manage to get him at our table… so no celebrity snapshot here, but at least I was a squirrel in luck when I managed to get a new "leash" at Hans im Glück with which I tied myself securely to Kinjiro's neck, so I wouldn't get lost, while having a good view of everything that went on around me! Though I missed Wrede, I still had the chance to met some other game authors, like Markus und Inka Brand, who were busy at the stall of Eggertspiele promoting their newest game Im Schutze der Burg. Even though I climbed it, there wasn't any opportunity to test it – unfortunately, but it sounded quite interesting with its double-sided game board representing the castle in summer and in winter. I actually prefer winter, because it's like a game of memory to recall all the places where I have been hiding nuts during summer (memory with an extra thrill, by the way, for Kasia might have found them when cleaning the flat).



It was also very thrilling to see all the big names in person walking around the fair or giving autographs. Here for example you can see me walking up to Reiner Knizia, but somehow he seems to be rather sceptical… that's probably because I didn't bring any game for him to sign. Too bad! Had Kasia organized the Jungle Speed Tournament at Gramajda a little earlier, then we might have brought Robale (the Polish version of Pickomino/Heckmeck am Bratwurmeck) which Kinjiro and I won (yes, I won, too, because I also caught a stick – there's photographic evidence!) and could have had it signed… but now we missed that chance. I have to tell Kasia to take me on another fantasy flight to Essen next year!



Phew, all that being carried around the fair and helping at the Polish stall explaining games can really make you hungry, but honestly, there's not much time for food during the fair. Instead we did some shopping at a slightly different stall whose owners we had already met in the lift of our hotel. The company Farbton – in contrast to almost everybody else in Essen – doesn't sell any games, but very colourful crockery especially designed for game freaks like me… dishes, cups, salt shakers and whatever you can imagine decorated with game pegs, puzzle pieces and Carcassonne figures guaranteed to make you toy around with your food. I grabbed a catalogue for Kasia, so I hope she'll order a nice bowl for me to sit in … and maybe some salt and pepper buddies for company.


After three days of low food and sleep supply, Kinjiro and I packed our bags (rather a lot fuller than on the way to Essen). Luckily one of our fellow Gramajda gamers showed up on Saturday and offered to take the suitcase home in his car. Hurray, so we travelled light back to Poznan, even more so as we dropped off a Babel 13 (the Neuroshima Hex extension) in Berlin, which a friend had ordered - he sent his girl friend to the station to get at it as soon as possible. You see, there are real fans out there! Just like me – so I finish my little tale here, say good-bye to my ghost buddies and start having pictures taken of me with all the new games brought back from Essen… check my GeekList! And at last, I can now really claim that a visit to Essen is definitely a winning move. Lookout for me there next year!
Yours, Cyryl