I had the chance to visit the “Origins Game Fair” in Columbus, Ohio this June. On first glance, the fair seems tiny compared to Essen with about one-tenth of the attendees of the “Spiel” fair at Essen.
However, numbers are misleading. While, especially on Saturday and Sunday, quite a few families at “Spiel” are hardly gamers at all and just see the fair as their weekend “event”, the typical attendee at Origins is a core gamer. In addition, while Essen is dominated by “Euro type” boardgames, you have board wargames, lots of miniatures, roleplaying, and collectible cards in addition at Origins.
Finally, and this is the most striking difference, the two fairs have entirely different concepts. While Essen is just a place to demo and sell games (as you know, you hardly find space to play a game), selling games is only a small part of the Origins gaming experience. They do have an exhibit hall at Origins, however, the emphasis is on playing in separate halls and rooms (in a good atmosphere), on seminars, and lots of tournaments. Moreover, while the exhibit hall closes in the evening, the playing areas do not – in theory you can play 24 hours a day!
