Dice & Mystics Fringe 2024 – Running at Full Steam Again

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This year, in 2024, the Dice & Mystics Fringe Event returned to full capacity after the pause we all remember too well, along with the necessary precautions that remained in place in the following year. The sheer joy of seeing all those wonderful people streaming in through our door was overwhelming! So many faces of those whom we have come to regard as good friends, so many new faces, too! 

We had every single seat in the house occupied by gamers who could happily huddle together over an exciting new purchase from Spiel and simply put another chair in to invite just one more to share in the experience.

Although the house was full to the brim, everybody agreed that, miraculously, there seemed to be more space and freedom of movement than ever.

You had the chance to meet publishers and creators, talk, play games with their makers, and also:

Our industry donors outdid themselves again, and we had our hands full giving away all the precious goods to lucky winners.

The game Ito by Arclight Games went first to somebody who had just discovered how entertaining the gameplay was.

Extremely popular were the goodies from Rathskellers again, and the unanimous clamoring for “BAGS!!!” (if you were there in 2023, you will know why) did not go unheard …

One of the most fascinating small games, Propuh by InterHuman, where you send Grandmother around the house to check for ghoulies, ghosties, and things that go bump in the night, exchanged hands from the designer to its new owner.

Speculaas, not just for the winter season but for all year, was donated by Ummaramma and will guarantee the winners a taste of real fun.

You might like to relax over a cuppa and a bickie to prepare, though, because Terrorscape by ICE Makes might require a resolute and courageous player—just like this one—to keep his nerve throughout. 

Who knows whether entering the ring with the fair folk is less hazardous, though. But Fairy Ring by Repos Production looks fair enough, and the winner of the game and also of a set of four signature curved card holders by Rathskeller’s certainly looks in very good spirits!

Inori, published by Space Cowboys, and a luxury Rathskellers dice set would put smiles on many faces, like on that of this lucky lady who could carry them both away in one of Rathskellers’ new game bags.

Riotminds has a new roleplaying game named World of Kensei. Here, the winner is receiving a copy of the book by one of its authors, Alexander Urbanek.

For The March Against the Tyrant by Scribabs, a bag was definitely in order for this lucky individual. It wouldn’t do to march ahead without an item so essential!

The roleplaying game Brancalonia by Acheron Books from Italy will take this adventurer on a wild ride through one of the most colorful and dazzling worlds ever created! The Rathskellers’ component pouch, together with other lovely goodies, might help him to keep his things together when the story gets turbulent.

Published by Open Borders Studio and given to our raffle by Ivan Lashin, the game Neodreams, complete with promo, got bagged by a true game enthusiast, as you can judge for yourselves.

A truly beautiful prize: The RPG, After The Moonfall, set in the wonderful world of Tsukuyumi Full Moon Down by game designer and author Felix Mertikat, published by King Racoon Games, and in addition, two small component bags by Rathskellers.

2070: Your Choices. Your Adventure. Your Story. This cooperative graphic novel adventure game by Van Ryder Games has found its hero. And the hero has found his Rathskellers’ plushie and component pouch to take along on this exciting journey into the yet unknown.

There were also games that came in their own bags, complete with many attractive extras, such as Witchcraft, designed and donated by Maxine Metzger.



Luck alone will maybe not solve cases in real life, but being blessed by Lady Luck is definitely a bonus for this future investigator and his new partner: Detective: City of Angels, plus two promos, kindly given by Van Ryder Games.


Sadly, the photo of the lucky draw did not turn out, so we can only offer our deepest apologies and show you the kindly donated prize on its own. Well, not quite—Roaring 20s by Deep Print Games came with a lovely bag as well!

A set of the much-coveted 2024 Rathskellers’ component bowls and one of the great game bags accompanying the ingenious card game The Band is Even Better—donated, designed, and with art by Paolo Vallerga, published by Scribabs—made this splendid game even better than it already was, with these special cherries on top.

Another epic treasure fell to this lucky individual: Tiny Epic Kingdoms by Gamelyn Games. Maybe one does not really need a bag for this huge game in a small box (“It’s bigger on the inside”), so one of the excellent limited 2024 sets of component bowls by Rathskellers was, no doubt, a most welcome and highly appreciated addition.


And yet another chance for some truly epic gameplay was opened up to the winner of the core rulebook of Lex Arcana, another roleplaying experience graciously donated by Acheron Books. A set of high-quality Rathskellers’ dice goes very well with this beautiful RPG.

A little luxury every now and then adds to one’s overall contentment, so this splendid edition of The Revenant Society, given by Van Ryder Games, is sure to greatly enrich its winner’s life with hours of entertainment and fascination.

This strong-nerved Duelist has already succeeded: He won The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth by Repos Production, and also a Rathskellers’ component bag and even more nice goodies, and, last but not least, a voucher to goshopping at InMyBox at their stall or online.

A beautiful new dice tray by Rathskellers and also Tiny Epic Dungeons Deluxe Edition and Tiny Epic Stories may be easy to carry in your bare hands. Yet, they are anything but tiny prizes if you consider the mountain of gaming fun you get out of them all.

