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
UK Games Expo is two weeks away and the to-do list is already unmanageable. This is the first part of my UKGE2026 Picks There are stands I want to visit, demos I need to book, and a running list of games that keeps getting longer every time I go near the exhibitor page. If you … Read more
TL;DR The Expo Solos group, started by @boardgameaddictuk, is a free, friendly community for solo visitors and couples at UK Games Expo who want people to play with. There’s a set meeting spot in open gaming. You just turn up. It made my entire 2024 Expo, and it will likely do the same for you. … Read more
The box says 60 to 120 minutes. That is technically true in the same way that “some assembly required” is technically true on a flat-pack wardrobe. Technically correct. Not the whole picture. So, How Long Does a Game of Catan Actually Take? We’ve played Catan in 45 minutes with the right group. We’ve also played … Read more
In 2025, CMYK released two chaotic racing games within a few months of each other. One involves betting on off-brand mascots and screaming. The other involves drafting broken fantasy characters and watching a Banana cause a pile-up. Both are brilliant. Both cost roughly the same. And if you are standing in a game shop wondering … Read more
The Zoo Game That Earns Every Inch of Table Space The Quick Summary – TL;DR Ark Nova looks like a spreadsheet fell off a desk. It covers your entire table, takes the better part of an evening, and has a card pool so large that no two games feel the same. And yet the core … Read more
Every good holiday has a moment where the day’s activities are done, the evening is open, and someone says “so what do we do now?” The best travel games turn that into the best memory of the trip. The wrong ones turn it into a passive-aggressive debate about whose idea it was to bring Monopoly. … Read more
The mascot betting game that turns everyone in the room into a screaming sports fan for twenty minutes, whether they like it or not. First Impressions I was not expecting to like Hot Streak as much as I do. The pitch sounds thin: bet on a race between four rubbish mascots, watch chaos unfold, collect … Read more
