South West Cornwall Games Expo 2026 in Review

2026 saw the third iteration of Roll The Dice Cornwall’s South West Cornwall Games Expo, and it was the best yet.

What is the expo like?

The first time was at a small church hall in Helston. The second was in a bigger hall on the outskirts. This time it basically took over the old Cattle Market Building and Coronation Park. and it was brilliant. Hot sunshine, vendors selling anything and everything geek-related, places to sit, play, talk, and even look after their mental health. All of this set against the backdrop of Helston’s famous boating lake.

Wonderful stuff.

I went with my family on Sunday (it runs across the whole weekend), and the first thing I was struck by was just how busy it was. The previous two expos were busy with people, but on a much smaller scale. I saw hundreds of people sitting at park benches eating ice creams, children playing on the park toys, families pedalling swans around the lake, and people shopping and playing games as far as the eye could see. As a fan of games and gaming culture, it was amazing to see. I realised afterwards that every picture I took made it look like there was nobody there. Trust me, it was bumping, but a lot of people were taking some time in the shade because it was so hot and sunny. Good problems to have!

The first thing we saw was Chaosgate’s open-air battle arena. A chance for people to arm themselves with safe weapons and beat ten bells out of each other with their families cheering them on. It always reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where the family electrocute one another at therapy, but with foam swords to the torso instead of 240 volts up the jacksie.

We wandered around while my son and wife took turns draining our bank account on pin badges, wooden D&D frog keyrings, and handmade jewellery. We talked to lots of the vendors, and all of them echoed the same happy, warm feelings. The people, the weather, and the general vibe of the weekend were infectious.

The unusually tropical summer meant the sun was beating down, so being able to go inside in the repurposed old Cattle Market building was great. Inside there were games being playtested, games being taught, and merchandise being sold. What I particularly liked was seeing people there with no financial reason to be there. People promoting their local gaming groups. Scale model hobbyists. People just teaching other people how to play games.

It’s a feeling that’s in stark contrast to the ‘comic cons’ that seem to be ten-a-penny now. At those, you tend to see the same vendors selling the same 3D-printed dragons, Funko Pops, and other bits and bobs. Other than that, there are usually some photo opportunity backdrops, but not much else. And you have to pay to get in. It’s highly commercial and a little soulless. That’s not a slight on the people selling their stuff at them; it’s more the atmosphere and feeling conveyed by the organisation as a whole

The South West Cornwall Gaming Expo, however, is free! You can turn up, chat, paint some models, be entertained by the D&D live play groups, feed the ducks, and not spend a penny. Obviously, the vendors would rather you spent some money with them, but there’s a really nice feeling of it just being an event for people to come together and celebrate every aspect of tabletop gaming.

My afterthoughts

It’s very easy to get drawn beneath the heavy, nerdy underbelly of this hobby and to lose sight of how to get other people in. Events like the South West Cornwall Games Expo are exactly what we need. There were so many young kids in attendance who had dragged their parents along to do all things Pokémon, not to mention lots of people who’d just turned up to go to the park, found it overrun with friendly nerds, and stayed.

For a lot of people, this could be their first exposure to tabletop gaming in any form, and for it all to be laid bare and freely accessible is huge. Pokémon and other trading card games, Warhammer, D&D, board games, and everything around the fringes – all represented and all eager to welcome newcomers to their own corners of the hobby.

I saw loads of familiar faces from Roll the Dice and other nerdy places nearby, which was great. On a personal level, I was really happy to see that Dave from Roll the Dice had been sequestered and was up on stage participating in a live play over the tannoy system with a laughing audience in attendance. He, and so many others behind the scenes, put in an incredible amount of work to not only make events like this one happen, but also just keep the shop and all its associated clubs and outreach activities going.

An enormous thank you to everyone involved. I hope that as long as the team keep the same level of appetite, and the same level of help and support, the expo can continue to grow and bring people from across the county together to celebrate and spotlight our delightfully nerdy hobbies.

See you all again next year.