There’s nothing like a little taste of some delicious dim sum. The winner of this lovely game by Hot Banana Games can now make his own, with Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum, anytime. Enjoy!

Carnival Zombie, with promos, donated by Albe Pavo, is already a well-loved classic, and in the face of a brutal onslaught of the undead, it is always good to have yet another gamer on our side. This gentleman proudly presents his brand-new Rathskellers luxury dice set, accompanied by a selection of other goodies, and a voucher to purchase quality accessories at the InMyBox shop.

Not all that glitters is gold, and there is even “black gold” with a very special shine. This lady has discovered an oil field that the whole family can profit from in Schwarzes Gold, a family game published by Mücke Spiele.

Rathskellers’ cardholders are nice to hold, it seems, and will be even nicer to use during gameplay. With Rathskellers’ wristbands, all the family get a nice present, too.

This beauty of a branded wooden chest by InMyBox will be a worthy home for this winner’s Lost Ruins of Arnak.

Talking about well-loved games: Another Oathsworn has joined the ranks! This copy of the highly immersive and fascinating game by Shadowborne Games will never fail to captivate and delight at many an eventful game night.


This breathtaking copy of Andromeda’s Edge by Cardboard Alchemy came with a very special bonus. Look closely! Indeed, it was especially signed by one of the designers, Luke Laurie, for the very occasion. 

This special prize required a little imagination from the winner’s side: Dark Blood by Big Game Theory and Meeple Pug was not yet physically present at the Fringe Event. He was given an all-in pledge of the then-current and funded Kickstarter project.

Here is a sneak peek of the amazing production value of this upcoming game: 

A successful treasure hunter found his prize: Gems of Iridescia was entrusted to its winner by its designer Roberto Panetta himself.

Space Bureau, with promo, by Hobby World already came with a bag of its own. By the way it looks, this SciFi space exploration game for the family will jump right out of it, though, into a space-ious shelf. 

And, yay, this last nice Rathskellers’ bag of the day for the winner of Raiders of the Cariddean and Expansions of the Cariddean by Top Notch made the last of 2024’s winners rejoice.


The raffle was over. Everybody was happy, either because they themselves had won, or else for those who jumped with joy at the delightful things they were taking home from the event, and happy having been at the event. Prizes were admired, game rounds were completed, and slowly, the 2024 Dice & Mystics Fringe event came to a close.

We were – and still are – happy of having had you with us, sharing the fun and excitement of our shared hobby. 

We would like to give our humble thanks to so many, like the Priest of the Parish of St. Franziskus who again allowed us to use the community center of St. Engelbert, to all members of the community that planned their own ventures around the Fringe, and to all the good people from the industry who give their hearts’ blood to create all those amazing games and who graciously donated a treasure trove of beautiful prizes to the raffle for you to win and take home.

And, of course, our untiring helpers, without whom setting this up, running everything smoothly, making coffee, refilling the water, cleaning cups and glasses, handling the food orders, and transporting all those wonderful donations for the raffle to our place for you would have been plain impossible.

We also want to say thank you for your lovely and extremely yummy gifts, too!

Finally, we thank all of you lovely people who came, played, and were such good company. Without you, this great, colorful, joyous, and exciting event would have been but an empty building.

So, take care, stay safe, and game on until we meet again at the upcoming Dice & Mystics Fringe event on October 25th, 2025!

Good play – better day!

Your Dice & Mystics

The Dice & Mystics Fringe 2024

You’re visiting Spiel Essen and want to play games

October 5th (4 p.m. until midnight) 

After an exciting time at SPIEL you would like to round up your day with a nice and comfortable game night in the company of other board game friends? We can help you there.

We are hosting our 7th Dice & Mystics Fringe event on Saturday, October 5th, at our location in Bochum, 15 minutes by car from the SPIEL.

All fellow gamers from all over the world are very welcome at our gaming tables, and, of course, our event is again free of costs and totally non-commercial. 

Our aim is to make it an event to enjoy, to meet nice people, share your experiences of the fair and have fun trying out all those new games together (and discharge shrink wrap and punched cardboard sheets to lighten your luggage).

There is space and time to play and relax on Saturday from 4.00 p.m. to midnight. However, the places are limited, so we do kindly ask you to make a reservation in advance. To make your booking faster and easier and save you from having to queue at the entrance, we use an online booking service (see below), also free of costs.

There are hotels and restaurants in the vicinity that are no further away by car than some in Essen.

There will again be the opportunity to order food and drinks on the premises; a delivery service will bring everything to the tables. And of course teas, coffees and biscuits are free, as always! 

Would you like to come, too?                                                    
Make your reservation on: https://doo.net/veranstaltung/161477/buchung

You are going to receive an automatic confirmation as soon as you are booked, together with a detailed description on how to reach us (just 3 turns from the autobahn; also by public transport) and some important information.

No entry without e-ticket (on mobile device or print version).      For any important questions you may contact us on: contact@diceandmystics.de

Registration ends on: Saturday, 28.09.2024

The Dice & Mystics Fringe 2023 – The Year of the Bag

What an event! The 6th Dice & Mystics Fringe was able to run at full capacity again. And you were there. Regulars since the first Fringe in 2016 as well as new faces started to arrive, all smiles and anticipation. Everything was ready and waiting.

