GameFest has an Essen ’04 preview that is mostly kind of perplexing. It’s meant to collect all the details for all the pre-announcements of board and card games coming out this year at Germany’s preeminent game fair, but sometimes the details are pretty sketchy. Some highlights: a European-map version of Spiel des Jahres winner Ticket to Ride, Eagle Games’ less-combat-oriented Bootleggers, a new standalone Carcassonne game, and plenty of upcoming action from Rio Grande and Uberplay.