UK Games Expo 2024 Convention Report
It’s the Christmas that comes in the middle of the year. It’s the UKGE, and once again I went and I had an amazing time. Me and 40,000(!) other games fans from across the UK and the rest of the world descended on the NEC in Birmingham for three-and-a-half days of all things games.
If you’ve no idea what the UKGE is, you can read about past events in my write-ups for 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. It’s the biggest games convention in the UK and the third biggest in the world I’m reliably informed that actually there other shows across France and other countries that are plenty bigger too. I need to do some more research! It means that despite the show taking place in three massive halls, it gets busy. Really busy. But that’s a part of the charm.
I’ve said it a lot of times before but it bears repeating. There’s something special about being surrounded by thousands of like-minded people. It gives you a buzz that stays with you for days. If ever you feel your love for the hobby getting stale, head to a convention. It’s like drinking an elixir of gaming rejuvenation.
Ringing the changes
For the most part, every UKGE is the same, but when you’ve been a few times you start to notice small changes. The Shop and Drop, for example, is usually my first port of call. It’s a stand where you can rent a storage box for the day to pick up and drop off anything you’re carrying so you don’t have to lug it around all day. However, when I went to the point in Hall 3 first thing but it wasn’t even setup ready to go. Not a great start, but later while I was wandering the halls I realised that there was another Shop and Drop in Hall 1 too. This was great to see and helped keep the crowds more manageable.
There were some notable absentees from the exhibitors this year. Publishers such as Queen Games and Games Workshop had big stands in the past, but neither was there. Instead, though, there seemed to be more independent publishers than I remember in the past. More gaming-adjacent stalls selling dice, 3D-printed dragons, journals, clothing, bags, and even replica weapons. I spoke to two vendors who were selling cosplay masks and weapons who had never been to the UKGE before but saw enough business to want to come back again.
Ticketing and the Bring and Buy were different too. Collecting tickets seemed quicker and easier than in the past. Especially as a member of the press, I got ushered straight to the front which felt cheeky, but welcome after five hours in the car. I heard stories from some people who had to queue for the best part of an hour on Saturday morning, but if you turn up on the busiest day of the show, you’ve got to expect to queue.
The Bring and Buy saw a big change which limited the number of items any one person could list, fix minimum prices, and prevent price changes during the show. Some people said there seemed to be fewer games in there, but those who added games to the sale experienced a much smaller queue thanks to people not being able to abuse the system by bringing literally hundreds of games in to sell.
On the whole things are improving little-by-little, year-on-year, and it’s a good thing too, because it’s only getting bigger. 39,306 individual people attended, making for 65,281 total visitors over the weekend. That’s incredible.
My time at the show
After picking Paul from Gaming Rules! up on the way, I got to my hotel in time for a quick shower before heading over to the halls. A quick curry at Wetherspoons and a pint of Leffe later and it was off to the press preview. It seemed like there were more stalls than usual and it was a great chance to say hello to people I didn’t know and to catch up with those I do. From there it was over to open gaming to meet up with my extended board game family and play some games.
Friday was another whirlwind of people, stands, and meetings. The buzz around the halls was electric all day and all night. Even though there was barely space to sit and play in Open Gaming until later in the evening, it was great. I was especially pleased as Stefan from Feuerland Spiele came across from Germany for the show and brought a prototype of the new Uwe Rosenberg game, Black Forest, with him. Part Glass Road, part Nusfjord, part something new, it’s a great game with a ton of things to think about. I’m already looking forward to playing it again, and very grateful to Stefan and Paul for the chance to play.
Over the course of the day, I racked up 18,000 steps, and didn’t my feet just know it! It was worth it though. Despite feeling exhausted I couldn’t get to sleep for love nor money that night as my brain tried to process the sensory overload from the previous 14 hours.
Saturday is usually my final day at the expo, and this year was the same. There’s only so much I can take when it’s busy, and Saturday was even busier than Friday, which was already crazy. In some parts of the halls, you could barely move at times, which leads to some frustration for some visitors. People grow tired and impatient, and a few people I know who were demonstrating for various publishers told me about some rude visitors they had. Those people are greatly in the minority, thankfully, and on the whole, the atmosphere is brilliant. There were lots of people with various mobility problems, or pushing prams, and people were considerate enough to help them get from point A to point B.
By mid-afternoon, I was done. Another 17,000 steps on the soles of my feet, a dehydration headache (despite constantly drinking water) and arms and shoulders complaining due to carrying far too many boxes, I made my way back to my car. Four-and-a-half hours later with another 260 miles on my poor car’s odometer, I was home and unwinding. Happy, enthused, and desperate to play more games already.
Thank you
Adding a quick edit here: I can’t believe I forgot to mention Flavien and the crew from Hachette Boardgames UK. He’s the most unmissable person at these shows. Je suis désolé Flav.
I won’t come close to thanking everyone who made my weekend what it was, but I’ll try. Thanks to Paul for the company in the car and the invite to play Black Forest. To Mark, Jill, Clare, Hilmar, Mak, John, Peter, Ben and the rest of the Gaming Rules! crew who chatted and played games with me. To JP, Davey, Tambo, Becky, Kerley, Adrian, Rob (seriously, how many of you are there…?) and whoever else I’ve forgotten from the Whose Turn is it Anyway podcast team for laughs and the invite to a dirty hot dog. To Iain and Oliver of Brainwaves and Rich from their Discord server for the company at breakfast and on the walk to and from the halls. To Tim Clare, whose writing exercises I was doing earlier this year, for playing games with me, introducing me to new ones, and being great company. To Chris, Chris, Jess, Gavin, Devon, Dorka, Ola, Dave, Mark, Sophie, and the countless other publishers and designers who talked to me about everything from their games to the state of American politics. The games are cool, but the people make UKGE what it is.
And of course, a massive thank you to everyone who helped organise and run the expo, the volunteers on the stalls, and the NEC staff for keeping things running.
See you all next year!
Awww thanks for the shout out Adam, you missed Dan but he was repping his charity 24 Hour Board Game Marathon so it’s all good. There’s a lot of us