Exhibiting at a major event like Gamescom costs a load of money, so to make it worthwhile, you need creative gaming booth ideas & event marketing strategies to help your booth stand out & leave a lasting impression on the thousands of players looking for their next favourite game. Here are five of the most effective booth trends I saw at Gamescom 2025 👇🎮
1️⃣ Gachapon Machines To Turn Game Demos into IRL Mini-Games
Any kind of lottery/vending machine you can have at your stand to further gameify your consumers' experience is definitely a win. I loved this display from Toukana Games' Star Birds display. You had to play a level of the Star Birds demo, & then you got a small ball with a ticket for a prize. It was a simple concept, but paired with the stylised vending machine, it became an enticing & memorable experience! 🎱
2️⃣ Recorded Messages to Capture Player Reactions
Capturing moments at huge events like Gamescom can be an afterthought, particularly if your main quest is to tell as many people as possible about your game. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment when working an event, only to realise afterwards that the only photo you have is of the stand hours before the crowd arrived, leaving little to show for your entire time on the show floor. 🫣
At Business Goose Studios' stand, they had an old cassette recording device where everyone could leave a message to leave a verbal review of their title, Swan Song! This was very much on brand with their game as cassettes play a big part in the game's lore, but this type of activity could work for a number of titles & for the developers. ☎️
For example, on another stand for FairPlay Studios’ Nightmare Circus, they asked players to leave post-it notes of how they felt about the game, which they then pasted over their stand. These activities act as a visual representation of how many people tried their game & might entice someone walking by to play it. It also offers the developer a lovely positive takeaway from the show floor to carry through the rest of their development/launch. ✍️
3️⃣ Live Actors to Bring Immersion to the Show Floor
Rusty Lake's Servant of the Lake invested so much in trying to draw potential players into the game's world, & a big part of this was actors. As a big fan of immersive experiences (like Secret Cinema), the value actors can bring should not be understated. Their strategy turned a small space into something quite spectacular, as the actor created more than enough curiosity to bring consumers in & then keep them entertained, acting alongside the gorgeous 120-year-old carriage they had on display. 😍
4️⃣ Immersive Set Pieces That Pulled Players In
One of my favourite booths at Gamescom was the Dying Light: The Beast booth. Between carnival games, photo booths with zombie jumpscares, & really haunting overgrown set pieces, Techland pulled out all the stops to make sure your stay in Castor Woods was a memorable one.
5️⃣ Photo Ops for Organic Social Media Content
There was definitely a real focus on having spaces where consumers could take their best selfies that they’d want to share on their socials, especially as a low-effort, high-reward marketing tactic. Have an area where you can snap a quick selfie with ample lighting & you can populate a large amount of search volume in a small space of time. The pro-tips I'd say with having a space like this in your event booth are 1) have ample lighting, & 2) always have a designated person who can offer to take the pictures for your consumers so they don't struggle to fit everything in. 📸
My photo of me in the Fallout stand would never have existed if it weren't for the wonderful volunteer there! 😍
🌵 Bonus Event Booth Idea
One idea I’d love to see is to offer seating in the queue line. Whoever can solve this challenge will earn huge goodwill from tired attendees 🫡
Overall, I had such a blast at this year’s Gamescom, & there were so many fun & creative booth ideas that drew crowds & stopped players in their tracks! With a record number of 357,000 visitors from 128 countries, 2025 was Gamescom’s biggest year yet, so standing out from the crowd is super important to getting your game seen. While there, Ryan & I also surveyed 509 attendees on How Do Players Discover New Games?, so check out that blog for even more tasty findings on levelling up your games marketing 👀🚀
See you guys at Gamescom in 2026! 👋
