The first weekend in June was the UK Games Expo (sometimes known as UKGE, or simply Expo), held at the NEC and the NEC Hilton Metropole in Birmingham.  Several of the GOATS went, as well as some of the GOATS’ friends from the Didcot Games Club.  Friday was unbearably hot in the main hall with two people actually passing out with the heat, but by Saturday, the air conditioning was on and and it was less sticky.  That was just as well because Saturday was the busiest day, though it didn’t feel too crowded because there was extra space compared with last year.

– Image by boardGOATS

The GOATS went with the specific intention of seeing some of the recent releases like Mini Rails, the Viticulture expansion, Visit from the Rhine Valley, North American Railways, as well as prototypes like Tales of the Northlands: The Sagas of Noggin the Nog which has raised over £45,000 through crowd-funding thanks largely to the beautiful artwork by Peter Firmin.

– Image by boardGOATS

Plenty of games were played; Blue and Black even managed to squeeze in a quick game of Mijnlieff while they were waiting for lunch to arrive on Friday lunch time.  The surprise of Expo though, was Echidna Shuffle – a light pickup and deliver game with extremely tactile pieces.  In the demo game, Black pipped Purple into second place, with Blue and Pink some way behind, but the only real question was how many copies they were going to buy, and it was no surprise that it sold out on Friday!  It surely won’t be long before it Features on a Tuesday night…

– Image by boardGOATS