The International Games Festival In Cannes: The Meeting Point For Gaming Enthusiasts.

Whether you are an avid gamer or just curious, the annual International Games Festival held in Cannes is an event not to be missed. It will not only give you the opportunity to get started with hundreds of board games but also to participate in tournaments and discover the new releases of the year, among which two games are honored with the As d'Or - Game of the Year award.

Presentation of the festival

The Cannes International Games Festival brings together all the players from the world of gaming every year at the heart of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.

This event is not only a highly anticipated moment of the Cannes cultural season but also the most significant French-speaking event dedicated to the world of games.

The public is not mistaken, as in 2007, for its 21st edition, the Festival set attendance records, welcoming no less than 120,000 visitors!

This year, the Festival will take place from February 23 to 25, 2024.

A large playful demonstration

The International Games Festival spans over 10,000 square meters, entirely dedicated to all the worlds of games and all the players in the gaming world. You can meet publishers, creators, illustrators, librarians, retailers, and manufacturers who come to present hundreds of board games to the general public.

Whatever your favorite games are, the festival will surely meet your expectations. Indeed, it offers you to dive into different universes such as the great classics of the game (checkers, Backgammon, crosswords, Tarot, Scrabble or Belote), games from abroad (Go and Shogi or Mah-Jong), video games and Mangas, as well as role-playing games and various board games.

This major event also gives you the opportunity to participate in dozens of tournaments, demonstrations, and introductions in many disciplines of thinking or parlor games.

Best Game of the Year Contest

Since 1988, the city of Cannes has been organizing a competition that rewards the best games published each year and presented at the International Games Festival.

The Festival now opens its selection to all new board games published in the French market within the year. The jury tests over a hundred games, among which two receive the Golden Ace-Game of the Year label, one in the "general public" category and the other in the "children's" category.

Some of the games awarded since 1988 have become true societal phenomena, such as Magic: The Gathering cards or the game Abalone.