Thursday and Friday we had been busy picking up donations for the raffle; 3 games had already been set aside for us on Wednesday but had miraculously grown into a little tower of 10 games altogether when we got there. 

Prizes rolling in

This is about half of the treasure trove only. The other half was going to emerge on the arrival of our guests from the board game industry. The publishers and businesses seemed set on really outdoing themselves this year, and everybody at the Fringe can testify that they achieved their goal.

This charming new attendee just beat some of our seasoned Fringe goers to 1st place in a line that was forming shortly after.

Game bags were unpacked, and soon the subtle sigh of tearing shrink wrap and the musical trickle of punched tokens onto tabletops could be heard. The first game rounds had settled in, fresh coffee and biscuits at the elbow, ready to get going. And thanks to you all it was going to be legendary!

There were so many hot new games on the tables, and some beloved classics, too. 

Once the people from the industry had come, there was even an exciting prototype to admire and try out. Everybody was relaxed and in high spirits, played, enjoyed their drinks, nibbles and food that was delivered to the table, and–just like last year–King Racoon Games had converted  their  trolley they normally transport game boxes on into a cart for a number of crates with a large range of refreshments as a gift to you all.

At 10 p.m. sharp, at the well-known boom of “SILENCE!“ people from the upstairs rooms came rushing to the ground floor. The raffle was imminent, the tension was rising. The hushed silence broke into aahs and oohs when the prizes were rolled in.

The trail into the land of games and fun started off with–bags! (You will hear more of that later.) 

Starting in a fairly safe environment at home with Garden Guests (2023), brought to you by Van Ryder Games, the journey quickly moved on to a more dangerous quest, namely Robot Quest Arena (2023) by Wise Wizard Games

Further on the trail we encountered a plushy little yellow Bread Dragon called Loaf and its fellows, the red Meat Dragon Hot Dog, who immediately befriended his new owner, and purple Thistle, the Potion Dragon. They all were sent out to delight you by Cardboard Alchemy, straight out of their popular family game Flamecraft (2022), also donated to you as yet another magnificent prize, including all the goodness of an original KS pledge, highly sought nowadays!

To get to their new friends, the cute little plushies had to master a veritable “ninja mission by crossing a labyrinth of balancing floorboards”: the new title Floating Floors (2023), kindly donated by Stella Jahja from Meeple University.

The journey went deeper into the realms of mystery and wonder. We had the fantasy author Betty Finke with us, who also wanted to contribute to the raffle and personally gave the two novels, the prequel The Lanyon Stone and  Delharne’s Daughter, the first volume in the series, to the winner.

Once you have entered the land of faerie, anything is possible: The Dixit Disney Edition (2023), a splendid prize donated by Libellud,  went to the probably greatest Disney fan in the room (and to the future second greatest fan, we presume).

We travelled on, intrigued by the building site of  5 Towers (2023), constructed and brought to us by Deep Print Games.

On we went, away to the far East, directly into historic Nippon. By donating Senjutsu: The Battle for Japan to the raffle, Stone Sword Games and Lucky Duck Games made this fascinating time travel possible.

A perfectly crafted card holder by Rathskellers, seasoned with some extra goodies from their range, further motivated our travellers on the way.

This lady here was happy because she thought she had won one of Spiel’s hot new games plus a luxury two-sided neoprene game mat…

…when in truth she had also won everything else. Due to the generosity of none other than King Racoon Games, she got both hands full with splendour from the Kickstarter edition:             EOS: Island of Angels, the gorgeous game mat, EOS: Island of Angels – Deluxe Upgrade,               EOS: Island of Angels  Nation Expansion, EOS: Island of Angels – Mission Cards Expansion.

One lucky winner not only got the highly appreciated Witchcraft by King Racoon Games, but also the comic book of Tsukuyumi-Full Moon Down 1 by the multi-talented artist Felix Mertikat.

Travellers do not only find treasures to take home, they sometimes simply go shopping in beautiful countries, in this case in Croatia at InMyBox, the makers of outstanding wooden game boxes, a large choice of clever quality game accessories and even game-related wooden jewellery.                 
InMyBoy had given us two vouchers to raffle off, one of 25 Euros and another of 40 Euros. We are sure these two gentlemen will be able to find something really great to enhance their gaming experience with the games they had also just won: 

Cosmoctopus (2023) by Lucky Duck Games

…and Age of Wonders: Planetfall (2022) by Arcane Wonders, where your travels whisk you away into space to explore alien planets.

If, however, you prefer to remain stationary on your home planet Earth, you will not regret your decision if, like this lucky earthling did, win one of InMyBox’s cleverly designed storage solutions for the game Concordia. 

When it got close to midnight, the winner could not restrain himself any further: The box was unwrapped and the ingenuity of its inside duly admired. 

