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At the UK Games Expo (UKGE 2018) I ended up helping Thundergryph Games by demoing on their stand. It was a fantastic experience and one I'd recommend to anyone. Since I spent most of my time on the stand my top five experiences might be a little different! So in no particular order:
Demoing
I absolutely loved demoing. Thundergryph make some fantastic looking games and this meant that we hardly had anytime to stop! On Saturday I didn't get my lunch until 3:45pm, which was the first time I looked at my watch!
It was my first time demoing and there is certainly a different feeling to it than being the designated rule deliverer in my group. Trying to deliver a good overview of the rules in a Expo friendly way, and get the players to the game as soon as possible is certainly a craft, and I hope I improved over the weekend. I'm sure I will improve though as I'm definitely going to be doing this again - hopefully at Essen!
Playing Games
Despite being hugely busy I did get a chance to play some games at UKGE 2018. Santa Maria is always a treat and I enjoyed my first play of Century: Eastern Wonders, but the real stand out was playing simple bluffing game Skulls in the Ibis hotel bar. This really is a game that needs to be played at the right time by the right people and on Saturday that magic occurred! It has been a long time since I have laughed so much and enjoyed so much friendly banter.
People
Meeting people who I know online was a real pleasure. My overall impression was that people were a lot shorter than they make themselves look online! Despite this revelation everyone I met was excellent.
There were also the new people. Other exhibitors and stall holders were good spirited and it was a joy to be part of the Thundergryph team. Gon, Luis, Veronica and Martyn became firm friends over the weekend.
UKGE 2018 Volunteers
UKGE 2018 wouldn't run without a huge team of volunteers. These awesome people have to help frustrated exhibitors and the public, while staying calm and not getting paid! I have to pay much respect to the team running the huge bring and buy. It's a job I couldn't do. Anyone who visits the Bring and Buy stands knows how busy it is with gamers looking for good deals, others trying to recover and reprice their games, and this team get everything processed as fast as possible. Legends.
Grail Games and Hotness
Another positive (?) about being on a stand was that I didn't spend time browsing too many of the trader stands, meaning my purchases were more considered. Eastern Wonders was top of my list and acquired quickly, but I was also able to grab highly-rated Mini Rails before it sold out. Other than that I grabbed Vikings, an older game from Azul designer Michael Kiesling - who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite designers.
Well there you have it, my stand out moments from UKGE 2018. It was my favourite edition of the three years I've been going!