Friday was the first day of the eighteenth UK Games Expo at the NEC in Birmingham. It is bigger than ever, and it is rumoured that it is fifty percent bigger than last year. In truth, though it is difficult to tell, as the organisers had to move out of Hall 1 (apparently to accommodate Tesla who then cancelled), putting all the stands on a single level spread over a large, more or less continuous space. So this year, it just feels, very… large. Additionally, There are the now regular attendance of the Vikings and Romans camping by the lake, but fewer cosplayers, or maybe they are just more spread out…
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| – Image by boardGOATS |
Although there are some new releases, the focus of UK Games Expo this year, as always, is the current games and open gaming (both in the halls and at the nearby Hilton). There are also organised play-testing and tournaments, with plenty of game-related geek-fare, like puzzles, furniture, clothing, jewelry, nick-nacks and other sundries. Indeed, there are more cool dice available to see and buy than most “normal” people would ever believe!
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| – Image by boardGOATS |
Most games companies have a stand at UKGE, some with sales, some just demoing and many with both. A new innovation this year is the collectable pin badges. A variant of these is the live-action Catan game, where attendees can acquire a starter set of resource button badges to trade. Collecting a full set of five, enables the owners to claim a sixth from the stand. This game was remarkably evocative of a real game of Settlers, with players desperate to find wood for their large pile of sheep!
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| – Image by boardGOATS |
There are lots of opportunities to play demo games, both old and new. New games include The Hanging Gardens and Critter Kitchen while slightly older games on display include Panda Panda, River Valley Glassworks and Harmonies. There are also expansions and variants of old favourites, including the Grand Tour expansion for Snowdonia, the upcoming expansion for Shackleton Base, the award winning Heavy Rain expansion for Heat, the Athena expansion to Akroplolis, the new Lodges expansion for Kavango, and the Correspondence expansion for In the Footsteps of Darwin.
This year, about half of the boardGOATS are making the trip to the NEC in Birmingham, some for one day some for more, with others working on stands or at the Play Testing. The event is so vast now though that you can no-longer guarantee accidentally bumping into people you know, but SMS is a great way to communicate onsite. The event is great fun and well worth a visit. UK Games Expo continues at the NEC in Birmingham until 4pm Sunday 1st June.
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| – Image by boardGOATS |
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