A howl from the deep forest on the wayside reminded the journeying gamers of dangers often found in the wilds of strange lands: In Armata Strigoi, the vampires of south-eastern legend, are obviously very real, but, as you can learn from this image, if you show no fear, all will be well. We thank the designer and legend Paolo Vallerga from Scribabsfor graciously donating this beautiful, original and exciting game to the raffle.

When you happen to have your own spell book, or if you are so lucky to win SpellBook by Space Cowboys, it is not surprising that your luck is extended to winning a super elegant Rathskellers dice set, too, as held up here,

and it even rubs off onto the winner of Benevolent, a generous donation by Matagot, who is coyly hiding his new Rathskellers foldable dice tray that he just won as well.

And even the next winner who is cheerfully presenting his copy of Waterfall Park, a prize donated by the good people of Repos Production, has an assortment of Rathskellers goodies to be happy about.

This year, Rathskellers had us all in the bag! The creators of amazing high-end gaming tables have a new line of useful and exceptionally well-crafted gaming accessories and had given a lot of thought to the choice of items they could bring along to the raffle.

There were wonderful things to be won from their stock of elegant foldable dice trays, dice vaults, precious dice sets, card holders, with a garnish of lovely goodies from neat little pouches, wrist-bands and key-fobs on top and, oh yes, there you have it – a number of absolutely spectacular tote bags made from a fabric especially designed to protect and carry heavy objects, all with a radiantly colourful high quality limited art print that was more like a deep-dye and imbued those bags with almost a light of their own.

Winners could proudly carry their prizes and games off in style, beaming as radiantly as the print on the bag, so it was not surprising the bags were immediately very, very popular indeed. Therefore, some guests who did not win a bag considered buying one at the Rathskellers booth the next day.

Gotta2 Gottani had come all the way from Japan, but, sadly, could not make it to the Fringe event; nonetheless they sent greetings, together with a copy of their classically themed and lovely little social deduction game Who am i? Alice in a Mad Tea Party. 

Yes, these are the actual game components!


You do, of course, all know Chip Theory Games. Again, they regretted they would not be able to make it to our Fringe event, especially because they had problems getting their English language games delivered to the fair on time. Despite being woefully short of stock, they again proved how very much they appreciate you, the gamers: Chip Theory Games sent their very best regards and packed us a big bag with two very, very heavy boxes of their newest games (English copies, too!):

This is Hoplomachus: Victorum (2023), a “strategic gladiator combat and adventure featuring solo gameplay” by Chip Theory Games. (The picture had to be taken quickly, before the Victorum Premium Hero Tracker Mat was put on top of the box as well)…

…and this is Hoplomachus: Remastered (2023) itself in all its glory, a tactical game for 1 to 4 gladiators! Do all ways really lead to Rome?

Match of the Century by Capstone is a match between two chess masters and could, as such, take place anywhere.

The complete big box of Final Girl Series 2 plus a set of miniatures was a final triumph: “I so wanted this!” Lady Luck had been in a happy and benevolent mood that night: Julie Ahern from Van Ryder Games again generously gave away a highly sought after gem to a true fan.


And last but by no means least, the travelling heroes from the game Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood by Shadowbourne Games joined the track of phantastic games on their quest towards their ultimate goal: entertaining and making you all happy!

When the raffle was ending and we believed we had reached the aim of our quest 2023, Rathskellers surprised and delighted us all with a very generous expansion:                                                                             “Everybody who comes to the Rathskellers booth on Sunday and shows their ticket of the Dice & Mystics Fringe Event 2023 will receive a bag as a gift.” So, for the very first time ever, each and every Fringe attendee had a winning ticket!

As early as Sunday morning reports started rolling in about how thoroughly Rathskellers had kept their word: Really everybody with a Fringe ticket got one of the coveted bags, even those who had not been able to come in person and had, in high hopes, entrusted their ticket to somebody else for the purpose. And thus people started talking about “The Year of the Bag”.

Eventually, the 6th  Dice & Mystics Fringe Event in the Year of the Bag ended. 

We are grateful for all those amazing and generous gifts from you, the publishers and businesses who outdid themselves to donate so very many awe-inspiring prizes, and say Thank You for bringing our guests so much joy. We especially thank Rathskellers for making everybody a winner. We thank King Racoon Games who, again, gifted our event with such a lovely variety of refreshments free for everyone.

We give a Big Round of Applause to our engaged, tireless helpers and fellow Dice & Mystics without whom the event would not even be possible, and who, footsore, tired and exhausted from keeping it all up and running, said what a truly happy day it had been for them. 

A very Big Thank You to the Community of St. Engelbert of the Parish of St. Franziskus, who for the 6th time allowed us to use their entire building, and also to those kind ladies of the “Ecumenical Lunch”, who once again postponed their gathering to the following week without any further ado. 

And to all our precious guests: Thank you for coming! Without you, we would have sat at empty tables.

It has become a tradition that we got presents from you, too, and that at this point we think fondly of you and everybody who attended, and say: Thank you so much!

…which also came with some bags.

