Description

Or: "Hexagames - Sonderanfertigung für die 1. Spielertage, Essen 1983 - Das Rasante Kunstflugspiel - Mit do-it-yourself Spielregeln" (*) to give it it's full title. ("Hexagames - Specially made for the first Essen Game Fair 1983 - The Speedy Stunt Plane Game - With Do-it-Yourself Rules")

This must be the most unremarkable game to have ever been presented on any of the Essen game fairs if it wasn't for a very small detail: it was the first promotional give-away game on the Essen fair ever. It was possibly also an entry in a whole new genre: make-it-up-yourself-gaming. Jürgen Hagedorn from Hexagames was simply handing out 20x35cm sheet of paper, with a hand-drawn game board on it. Stuck to a corner was a small bag with 4 wooden cylinders and a dice. The drawing was very suggestive, but had no rules.

Whilst freebies continued to be used by various companies in an effort to get noticed, they often took the shape of fashionable and pointless pins that people could stick on their clothes, or, after a more inspired moment by Jumbo, were god's gift to gamers on Essen: jumbo-sized carrier bags - with appropriate logo of course.

It took until 1995 before the next noteworthy Essen promo-expansion appeared: Goldsieber's 13th constellation for "Sternenhimmel" (although this was not free). Kosmos followed in 1998 with a "robber-gang-figure" for "Die Siedler von Catan", probably embarrassed by the success of the game and in a genuine effort to thank the fans. But it wasn't until Hans im Glück released a player's expansion for its "El Grande" that the promo floodgates truly opened.
The game itself, off course, hardly got noticed and was easily forgotten. What do you expect from a sheet with a large plane and a game-of-goose type track of fluffy clouds that have different shapes but lack any explanation?

Nevertheless, now the "Essen Freebie Game (Expansion)" has became a bit of an institution, it might be time to pay tribute to the very first one: Hexagames, we salute you with a BoardGames entry for what must have been a great laugh.