It is surprisingly easy to leave UK Games Expo having spent three times what you planned. Everything looks good. The halls are full of things you did not know you needed until thirty seconds ago. Someone at the next table is visibly having the time of their life with a game you have never heard … Read more
Five days. That is how long it is until I get in the car and drive to Birmingham. Six days until the doors open at the NEC and UK Games Expo 2026 officially begins. I have been going to this show for years. I have never been an exhibitor as yet though. I have worked … Read more
Most people go to UK Games Expo to buy games. That is fair. The trade hall is excellent and the Bring and Buy alone is worth the trip. But if buying games is all you do, you are leaving one of the best parts of the show largely untouched. Open gaming at UK Games Expo … Read more
Eight days. That is how long until the doors open at the NEC. If you are anything like me, you have already checked the exhibitor map more times than is strictly healthy, made a list, reorganised the list, and then started a second list for the games that didn’t fit on the first one. This … Read more
There is a specific kind of evening where you have about two hours, everyone is already sitting down, and someone suggests a board game. This is the moment that separates quick setup board games from everything else on the shelf. A game that takes 25 minutes to set up has already lost half your table … Read more
So the big question… Is UK Games Expo worth it? It is a fair question. Tickets, travel, parking, possibly a hotel, meals across a long day, and then the actual games you come home with. The costs of attending UK Games Expo add up, and before you commit to the weekend it is reasonable to … Read more
The gloriously daft party game where you steal pigeons, flick dice, and lose all dignity in about twelve minutes. It’s super quick and easy to teach too. First Impressions I am not going to pretend this is a game for serious gamers. It is not. Oh My Pigeons! is a brightly illustrated box of chaos … Read more
Stop Telling People How to Enjoy Their Hobby, Gaming is Gaming I came across a post recently that stopped me mid-scroll. The argument, roughly, was that video gamers are unattractive to potential partners, that they’re wasting their lives, that anyone worth anything is too busy with their career, their kids, and their ambitions to spend … Read more
Everything you need to know before you queue, buy, or sell. The UK Games Expo Bring and Buy is billed as the largest second-hand games market at any games convention in the world. That is a significant claim and, standing inside Hall 5 on a Friday morning watching the queue snake back through the building, … Read more
Pandemic turns up on a lot of beginner lists, and I think that’s mostly right. But it comes with a couple of caveats that those lists don’t always mention, and they’re worth knowing about before you buy. The short answer is yes, Pandemic is a good game for beginners. The slightly longer answer is: it … Read more