We were told by our regulars, “Old Hares” as we fondly use to call them in German, that coming to the “Fringe” was almost like coming home, like an annual family reunion. That is the point, really, isn’t it? All kinds of people from all continents, from–often very–young to old, all hair and eye colours and complexions, different beliefs and ideas, in all their differences and diversities, are united in this: They can gather, communicate and cooperate happily and peacefully like friends or family, even if they happen to have a war game on the table, teach each other rules by which they all abide, have fun and laugh and joke together and have a good time. Some other guest once said: “Here you can see for yourselves that peace and goodness are not out of reach, when we really want it.”

Hoping to see you all again in 2024. Stay safe, game on, and be kind towards each other!

Good Play, Better Day!

Your Dice & Mystics

The Dice & Mystics Fringe 2023

Attending Spiel Essen and want to play?

Come to the Dice & Mystics Fringe 2023!

You would like to  conclude your day at the SPIEL with a nice and comfortable game night in good company? 

We are hosting our 6.th Dice & Mystics Fringe event on Saturday, October 6th, at our location in Bochum, 15 minutes by car from the SPIEL.

Like always, all you great people and fellow gamers from all over the globe are very welcome, and, as usual – our event is free of costs and totally non-commercial.

We simply want our fellow board gamers to enjoy, meet people, exchange their experiences of the fair and have fun together over their brand new games (and discharge shrink wrap and punched cardboard sheets to lighten their luggage).

There is space and time to play on Saturday from 4.00 p.m. to midnight. However, the places are limited, so we do kindly ask you to make a reservation in advance. To make your booking faster and easier and save you from having to queue at the entrance, we use an online booking service (see below), also free of costs.

There are hotels and restaurants in the vicinity that are no further away by car than some in Essen.

There will again be the opportunity to order food and drinks on the premises; a delivery service will bring everything to the tables. And of course teas, coffees and biscuits are free, as always! 


You would like to come?

Make your reservation on:

https://doo.net/veranstaltung/133130/buchung

You are going to receive an automatic confirmation as soon as you are booked, together with a detailed description on how to reach us (just 3 turns from the autobahn; also by public transport) and some important information.

No entry without e-ticket (on mobile device or print version).     

For any important questions you may contact us on contact@diceandmystics.de.

Registration ends on: Saturday, 23.09.2023

Dice & Mystics Double Feature June 2023

We give you time and space for all those epic board games that need more than a  single game night can provide you with. You can bring those loved but long-unplayed gems from your collection to our event to play on large tables and leave them set up overnight. In addition, we have prepared two tables hosting:

Frostpunk

Blood Rage

The event starts Saturday the 10th of March at 04.00 PM.
At 07.00 PM we are collecting food orders for the delivery service.
At midnight we close the rooms. Your games can stay over the night, but sadly, we must send you all back to your own living places, dens, and lairs.
On the 11th of March, the second day of gaming starts at 09.00 AM.
At 11.00 AM, we are collecting food orders for the delivery service.
At 02.00 PM, we are closing the event softly.
During the whole event, we will provide you with coffee, tea varieties, and cookies for free.
You can order soft drinks from the delivery service with your food order.

You can book your attendance here.

We are looking forward to playing with you.
Good Play, Better Day!

Dice & Mystics–Up and Running: Dice & Mystics Fringe 2022

Attention! Urgent update at bottom!!!

Long time no see …

In Spring 2020 the first lockdown–or rather the pandemic itself–stopped us in full swing. No more game nights, no planning for the future. Staying safe and keeping others safe was paramount.

The core of the Dice & Mystics never stopped gaming: We went online. Now, more than two years later, we are back at St. Engelbert’s and are having our regular game nights again. Everything is not as before, but slowly getting there. We sorely miss a dearly departed friend we had shared good company and many an exciting game with. We gained some friends who had deepened their love of board games during the lockdowns.

We are again ordering our dinners to prepare for the coming adventures because most of us come straight from work, and with restrictions concerning the kitchen gone, we will soon be having biscuits, sweets, teas, and coffees once more.

And we have started planning for another Dice & Mystics Fringe event during the next Spiel in October 2022!

Providing nothing untoward is suddenly going to happen, we will attend the Spiel Essen this year and will also be able to host

the 5th Dice & Mystics Fringe on Saturday, October 8th, from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight.

We already reserved the location. There will be tables and chairs for you to bring and try out all those great games you will have bought at the fair, leave your shrink-wraps and punched cardboard behind, discuss your Spiel experiences and enjoy each other’s company. (For bokings see UPDATE at the bottom of this post.)

As usual, there will be no entrance fee or any other costs for you. We are soon going to update all information on how to reach us, and how to book places, on this website www.diceandmystics.de.

At the premises, you will be able to order food and drinks from our usual caterer and have them delivered directly to your tables. Please have some cash and small change ready, as you will not be able to pay via credit card.

As the dangers of the pandemic are not entirely over, we need to put some adjustments in place. We have to have more space between the gaming tables and less of a crowd around the free coffee, tea, and biscuits we would like to have ready for you. Consequently, we can, sadly, not allow as many people in as at our past events. We hope this is going to change again in the future.

