Canadian Games at Essen

The giant boardgame trade show, Internationale Spieltage (aka Essen Spiele), is currently underway in Germany and Canadian games are there in force. We've been keeping an eye out for how various Canadian games are faring in BoardGameGeek's GeekBuzz metrics, which attempt to gauge the popularity of the various games present at the fair.

Most popular right now among the games we're tracking are Belfort (averaging 4.8 stars out of 5), Jab: Real-Time Boxing (4.6 stars), D-Day Dice (4.2 stars), Québec (4.1 stars), Undermining (4.1 stars), Quarriors! (3.9 stars), Ticket to Ride: Team Asia & Legendary Asia (3.6 stars), Alba Longa (3.3 stars), Pamplona: Viva San Fermin! (3.3 stars), and 1812: The Invasion of Canada (3.3 stars). That last one, by Ontario-based designers Beau Beckett and Jeph Stahl, is new to us so we're glad to now have it on our radar.

BoardGameGeek is also doing a great job of posting video interviews and rules explanations with the designers and publishers. Check out some of the Canadian Content below:


Undermining by Matt Tolman (Z-Man Games)


Alba Longa by Graeme Jahns (Quined Games / Tasty Minstrel Games)


Trafffic by Annick Lobet and Québec by Philippe Beaudoin and Pierre Poissant-Marquis (Le Scorpion Masque)


More about Québec by Philippe Beaudoin and Pierre Poissant-Marquis (Le Scorpion Masque)


Quarriors! by Eric M. Lang and Mike Elliot (WizKids)


1812: The Invasion of Canada by Beau Beckett and Jeph Stahl (Academy Games)


Also of interest at Essen are some games set in Canada but designed and published overseas. A Few Acres of Snow by highly-regarded British designer Martin Wallace is described as "a two-player, deckbuilding-driven game about the French and British conflict in North America." 2019: The Arctic by Polish designer Andrzej Kurek is an economic game of supremacy between the polar nations. Players may use their political powers to obtain subsidies from a given country’s budget and to secure their investments in mining platforms built on the sea behind the scenes. However, the main axis of the gameplay is exerting direct influence upon the policies of the countries by a wide range of political and economical actions taken on their behalf.

Congrats to all the Canadian designers and publishers having a great show at Essen.

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