Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called Essen after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day game trade fair

Trade fair

A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...

 held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen exhibition centre in Essen

Essen

- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...

. Many german-style board game

German-style board game

German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...

s are released at the fair.

Unlike the other major German game fair, the Nuremberg International Toy Fair

Nuremberg International Toy Fair

Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg is the largest international trade fair for toys and games. Only trade visitors associated with the toy business, journalists and invited guests are admitted...

, Spiel is open to consumers as well as publishers and designers. The fair often has over 130,000 guests with 151,000 in 2006, although numbers were low in 2007 due to a German rail strike.

The Deutscher Spiele Preis

Deutscher Spiele Preis

The Deutscher Spiele Preis is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine "Die Pöppel-Revue", which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals and game clubs. The results are announced every October at the Spiel game fair in Essen,...

, the International Gamers Awards, and Essen Feather

Essen Feather

The Essen Feather is an award for German-style board games, given at the Deutscher Spiele Preis ceremony at the Spiel game fair in Essen, Germany...

 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

Gen Con

Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...

 Indy in Indianapolis

Indianapolis

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

, Indiana. It is reputedly the biggest and best public show for boardgames, card games and Collectible card game

Collectible card game

thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...

s, 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.