Disclaimer:

We reserve the right to restrict, limit, or deny access to our event in order to protect your safety or the safety of other attendees.
Especially we are bound by German laws, regulations, and ordinances related to COVID-19, which could change the format, the number of attendees, or the timing of our event. Additional restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic could also change other aspects, e.g. vaccination requirements, face coverings, and other precautions, of our event or even result in its cancelation at any time and possibly on short or no notice.

Should we have to cancel the event due to restrictions in place by the German authorities, we will attempt to inform you via our website www.diceandmystics.de as soon as reasonably possible.



We welcome your free decision to wear a facial mask and disinfect your hands to protect yourself and others from any danger and keep your distance where sensible. Please do respect the decision of any group that prefers to wear facial masks at their table.

There are no words to tell you how much we missed meeting you all, and we are excitedly looking forward to the Spiel and once again celebrating our great hobby together this October.

Take care, keep your fingers crossed, stay safe, and have fun gaming. We’ll be seeing you soon.

Your Dice & Mystics

UPDATE 1: The booking site is up staring today, 18.07.2022. Book here: https://doo.net/veranstaltung/107734/buchung

UPDATE 2: We are happy about the great response to our event: The Dice & Mystics Fringe is booked full.

An especially big THANK YOU to all our recurring guests and gamers for your support and enthusiasm for our great hobby. And a big WELCOME to all new faces. We are looking forward to seeing you!

If you were not able to book a ticket, you can have your name put on a waiting list. For this, please use the contact function of this website.

UPDATE 3: As promised, we would like to notify you of the following: Acccording to the current situation and the news, it now appears likely that we will have to have a mask mandate for our Fringe, just like Spiel Essen have already announced for the fair.

Therefore, please bring a medical grade protective face mask covering mouth and nose (“surgical mask”). Children aged 6 years and above will also have to wear the same type of face mask. Since safety is our top priority, we unfortunately will not be able to accept any medical certificates for exemption from the mask requirement.

On 23.9.2022 a new Corona Protection Ordinance NRW will come into force, which might require an extended hygiene concept. For this reason, please check this website again shortly before the Fringe event for any changes

UPDATE 4:

ATTENTION! URGENT UPDATE!

We have a total roadblock on “Kassenberger Straße”  just a very short distance before our event location.

It is approximaletly a  5 to 10 minute walk on foot from the entry into Kassenberger Straße to the Dice & Mystics Fringe. If you come by public transport, you might get off at the bus stop next to it, called “Scharpenseelstraße”, and walk a little downhill in the direction the bus is continuing and enter Kassenberger Straße on foot.

There is an alternative if you stay on the bus until it reaches “Bahnhof Dahlhausen” (Dahlhausen train station).  However, we have no information if you can still continue via bus from there; we are researching the situation this very moment. (Waling from there is definitely the longer – and a rather steep – stretch.) There will be another update tomorrow.

This also applies to everybody arriving by train from Essen. Again, we are researching if you can continue via bus. We will update you tomorrow.

If you come by car (from Bochum city or via the A 40), drive past Kassenberger Straße and take the next small road that comes up on the right (at the nice blue house) called “Kapellenweg”. Ignore the sign that says “Anlieger frei (For Anlieger only)”. As you are guests at our location, you are “Anlieger” who need to go through to reach your destination. At the end of that short road, turn right or left, just as you please, whatever seems convenient. The road you get on is called “Gaußstraße” and runs in a full circle right past the event location. If you have been at our Fringe event before, you might have parked your car there last time. You can also drive past the church and on to “Kassenberger Straße” for more parking opportunities.

UPDATE ON COVID REGULATIONS

Please take note that you need to wear an FFP2 mask or a medical mask inside the building at all times, as it is the case at SPIEL ESSEN, too. 


UPDATE 5:

NEW UPDATE (September 29th) / NEUES UPDATE (29. September)


There is news for people arriving by train via Bahnhof Dahlhausen:
The bus line 345 will still get you close to the event location by an alternative route. Take the bus 345 from Bahnhof Dahlhausen. (The line ends/starts there, so there is only one direction.) The bus stop is at the side of Lidl supermarket, right next to the little roundabout. It is just 2 stops up the other side of the hill. Get off at “Scharpenseelstrasse”. You will already have seen the entry into “Kassenberger Straße”. So get off and double back to “Kassenberger Straße”. From there it is just a short and easy walk, about 5-10 minutes, along Kassenberger Straße which will lead you directly to the church and to our event location. (Do not consider walking up the hill from the station directly, as this would take much, much longer and be uncomfortably steep.)

For people arriving by bus, coming from Bochum city: Get off at “Scharpenseelstrasse” and continue downhill to the entry into “Kassenberger Straße”. Follow “Kassenberger Straße” to reach your destination.

No Dice & Mystics Fringe in 2021

We are forced to very sadly say: There will be no Dice & Mystics Fringe in 2021

There aren’t words to appropriately describe what it feels like to be forced to announce that, just like last year, the ongoing pandemic makes it utterly impossible for us to host the Dice & Mystics Fringe during the SPIEL ESSEN board game fair in 2021.

