GridCon 6 (2025) Report

November is a special time of the year for me. The beginning of the year unwinding, the countdown to the Christmas break begins, and best of all – it’s GridCon! I’ve talked about GridCon here before in 2022 and 2024, but if you’ve never heard of it, let me give you the short version. It’s a gaming convention held in Taunton, in the south-west of the UK. It’s run and organised by Paul Grogan from Gaming Rules!, and features open gaming, professional demos of new games, and a superbly well-stocked games library. You can literally just turn up with nothing (clothes are definitely preferred, though) and spend three days playing games.

I don’t want to go into the nitty-gritty of how the convention runs again, as I’ve done that before. Instead, I’m going to talk about my own experiences and how the convention was for me.

A tough start

I drove up to the hotel on Thursday afternoon, getting there the day before the official start of the convention again. It’s the way of things. Why not get there early and play some games before the festivities officially begin? If you’re going to shirk responsibility for a few days, why not make the most of it? That’s my logic.

When I got there, I found Krissie and Brett, my friends (and Punchboard supporters!) from Scotland and played some lighter games with them and some of the early attendees. I was sitting under the air conditioner, and within sight of the main entrance to the hotel, so on a day when I drove up through snow and sleet, it’s only natural that I might feel cold. But even by my own standards, I felt way colder than I ought to. I was wearing three layers, including a sweatshirt, and I was still freezing cold and not feeling the full ticket at all.

I went to bed with a thumping headache and feeling terrible, but not sneezing, coughing, or having a sore throat, so I wasn’t sure what was going on. My room was freezing cold, and the heating wasn’t working properly, but there was a plug-in heater I had on full blast all night. I had a terrible night’s sleep, and when I headed down to breakfast the next morning, I felt like death warmed up.

If you know me, you know that one of my favourite things in the world is a hotel buffet breakfast. I’d usually have a Full English, some toast, plenty of coffee and fruit juice, and maybe even some fruit or a pastry. I felt so rough that Friday morning that all I had was some coffee, a slice of watermelon, and a banana. That is how poorly I felt. I’m still not sure what was wrong, but looking back I think it was a bit of some kind of small breakdown following a hideously stressful few months, and my trying to relax immediately.

Regardless, I soldiered on and played some great games. I played a scheduled game of Molly House for the first time, and despite us all being hanged at the end of the game, I really enjoyed it. If I didn’t know who had made it, I’d have guessed it was a Cole Wehrle game. It has his touches all over it. If you like games like Pax Pamir and John Company, give it a go if you get a chance. I was really impressed with how well everything hangs together thematically. I was absolutely freezing throughout, and my head still hurt.

Onwards and upwards

After Molly House I dosed up on cold and flu medication, just in case, and headed into my second planned game, Ayar, which I played with Luke from The Broken Meeple and two convention attendees from Germany. I really like Ayar. It’s another game in the line from Fabio Lopiano who gave us Merv (review here) and Sankoré (review here) before it, and there’ll be a full review here before long. I had a good time, despite still feeling ill, then moved on to play some smaller, lighter games in the bar for the rest of the afternoon.

It was my first time playing Origin Story from Stonemaier Games. A trick-taker is not in their usual line of games, so I was really excited to see what was good enough for Jamey to sign one. It’s a really clever, multi-round, superhero-based game with an aspect of engine-building, which left me wanting to play it again, so I look forward to getting some more plays in and writing my full review.

In the evening I headed into the restaurant area to take on the planned boardgame-themed pub quiz. I joined a team with some old and new friends and we took it on. We did great, coming fourth out of 17 teams, only 3.5 points behind the winners. I was especially happy to hear some Sisters of Mercy during the music round. Most importantly, about halfway through the quiz, something broke. I suddenly felt much more normal. I wasn’t freezing, my head didn’t hurt as much, and I just felt more like me.

I was so happy at this point. I’d been debating going home early because I felt so out of sorts, so the relief of feeling more normal was great. I could relax and enjoy myself properly.

All systems go

After another fitful night’s sleep (including waking up in the pitch black and freaking out because I couldn’t remember where I was or what the heck I was doing there), I was back. A proper, albeit smaller, hotel breakfast. Get in! Saturday continued the games, which came thick and fast. I started off with a game of Suburbia with good friends Marcus and Adrian, before a game of Let’s Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game from Saashi & Saashi. I was so pleased to get my copy played after first playing Tim Clare’s copy at UKGE a couple of years ago.

