Welcome to Gamescom, where you meet the European games industry at the Koelnmesse. There are great meetings to be had, and also it is crowded. So crowded, with so many people. So how do you survive it as a trade visitor in the business section? Let's prepare. To get around all day, you're going to want to wear some really comfortable shoes. I wear hiking shoes. Please lace them tight. Have them fit really well. Grab a water bottle. Grab a power bank and get ready for a lot of walking. One day at Gamescom can easily be 20.000 steps, with a distance of 15km total. Just one day. The Koelnmesse is huge.

The map & layout

This is the map of Gamescom.

Walking from the south entrance over here to the north entrance over here is about 1 kilometer.

Gamescom map with circled south and north exits

If you are a game developer doing business, you're mostly going to spend time in halls 2, 3, and 4.

Map of Gamescom with halls 2, 3, and 4 circled.

This is the trade section, and south is also the trade entrance. So, use that entrance. Seriously, use that entrace because in the public days, you do not want to end up in the public line, it is huge.

There is a new building up here called the Confex, which is where Devcom is held on Monday and Tuesday, and the Gamescom Congress on Thursday.

The Confex zoomed in on with the Gamescom map

The days of the week

Devcom is a game developer conference that is separately ticketed from Gamescom. (I will be hosting a Tool Design Roundtable there if you are interested in talking about Tool UX!) Gamescom starts from Wednesday onwards. Wednesday is the press and trade visitor day. That day is nice and calm, with not too many people. You can go visit some booths if you'd like.

If you want to play a game, make sure to get a USK band. Not all booths require them, but if they do, you do not want to be turned away right before playing something. And get them on Wednesday when the line is still short.

So, Wednesday is calm. Thursday is a little busier, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are totally nuts. There are so many people!

The busyness of the public Gamescom days

The trade section closes on Friday evening though, so unless you're exhibiting in the public area, you won't see the Saturday or Sunday crowds. Also, that photo I showed above of the Yu-Gi-Oh banner is at the main escalator, which they actually shut it down on Friday from going downwards. You can only go upwards, which means everyone going from the upper section has to go through the car park on the right, unless you have an exhibitor badge, in which case you can actually walk through if you show that to security. But usually, you have to walk all the way around.

If you enter Gamescom at the opening time, there will be a little bit of a crowd, especially on Wednesday.

But at that point, just grab your phone, grab the QR code, and show it to the machine. A little print will come out. Grab that. That's your badge. Make sure to hold on to that thing. Do not lose it!

Badge coming out of the entrance machine

Also, your trade badge allows entrance three times for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. If on any day you leave early and then try to come back in and you've already used your three times, security may stop you. The machine may stop you. You're going to be sitting there arguing with a German security guard about whether you should be let in for your super duper important meeting. This can go really badly, so please watch out. I have heard varying cases where some people are outright stopped, and others are let through just fine. So your mileage may vary, but please be careful.

So, how do you get food if you can't leave? Well, there are some restaurants inside, but usually the wait is long and the food is expensive. Instead, go around the trade area and see if any of the country booths are giving away their food, like Spanish meats and cheeses. They're fantastic.

Spanish meats and cheese at the Spain booth

Or, if you have an invitation to one of the big private business booths, you can find free coffee, good food, and even freshly cut meats. So, if you have access to that, you're good.

If you don't have access to that, then make sure you stock up beforehand. Go past one of the many sandwich shops in Cologne, buy some sandwiches, wrap them up, and take them with you in your bag so you can eat at any time wherever you want. Especially if you're exhibiting in the public areas, make sure you stock up on food and drink beforehand. It's really, really exhausting to do that kind of exhibiting work with so many people. So, make sure you have the food and drink necessary to keep going all day.

BackWerk, located outside of Gamescom. Good sandwiches for a good price

Also, even on public transport, it gets insanely busy during the rush hours in the morning and the afternoon. So try and stay away from those if you want to travel comfortably, especially in the heat.

Though I do recommend using public transport to get around. Here is a little map with the most important points:

That big thing on the right is the Koelnmesse. Below that is the Messe/Deutz bahnhoff, the train station. From there, it's a super short walk to get to the South Entrance, which is the trade entrance. So do use the Messe/Deutz bahnhoff to get around really easily as a trade visitor. From the Messe/Deutz bahnhoff you can easily get to the central station across the bridge, and also the Kolner Dom, which is the huge cathedral. You can also walk across this railroad bridge, but if it's hot, I would highly recommend you don't. That may seem like a short walk, but it can get really long in the heat. And your trade ticket is actually valid for public transport to and from the Koelnmesse inside Cologne, so just use the trains. Please check on the back of your ticket for the specific cases of when and where you can use it as a public transport ticket.

If you need to get some rest, the best places to sit down are the piaza and hall 10.1 on the upper deck. Do not try and sit down on the grass outside. They will find you. They will stop you. They will kick you off of it. There's no sitting on any grass.

In the trade sections, there are places to sit. Usually on Wednesday these are not so busy, but on the other days, these can get quite busy, so it can be hard to find a seat.

There's a section between halls 2 and 4 where you can sometimes also find some seating. Again, on the busier days, this can get super busy, but if you can find a seat, it's a nice and calm area.

More seating in the trade section. Nice purple carpet

And if you're a trade visitor wanting to show off your portfolio to other people, make sure you have it downloaded. Do not rely on the Wi-Fi. It's pretty good, but it can still cut out when you most need it.

On Thursdays around 17:00 at the country booths, there's usually happy hour, so there's free food, free drinks, and people hanging out. It's a great time and place to network.

The many drinks of the Koelnmesse happy hour

Make sure to set your LinkedIn QR code as your phone background so that anytime you tap your phone, anyone can instantly connect.

The LinkedIn QR code as the background of your phone

One last really important thing. Remember when I said halls 2, 3, and 4? So, actually there's 2.1 and 2.2 and 4.1 and 4.2. These are double-decker halls. So, when you're trying to meet up with someone, be really, really specific. If you're in the upper or lower deck of that specific hall, you don't want to miss a meeting because you were in the upper and they were in the lower. It happens way more often than you think. This happens all the time. Always clarify if you're on the upper or lower deck of a hall.

The Koelnmesse 4.2 and 4.1, showing the escalators up and down.

So, that's Gamescom! It can get super crowded, but as long as you wear good shoes, drink water, get some food beforehand, and don't try and exit and enter multiple times, and you find some areas to rest, it's one of the best conferences of the year. I hope to see you there!

Thank you

A big ‘Thank you!’ for everyone that gave feedback on this video before I posted it. I sincerely appreciate all of it.

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How to survive Gamescom as a trade visitor

The map & layout

The days of the week

Thank you

Notes of the OpenUSD Roundtables at GDC 2025