The SPIEL ESSEN is scheduled to take place, but what exactly the conditions are going to be at that time is really hard to tell within this dynamic situation. We hope all of you who come will have a good journey and a wonderful time at Essen, and you will all be safe, well, happy and successful in all your endeavours.  

For us, your Dice and Mystics, and our Fringe event, it is, however, clear that the pandemic situation and the necessary preventive measures will make it virtually impossible for us to welcome you to come together as one large happy crowd, mingle, sit down, play together and be comfortable and well cared for.

We were even unable to do any planning and organizing to prepare – which would have had to start as early as March when it was still unclear whether there would be any fair at all this year – and up to this point in time, and under the present health measures, we have no guaranteed access to our location which we use(d) to host our game nights and especially the Dice & Mystics Fringe, which is so dear to our hearts.

There will be a year 2022, there will be another SPIEL ESSEN, and there will be a Dice & Mystics Fringe again, when we will all be looking back at the past 2 years with a sigh of regret but also of relief.  The Dice & Mystics are readying themselves to see you all again and welcome you at our gaming tables.

Fourth Dice & Mystics Sentinal Shout Out

Dear fellow gamers hear me out!

You all are sitting next to me at the fire with sane minds, unscarred bodies nor ripped-off limbs.

It is clear to my old eyes that you do not know the wrath of dragon fire.

But out there in the land of Kickstarter are brave warriors, fighting and battling mighty dragons, demons and even the god of storm.

Their leader is named Leonidas by friends and cursed by foes. His most loyal retainer Az beats the war Drummond and keeps the troops in line. I have seen the battlefields on which they fought beasts of legends, and I collected many unattended corpses.

Are you thirsty for glory – thirthty to make yourself known to the people of the land of Kickstarter?

Do you want to bring boxes full of loot with you when you return to your home again or be known as one who fought and died on the bonefields of Legend?

Then follow this path to the KS and do not hesitate!

Pledge your soul to your god.

Offer your live to godfather death.

I will take care of your unattended corpse.

Come and follow me and let me tell you that the warriors of Mythic Games will gather at the Dice & Mystics Fringe Event with us. And they bring loot for our raffle: One copy of Time of Legends: Joan of Arc and one canvas print showing glorious art from the game!

Give them the proper support on KS and have big fun playing their games!

Unexpected encounters of the board game kind… (Part 2)

Apparently, this time and day board games are the hotness. They seem to be so big „a thing“, they can now easily be used to promote huge international brands and keep them rolling nicely. Sometimes quite literally.

I needed a new set of summer tyres for my car. While I made myself comfortable on a Ferrari red sofa with a nice cup of coffee for the wait, I casually glanced across to the “kid’s corner“. I had expected to see toy cars and wooden building bricks, picture books and the like. They were all there, of course, and even that inescapable dexterity “game“ where the child entertainee has to navigate some (theft-and-nonsense-proof) ring or other device along twisting wires and all kinds of challenges towards some goal within the construction. I find these contraptions ever so enticing and am very temped to give it a go, but when all is said I always end up not to because squatting down on one of those miniature chairs with my ears next to my knees would be too embarrassing…

But the dexterity game was clearly outshone this time buy a total of three boxes with different games all produced for promotional purposes. There was a “family game for up to 7 players“ titled “I love my Doblo“ designed after “Snakes and Ladders” meets “Game of Life“, having event spaces like “Mom is sick. Move back 5 spaces.“, “First soccer training. TraTransporting half the team. Advance 7 spaces.“ und “Puberty. 3 spackes backwards. Have an argument.“ (NOT joking here.)

The winner is whoever gets on the new Fiat Doblo in the centre of the board first. If you can also ”beat“ the other player’s pieces and send them back to “start“ like in other games was not explicit in the rules. I have an idea that if you would like that, a little “house ruling“ would be in order. Sadly, playing pieces and dice were missing.  (Which proves the point regarding the self-defending precautions with any mobile components of the dexterity game.)

It is not just theme as such which is promoting the brand here, there are also promotional statements inserted in the details. You are informed there is a navigation system on board, or you stop on an event like “Summer vacation. Taking the surf board along. Plenty of room. Advance 1 space“, pointing out the advantages of the particular vehicle that is meant to be made desirable to you . To be fair, there are actually just 5 (or maybe 6 if you want to be a little more nit-picky) in a total of 19 event spaces that have any reference to a car and its uses, and not every one of them is positive Positives; there is one that tells you the car boot is too large and loading up therefore takes forever, so you have to skip a  turn. (That is, of course, a fairly see-through tactics, but I would still say it is “pretty clever“ – if that was not also some form of promoting a saleable item.) The other events cover a wide range of landmarks in a young person’s life like taking your very first steps, chickenpox, good marks at school, the very first kiss and love sickness. You are, however, left with the impression that as soon as you reach adulthood – and according to the editors of the game –  purchasing a nice large famlily cars should be high on your list of priorities. This adds a whole new dimension to the “family friendly“ attribute of a board game.

The card based game “Qubino“, a game  “For young unconventional and lateral thinkers“. Basically following the rules of  “Domino“ while playing, the future customers are training themselves to acknowledge all those reasons for buying the product that are being suggested to them from the sales catalogue, at the same time bonding to the company’s logo.

