UK Games Expo 2025 Convention Report
Another year, and another trip to the Midlands to visit the shining lights and celebration of tabletop excess that is the UK Games Expo. I’ve written about my trips before (you can read those posts here), but this year was different in a lot of ways. UKGE is bigger now, thanks to it losing hall one (kinda) and gaining hall four, and the change came with some pros and cons.
The main thing that struck me about the change in layout was a sense of disorientation, and I wasn’t alone in that sensation. Lots of people I spoke to, including UKGE veterans, found it more difficult to navigate than normal. In the past, each hall was distinct. Hall one is on the lowest level, with stairs going up to hall two. Hall two led into hall three, but you knew when you had transitioned from one to the other because a) you turned 90 degrees, and b) it was full of tables for tournaments and open gaming.
The new layout still let you transition from one hall to another without stepping outside of the show, but it felt very difficult to know where you were at any given moment. The transitions between halls 2, 3, and 3a are invisible, and the exhibitor space became one big, homogeneous cathedral of cardboard. It made finding the stalls you were looking for very tricky. For example, I wanted to go and visit some friends who had a stall. I knew their stall number, I knew which hall they were in, and even when I had the map open on my phone, I still couldn’t find them.
Poor orienteering skills on my part or a confusing layout? Maybe a bit of both.
By way of contrast, though, if you were new to the UKGE and went into it with no expectations, it must have been quite the thing to behold. The other positive is that it makes for phenomenal aimless wandering. If you wanted to stroll around and let the flow of the show take you like a leaf floating down a winding river, it would be an amazing experience.
The other change I’d like to see is to flip the layout in hall 4. It’s a huge, long space, and the tournament tables were by the entrance, leaving open gaming right at the other end. It meant if you wanted to go and fill your water bottle in the evening, you had a really long walk each way. A lot of people chose to game in the spaces in the Hilton hotel instead.
My time at the show
Practicalities aside, the show was – as always – amazing. Even though I have to wait 51 weeks between each visit, every time I make my way to the Wetherspoons outside the press preview on Thursday night, it feels like five minutes since I was last there. As tradition dictates, I picked up Paul Grogan of Gaming Rules! on the way through, and we made our way there through lovely free-moving traffic.
The press preview was bigger and busier than I’ve seen it before. I spoke to so many old friends and new ones, and loved getting to speak to them about their games without the drone of the halls in our ears, and without the pressure of feeling like every minute spent talking to me is a minute they could have been talking to potential customers. It was great to talk to Hobby Japan and Daryl Chow of Origame, especially, as well as old friends like Chris Priscott from Unfringed, Mark from Bright Eye Games, and Matt from Paper Fort Games.
Friday came, and before I knew it, I was in the queue outside hall 3. Hall 3 was a strategic choice on my part, as I knew that at the back of hall 3 a publisher was lurking that I was very excited to meet with and throw my money at. None other than Saashi & Saashi. I wasn’t alone in my planning, though, and I got chatting to the people next to me who had the same idea. A few minutes later, I heard more people behind me saying the same thing. My planning was rewarded, though, and I not only got the games I wanted, but also had a lovely chat with the folk on the stand, including their lovely interpreter.
The halls had only opened at 9:00, and by 9:10 I had already spent the best part of £100 and stashed my loot in a Shop & Drop box. If you’ve never used the Shop & Drop, do it. It’s so much nicer to wander the halls while you’re not carrying 20 kilos of cardboard. Over the course of the day I bought some more games which I already had my eye on, mostly smaller, independent titles from the likes of Synka Games and Jellyjelly.
I also went along to the meetings I booked in before the show, to say hello to publishers I love to catch up with, and with some who I’ve not met before. It was great to meet up with Andrew from Chip Theory Games for the first time, Will at Dranda Games, Dave over at Paverson Games, and Crystal from Level 99, too. Not forgetting my regular catch-up with Ola from Board&Dice! I intentionally booked around half as many meetings as usual. It’s easy to want to say yes to everyone who offers a meeting, but the truth is that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and like you’re not making the most of the show.
I also want to give a special shout-out to Dave and the team from Roll The Dice Cornwall, a local group who do amazing things for the community down here. They looked exhausted, but very happy.
The games
What’s a games convention without games? I didn’t pick up a single review copy this year, but I did treat myself to a bunch. Bus & Stop, 1 A.M. Jailbreak, Let’s Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game, and The Great Evening Banquet, all from Saashi & Saashi. Lunar Trick from Synka Games. Overparked from Origame. Yubibo from Jellyjelly. Cat Chi Cat from Bright Eye Games. Guessocracy from Hobby Japan. I also picked up Wizkids’ new title Star Trek: Captain’s Chair, as it’s a reimplementation of the Imperium system, which I know I enjoy, and not forgetting a set of Hanafuda cards from the fab folk at Huff No More. It was great to be able to fit my entire haul into one bag!
I was able to spend plenty of time in the open gaming area to play some games, too. I played Gwent with Paul on Thursday night. It’s the physical version of the digital game (the version in Witcher 3, not the stand-alone Gwent game), which was meant to be a physical game in that game’s world. Despite a pretty awful rulebook, the game is really good and feels very much like the Gwent I remember from the video game.
I also played Timber Town, a new cutesy two-player tile-laying game from Alley Cat Games, which unfortunately had a terrible rulebook. The most important rule in the game regarding tile-placement is in the back of the book for some reason, and also wrong. The way it describes valid placement is wrong, so if you want clarification, check out this thread for confirmation.
I got in my first plays of Cat Chi Cat (great two-player trick-taking game with an interesting mechanism where the loser of each trick can win) and 1 A.M. Jailbreak (fast and clean card shedding game), and really enjoyed both of them. Later, I played The Hanging Gardens, another light and enjoyable tableau builder with some interesting choices to make. I didn’t really get the chance to play anything heavier, but given my exhaustion by Saturday lunchtime, it was a blessing in disguise.
The people
Once you’ve been to a convention once, you realise that it’s the people that make the experience, and once again, the people made UKGE for me. Big thanks to Paul Grogan for his company on the drive up and during the shuttle bus forays back and forth, and to James for his Canadian snacks and the games we played together. It was great to catch up with Peter on Thursday evening, and although I didn’t have a meeting booked with Thunderworks, it was lovely to chat with Jess and Keith from the team.
I stopped and chatted to someone from Mousehole Press just because I wanted to know if Mousehole in their case was a hole for a mouse, or whether they’re from Mousehole (pronounced moaw-zuhl) down here in Cornwall. It was the former, but they were great, and I want to take a look at their TTRPG stuff now as a result.
I was delighted to spend some time with author Tim Clare (go and buy his book The Game Changers right now) before the show on Saturday morning. Instead of standing in a noisy queue, we sat, talked about games, Japan, people, and even played a game. It was fab to catch up, thank you.
To everyone I met with – thanks for showing me your games, shooting the breeze, but more importantly, letting me rest my aching legs at your stands!
As is customary now, I set off for home on Saturday afternoon because my social, physical, and mental batteries were in power-saving mode, and as always, I missed the show, the people, the games, and the buzz the moment I got back.
See you again in a year, everyone. I can’t wait. Even if it’s just once, everyone should experience UKGE. Links to nearly everything mentioned above are below.
Links from this article
