Pegasus Spiele Pressetag 2015

Last Saturday, on september 12th 2015, Pegasus Spiele hosted their first open day for the press and store owners.

Press and traders from the DACH countries were invited, and the number or participants was surely satisfying. Beside the large parking lot the road exit was well filled with cars from the german speaking areas.

After a short and warm welcome speak by the pegasus management, the invited guests were split up into groups. I was lucky and Michael Kränzle, head of marketing and birthday boy, was our guide through the new headquarter.

The new headquarter in Friedberg (next to Frankfurt) combines the old warehouses and stores the whole assortment on 18,300 square foot and more than 1,000 euro palettes. The new warehouse covers a high rack along with a double story picking-shelf. Those are numbers that aren't that high, but for a company in the boardgame business quite huge and modern.

After the quick trip through the warehouse, we were shown the three stories of the headquarter. The offices were re-used for gaming, and the gaming editors and partly the management were hosting games in those offices. There is even a central gaming room, that covers at least a single copy, for editorial purposes and to support other events.

In the large meeting room were a couple of lectures, that covered new releases and trade information. There was even a dedicated lecture about Magic the Gathering (i can only suggest the Magic article at Vice), and a small teaser on what's coming in october at Spiel in Essen.

During the tour we stopped at a few editors and employees for Q&A, and a sneak view into one of the CEO offices, shows a Star Wars fan.

Michael, with whom i founded the Tabletop Test Area at RolePlayConvention, continued the tour and showed us some of the many awards that Pegasus won in the last years, among others the german Game of the Year in several categories. In the third picture you see the final touches on a huge gaming board for a very huge project, that will be announced at the Spiel.

The top level had, beside a the small media corner, a really inviting and large sun deck. A comfy atmosphere and view upon the tents, that were set up for the upcoming part of the event.

Back down again, we received a small, tasty snack, combined with a introduction of the novelties of summer and autumn 2015. Among others we were shown Imperial Settlers, a new Munchkin game and the new section of games for younger children.

Something related to wargaming / tabletop, was covered by Golem Arcana, that was hosted by Ben, who is head of the german community. As a pre-painted, app guided game it is a "risky" concept, but it focuses on some of the weaknesses of classic wargaming (the preparation time and the partly complex rules). It is a modern hybrid and such difficult to compare to known wargaming systems. As miniatures and the creative part of the hobby are very important for me, i am not really the target group for this product. And in my opinion, it feels a lot like Ex Illis.

I'd like to thank Pegasus for the invitation and the hospitality on this sunny day. It was an interesting view behind the curtains and a good chance for great chats with other gaming enthusiasts.

Link: Pegasus Spiele