Some form of unconventional thinking may be happening to transfer the rules of “Domino“ onto “Qubino“, but there is no way the game  teaches any independent lateral thinking to the young gamers. On the contrary, this happens the less the more the game actually achieves to be fun.

The two copies of a memory game were also next to complete. I simply had to get down to sorting the cards into their boxes! One of the games appeared complete by all standards, the other one was lacking two cards, but this would not have impaired the playability in a significant way if all you wanted was to pass some time while u wait. All it would take was to remove those cards that were lacking a double from the game. I am not going to lie to you: That design was ever so cool! So cool, I was seriously tempted to buy a copy if at all possible.  (I even asked but was told the game was not available for purchse. Why was that, I wondered. Such a pity.)

The slightly abstracted images in black white and red colours all shared the same theme; in a wider sense they all depicted automobiles, racing and lots of things related (will not start contemplating the broken hearts and  lipstick prints, though).  There were only two motifs showing the photographic images of the company logo and actual car models. It definitely had something there…

Good play – better day!

Unexpected encounter of the board game kind… (Part 1)

I am pretty much sure that most of you people who read this have their own game collection with boxes neatly tucked away in you black or white Kallax, and you buy your games online, from the retailer you trust, a large department store, at your friendly local game shop or at conventions and fairs like Spiel Essen. You play at your own gaming table – or any large table in your house that doubles as such – and at your game club and other such obvious places. But have you ever bought a game at the supermarket and eaten it up even before you brought it to the table?

Alright, the latter concept sounds a bit extreme, but it is not entirely impossible. There are, in fact, edible games! Between boiled sweets, popcorn and chocolate bars, you can actually take a bite out of Rummikub, Trivial Pursuit and Twister, as this find in the sweets department of a large German supermarket chain gives proof of. The best time to look for such specialities is before Christmas, but you can come across them all year round.

You find all kids of old classics here: A candy version of Twister, Uno made of chocolates, Ludo (Mensch ärgere dich nicht!) and the “original” Monopoly. The latter might have been introduced to make the infamous sentence “I hate Monopoly!” practically unutterable, at least among chocolate lovers. Most of them have chocolate components with wrappers camouflaging them as playing pieces of some sort and printed edible “paper”.  

They are very playable, and if you have a good portion of self-restraint some are perhaps even re-playable, but it would be safest to avoid any AP, or the piece you want to place might melt in your hand. So much is certain: These games are not recommended for temperatures of 30° Centigrade or over, and they come with an expiry date.

They are very playable, and if you have a good portion of self-restraint some are perhaps even re-playable, but it would be safest to avoid any AP, or the piece you want to place might melt in your hand. So much is certain: These games are not recommended for temperatures of 30° Centigrade or over, and they come with an expiry date.

The idea to have a sweet review of the most positive moments like in this edible game could be a nice addition to your New Year’s Eve celebration. It is clearly reminiscent of „Trivial Pursuit“. A pity that the box with its dial of trivia questions has outlived its purpose when empty. Maybe it can be refilled for some re-playability.

In a few cases the game is not a high calorie re-make of an existing game, but has itself and what you are doing with the content of the box as a “theme”.

In this example, gummy drops in different colours and flavours – nice and not so nice – come with a custom die. You roll and have to face the “challenge” according to your result, namely eat the next gummy drop the die has assigned to you. That is the game, all of it, and it comes with a warning to stop playing well before you get sick.

Gosh and golly, when do you “play” such a thing? And with whom? Was it inspired by Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans from Harry Potter? In that case I would wish for a nicer box. I also did not buy it, so I cannot vouchsafe if there was or was not any ear wax candy in it.

I can imagine torturing children who come a-trick-and-treating on Halloween with this! Joke aside, it could work as a little Halloween prank for the occasion, adding some extra “spice” to all the gruesome special effects our home has been known for when it functions as the most popular Halloween House for the children in the neighbourhood. That would make some sense. Problem was, this beauty of a game only appeared on the clearing sale shelf in January, but then it might have been around on time for the start of November, who can say? I think I will actually keep my eyes peeled for this in October.

Would I twister myself around sweets and buy the chocolate Munchopoly or any of the others? Certainly not. An edible game may pass as a novelty gift from a gamer to a non-gamer and be considered original and funny, but I am tempted to add “in a warped kind of way”.  For somebody who does not normally enjoy board games, the special “theme” would not really add a lot to the enjoyment of the content. Maybe this would be different with an outright board game hater who would gleefully destroy the whole box (and no real live game hurt in the process…).

But what a cruel gift to give to any true board game lover, or worse, to any serious board game collector!

On the bright side, they are ideal for those of us who constantly face serious storage problems with every new game they acquire…

My suggestion: If you want to appease your sweet tooth with a game related treat, bake a cake with a board game theme! There are great examples of such cakes known to mankind, but however nice they are to behold, they do not camouflage as playable, durable games but are first and for all a cake to enjoy with a nice cuppa on the side – and then you can get out a real board game and play together with your friends!

Good play – better day!