• New venue for games authors and editors in Nuremberg
• Information desk and prize draw at SPIEL ‘22 in Essen

At the forthcoming Spielwarenmesse, the whole of the Friday will be devoted to the Internationale Spieleerfindermesse – Game Inventors Convention. It will be taking place in Nuremberg for the first time on 3 February 2023, when in Hall 11.1 it brings games authors together with editors from the national and international publishing houses. In the evening, the GamingHour has another premiere to offer: here the Ali Baba Games Prize will be awarded as part of the networking party. At the SPIEL event in Essen, those with an interest in games can find out all about the Game Inventors Convention, which is registering high levels of demand from home and abroad.

The event was already looking very popular last year when, with the cancellation of the Spielwarenmesse due to the pandemic, the Internationale Spieleerfindermesse – Game Inventors Convention similarly had to be delayed for a year. The enthusiasm remains undimmed. Alongside participants from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, authors from France, the Netherlands and the USA have registered via the website www.spielwarenmesse.de/en/gic. “In many countries there are productive communities of authors with very few marketing opportunities locally,” says Christian Ulrich, Spokesperson of the Executive Board at Spielwarenmesse eG. “We are therefore really pleased with the positive response so far.”

At the Spielwarenmesse, all the decision makers are there on site. Between 9 am and 6 pm, games authors will have the opportunity to present their prototypes at individual tables to experienced games editors. And in Tom Werneck – the founder of the International Game Inventors’ Fair and Chair of the Board of the Bavarian Games Archive – his colleague Christian Fürst-Brunner and the Spielwarenmesse team, they will have a group of experienced game and trade fair professionals providing support. Those working in publishing will similarly benefit from this compact event. Just a few metres away from their own trade fair stands, they can very quickly gain a broad overview of innovative games ideas in various different genres.

The day will wind up with a joint networking party for the games sector. Games inventors, publishing staff and trade journalists will come together between 6 and 9 pm at the GamingHour to reinforce existing contacts and make new ones. The ‘DuAli’ game prize will also be awarded as part of the gathering. This is presented by the Nuremberg-based Ali Baba Games Club for the best two-person game. Ever since 2014, the prize has always been awarded in parallel to the Spielwarenmesse – and now, for the first time, at the event itself.

More information on the Internationale Spieleerfindermesse – Game Inventors Convention will be available from the Spielwarenmesse eG team at SPIEL ‘22 in Essen. Between 6 and 9 October, relevant staff will have their own stand (3H101) at the event run by the company’s subsidiary. This will give games inventors the opportunity to clear up any queries they still have, find out about the Convention at first hand and also take part in a special prize draw. Games authors who leave their contact details in the box provided will be entered into a daily draw for a free games table at the International Game Inventors Convention in Nuremberg.