Vietnam Builds a Road to Essen for its Board Game Designers

Vietnam’s emerging board game design scene is getting something many young tabletop markets lack - a direct route to the international industry.

The Road to Essen Vietnam board game design competition, now in its second year, is organised by Everjoy Publishing and Everjoy Global, and instead of handing out winning trophies, the competition is designed to take promising Vietamese games from early prototypes towards international publication.

The Grand Prize winner received fully sponsored attendance to SPIEL 2027, in Essen Germany, including flights, visa costs, six nights accomodation and a dedicated table in the exhibition hall. Selected games will also be considered for publishing and international editions and/or distribution.

The inaugural competition attracted 137 submissions, from designers aged 11 to 55, with six games suvbsequently showcased at SPIEL in 2025. The decision to target Essen in 2027, as opposed to this year, is a deliberate move with the organisers saying that the additional develoipment time should allow the winning game to incorporate feedback, find publishing or distribution partners, and arrive in Germany genuinely ready to do business rather than just appearing at the show.

This years programme includes regular playtest sessions, workshiops, mentoring and community events covering everything from game mechanics and prototype development to pitching, liccensing, royalties, and designing Vietnamese-themed games for an international audience. The Top 20 designers will then receive one-on-one mentoring before the final five finalists develop professional prototypes of their games.

Everjoy described what it is bilding as a “pipeline from Vietnamese creators to SPIEL Essen”, identifying them locally, helping them develop commercially viable games, and then putting those games in front of international audiences, including publishers and distributors.

Everjoy Global is a Seattle-based company and the international sister company of Vietnamese board game publisher Everjoy Publilshing who are based in Hanoi. For more information about Everyjoy, the Road to Essen Vietnam competition, or the range of games they have already published and distributed (150 titles so far!) please check out their website.