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fied him as a fan of Reiner Knizia, who is held in high esteem by Japanese players. The impact of western games on the
Japanese game culture was also shown by the fact that both winning games of this year’s Japan Board Game Prize come from Europe and already won the As d’Or and, respectively, the Kenner- spiel des Jahres in 2023: Akropolis and Challengers!, presented at the TGM by their Japanese publishers, Engames and, respectively, Hobby Japan.
But there are boundaries to inter- nationality. Jun Sasaki, owner of Oink Games, said: “Japan is both very close and very distant from other Asian coun- tries. I think the Japanese people’s tastes are strange to the rest of the world.”
I About 400 new game releases were presented Because of the numerous dojin titles,
estimating the number of new releases that were introduced at the TGM was very difficult; according to experts of the Japanese game market, it may have been between 400 and 500 new games.
Bigger board games were rare. The trend still went to small games, often (trick-taking) card games or also dice games, with interesting mechanisms and new twists. For instance, Loop, by Takashi Saito (BrainBrainGames, founded by a
dojin). The same designer and the same publisher also came up with a good ex- ample of an unusual theme and artwork: Tokkuri Taking (Dinosaurs Drinking Sake); an English edition has been an- nounced for Essen by Bright Eye Games, UK. And the cooperative Ito (Arclight; U.S. edition by Arcane Wonders) is also scheduled for the SPIEL. As are the new releases by Saashi & Saashi, which were in high demand: Bus & Stop and Get on Board: Paris & Roma.
Besides abstract games and sometimes even bizarre themes, nature was and still is a popular theme. And the omnipresent influence of anime could, for instance, be found in Northern Branch: Firm with Brownies, by Shun & Aya Taguchi (Stu- dio GG).
I An outlook on the future of the Tokyo Game Market Shortly before the TGM this spring, it
became known that Arclight was sold to Kadokawa, a multibillion-dollar Japanese entertainment conglomerate. Kensuke Suzuki from Arclight assured that this won’t have any negative impact on the future organization of the Tokyo Game Market—to the contrary: Such a partner should make the event even more attrac- tive, both nationally and internationally. For reasons of scheduling and construc-
tion, the TGM in fall 2024 (November 17-19) will take place at a different lo- cation, though: in Chiba in the northeast of Tokyo, far away from downtown and reachable by the crowded trains in the direction of Tokyo Disney Land—which means a change for the worse.
Other Game Markets, such as the one in Osaka, no longer exist. There are still a few smaller game festivals, for instance, one in September in Kyoto; but this one will only comprise a few dozen booths and be embedded in the Kyoto Interna- tional Manga Anime Fair.
However, the international coopera- tion with organizers of other trade fairs is supposed to be even intensified. For instance, Robin de Cleur, from the orga- nizational team of the SPIEL Essen, was present at the TGM in December 2023 and reaffirmed the intention for mutual exchange, in order to “bring more Japa- nese games and exhibitors to Essen and games and exhibitors from SPIEL to To- kyo Game Market,” as the news portal boardgamewire.com wrote.
Last year, Japan was already represent- ed with booths at the SPIEL as well as the Games Expo UK. This is a sign that there will be more of this special Japanese game world, as was presented in Tokyo, to be seen and experienced also in the western world in the future.
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The spielbox playing appeal ratings The ratings range from 1 to 10, whereas 1 is the worst and 10 the best rating. Ratings of 1,
2, 3 are grades of poor games, ratings of 4, 5, 6 stand for mediocre games, and games with ratings of 7, 8, 9 can be regarded as good. The
rating 10 is reserved for exeptionally good games that stand out from the crowd of very good games, and is to been seen rarely.
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