The day continued with learning and playing Railway Boom. Expect a full review of this train game from Hisashi Hiyashi soon. I really, really enjoyed Railway Boom, so much so that I taught and played it again on Sunday morning. Thanks to Joel from Devon Dice for the quick teach. It really helped. Later in the afternoon came one of my most anticipated and enjoyable games of the weekend.

I had pre-arranged with my good friend Márton to play Bean to Bar, an indie game from Japanese designer Masaki Suga. What a game this is! It’s an action-selection game about making chocolate, which felt like a Splotter game, but without the rough edges and ability to hang yourself in turn one. I’ve only played it once, but I thought it was excellent, and if I can get hold of a copy at a reasonable price in the future (it’s expensive), I’ll definitely be adding it to my collection.

In the evening, I played some chilled games in the bar with my friends Scott and Bob. I got some first plays (and humiliating losses) of Tag Team in. Initial impressions are really good. It’s a combination of duelling, deck-building, and auto-battling. Keep an eye out for it. I think most people will enjoy it. We played some of The Gang, too, which is great. A clever, limited communication, co-op poker game. Worth checking out if you have a regular group, or play a lot of card games with your family.

Winding down

Sunday came along all too quickly. I got in another game of Railway Boom, this time with Adrian and Marcus again, along with Josh. I was really happy to have gotten in a game with Josh, as we always chat and never get a chance to play together. It was good to try the game at four players, and it’s one of the few games which I think might definitely be better, if longer, with four players instead of three.

I took a break from playing to watch the highlight of the weekend for many people – the charity raffle. Paul is highly regarded in the board game realm, and publishers go out of their way with generous donations to the raffle each year. There were so many lots to win, with so many games in each. I think I heard that each lot was worth at least £160 each, and I can well believe it. Despite keeping up my extraordinary raffle losing streak (I’ve never won at a board game raffle!), it was fantastic to experience the excitement and to know that over £6,000 was raised for charity.

I finished my day with a few games with long-time friend and fellow convention attendee Emma, and her sister. We played Idle Hands, Castle Combo, and the rather superb Cabanga. If you’ve never played Cabanga but enjoy games like 6 Nimmt or Wizard, you’ll love Cabanga. Check it out.

All that was left was to find my distant friends to say goodbye for now, to load up in my car, and to make the journey home again, my heart having had a great income turn. Despite it feeling like five minutes ago whenever I’m sat in the lobby of the Holiday Inn in Taunton, next year’s GridCon feels like a long way away, but I already can’t wait to see everyone again.

Thank yous & highlights

First and foremost, a huge thank you to Paul, Vicky, and the army of volunteers who give so much to make GridCon happen every year. You are all responsible for putting together my favourite time of the year, and I’m deeply grateful to you all.

Thank you to everyone who played a game, shared a drink, or even just stopped to chat with me. Including, but not limited to (because my memory is shockingly bad!) Brett, Krissie, Matt, Marcus, Josh, Paul R, Jan, Elaine, Luke, Adrian, Davey, JP, Kerley, Becky, Rob, Joel, Doctor Bob, Terry, Rachel, Rob S, Scott, Márton, Nandor, Emma, Toni, Mak, Frosty, Mark, George, Saygin, Johan, Mariel, and little Marnix(!). Starting off the right way with a first game convention before the age of one!

The moments that stick out for me right now, in my post-con fugue, are:

• A six-player game of Magical Athlete on Thursday afternoon, which drew an audience. Hysterical nonsense at its very best.
• Having my copy of Railway Boom muled to me from Essen, along with some stroopwaffels, by Johan. I’m extremely grateful.
• Being able to give Saygin his copy of Eternal Decks, knowing how hard it was for him to get a copy in Turkiye.
• Glancing through the bookshelves on Saturday night and seeing the Blood on the Clocktower gang doing their thing. It makes me happy to see so many diverse people all enjoying something so much.
• The collective groan when Adrian won his third lot during the raffle.
• Getting a chance to see and hug my friends from around the country and around the world. You never know which time will be the last time, so embrace these times and these people.

My heart is full, my mind is rested, and I feel deeply, deeply grateful to have been able to spend time with my tribe. My friends. My chosen extended family. Love to you all.

Same time next year?