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 is part two of my UKGE 2026 picks. Part one went up last week and covered games I’ve had my eye on for a while. This week it’s three more I’m planning to track down in person. All three happen to be in Hall 2, which should make the navigation slightly less chaotic.
Bella Vista
| Find it at: Stand 2-416 | hachetteboardgames.co.uk | Hall 2 |
Right, I’ll start with the obvious thing: Hachette. I already own Canal Houses and Castle Combo, both of which get regular time on the table at home. When a publisher has already earned two spots in your collection, a new release from them is not something you walk past. You stop and you look.
Bella Vista is designed by Bruno Cathala, which is another name that carries weight. It’s a city-building game where players take turns claiming zoning cards and constructing buildings on a shared city layout. There are height bonuses, grouping bonuses, and contract cards to complete. The physical components are three-dimensional cardboard buildings, which look properly impressive on the table.
I’ll be honest about what appeals to me most here. It doesn’t sound like a game that needs an hour of rules explanation. The structure seems clear, the decisions look meaningful, and the visual payoff of watching a city take shape during play is the sort of thing that draws people in who aren’t already committed gamers. We had exactly that moment with Canal Houses the first time we played it. Someone who’d never heard of Hachette sat down, looked at the table twenty minutes in, and said they wanted a copy.
Whether Bella Vista does the same thing, I don’t know yet. That’s what demos are for. It looks amazing though
Questiny
| Find it at: Stand 2-385 | questinyboardgame.com | Hall 2 |
This one is on a lot of people’s lists. At some point, when a game keeps appearing on every preview round-up you read, you have to stop noticing that and actually find out why.
Questiny is a cooperative dungeon crawler. Cooperative means no one has to DM, which matters more to me than I want to admit. I have a lot of affection for the dungeon crawl genre and almost no appetite for the prep that goes into running one from behind a screen. A game that gives you the experience without anyone having to do the homework is an easy yes for a demo.
There’s also the nostalgia angle. I grew up on Fighting Fantasy books and early Dungeons and Dragons. The kind of game where you’re building a character, delving into corridors, and reacting to what the dungeon throws at you carries a specific kind of warmth that I find hard to resist. The question is whether Questiny delivers on that feeling with mechanics that hold up, rather than just riding the aesthetic. That’s what I’m going there to find out.
It has a strong following already before the show. If the demo queue is three-deep, I’ll take that as confirmation I should join it anyway.
Calupum
| Find it at: Stand 2-302 | boardgamebox.life | Hall 2 |
I’ll be straight: I know less about Calupum going in than I do about the other two. What I know is that it looks genuinely striking. The visuals caught my attention on the exhibitor page and I’ve been meaning to dig further in ever since. Then I did, and it turns out there’s more to it than I expected.
The premise is simple and immediately appealing: protect your flock of sheep from wolves sneaking around the field. After twelve rounds, the player with the most victory points wins. Family game territory on the surface, but here’s the thing I like about it. There are two sides to the board. The winter side is the accessible entry point, wolves and sheep, straightforward enough to pick up quickly. The summer side opens up properly. Objectives, tunnels, dog cards, and a sheepdog called Bobtail who I am already emotionally invested in. The shepherdess comes in too. It’s the same game, substantially more complex, and you choose which version suits the table.
That dual-mode approach is something I get asked about a lot when recommending family games. Games that can grow with the group, that don’t strand newer players on the wrong side of a complexity wall, are genuinely useful. Whether Calupum delivers on that promise is what I’m going to find out at Stand 2-302. It’s had a recommendation from @boardgameaddictuk, which carries some weight. That’s enough to put it firmly on the list.
BGB Publishing don’t have the name recognition of some of the bigger exhibitors. That’s exactly why this kind of show matters. You wouldn’t come across Calupum in a high street shop. You’d walk past the stand, something would catch your eye, and you’d end up standing there for twenty minutes learning how it plays. Sometimes the best discovery at Expo is the one you weren’t planning to make.
See You in Hall 2
Three games, one hall, eight days to go. Part three will go up before the show, with the last three on my list. If you’re heading to UKGE this year, I’d love to know what you’re looking for. Drop it in the comments.
I’ll report back on all of these after the weekend. Whether they lived up to the preview or went sideways, you’ll find out here.
Don’t miss our UK Games Expo Tips Guide