Final 2024
Due to the wish of the overwhelming majority of last year participants the final of the 18th Carcassonne World Championships will be held in Spielezentrum in Herne / Germany again! It will take place on Saturday 5th of October 2024. The address is Hölkeskampring 2, 44625 Herne.
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, the author of the game Carcassonne, will come to Spielezentrum for autographs and photos during that day. We will also have an additional winners ceremony for the first four places on Sunday around noon in Essen on the game fair. Klaus-Jürgen will be there and also Moritz Brunnhofer, head of publisher Hans im Glück.
Remember: on Saturday we will stream the final live on our youtube channel.
We have a tentative timetable for the final now (which still may change slightly):
09.00 h start registration
09.30 h start tournament
12.30 h break for lunch
16.30 h start final game
17.30 h winners ceremony
19.00 h start "aftershow party"
The so called "aftershow party" or cozy get-together will take place in nearby restaurant "Zille" (Willi-Pohlmann-Platz 1, 44623 Herne). It's only one subway stop (named Archäologie-Museum / Kreuzkirche) or 1000 meters away from Spielezentrum and has reserved a big part of their space for us. This offers the great opportunity that other interested people can spontaneously join at their own expense and still find a table for sure.
All players are automatically invited and are allowed to bring one accompanying person. We will provide a free buffet with a wide selection of food (including German specialities) and free drinks (water only). Due to the arrangement with the restaurant owner you have to pay for all other drinks yourself, sorry, but this also frees us (Spielezentrum is part of the youth departement of the city of Herne) from all problems when it comes to serving alcohol. ;-)
If you already want to look for accommondation in Herne go here. Please consider to stay alternatively in Bochum. Of course all of the players will get a ticket for game fair SPIEL in Essen. Please be aware that there will be NO shuttle service between Essen and Herne this time but there are enough alternatives going to SPIEL yourself (public transportation, rental car, UBER etc.).
How to get to Spielezentrum in Herne?
You can use public transportation which is quite easy here in the Ruhr area. Due to decades of neglect we have more conctrution sites than ususal at the moment but nevertheless it's an alternative way to travel. You can find information in English on the VRR site concerning nearly all local transport connections. You can also download detailed maps (so called "Stadtlinienpläne") for every city in the Ruhr area (just scroll down the page a little; the maps are sorted alphabetically by the city name). They are in German only but very helpful for getting an overview of the area where you stay.
From Bochum main station (Bochum Hbf) or Herne station (Herne Bf) runs the subway line U35 directly to Spielezentrum. This line is called campus line (CampusLinie) because it connects to the university in Bochum (Ruhr-Universität).
If you start in Bochum the direction is "Herne / Schloß Strünkede" or if you start in Herne the direction is "Bochum / Hustadt" (depending how it is written on the signs).
Either way you always have to depart at the station "Hölkeskampring".
Leave the subway station using first the exit (Ausgang) "Hölkeskampring" and then the exit "Flottmannstraße". You will find Spielezentrum inside the large district center (Stadtteilzentrum) H2Ö only a few meters away and you should see it right away. Please use the main entrance under the large H2Ö sign.
As an additional orientation you will also find our logo - the huge yellow meeple (Pöppel) - on the far right side of the building.
Of course you can also use a car and drive here. Unfortunately the contruction project which is still underway will not be finished in October but there are enough parking spaces in the area around the facility. I will keep all of you informed. All players will get my mobile phone number from work in the week before the final so that they can reach me (in this week only) in any case of emergency.
This page was last updated on August 28th 2024.