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It’s been 3 months month since UKGE 2024 and we all know what that means…. only 9 months until it’s time to go back again (let’s get that date in that diary people: 30.05.25 - 01.06.2025). The 3-day event held in Birmingham each year is the largest Tabletop Games Convention in the UK and, to inspire those of you who have not been before, I wanted to share my favourite thing about this incredible gathering…can you guess what that might've been?
The expo is known for the bargains you can stumble upon in the Bring & Buy, for its open gaming spaces and as being the perfect playground for your quest to find the world’s LARGEST d20.It is also a hub of design as developers playtest and demo games at all stages of their creation, from those still in their paper component stage all the way through to crowdfunded masterpieces which are ready to buy.
But, despite my dream of living in a literal fort of board games, my favourite part of the UKGE 2024 was in fact the people.
For most of you reading this, your world will already be full of like-minded, openly nerdy individuals; your instagram feed will be full of tiny wooden meeples and satisfying Shelfies and you will have realised that the people we share this community with are some of the kindest, most welcoming people you could ever meet. For those of you who are still to find your board gaming community however, and for those who may be nervous about going to the UKGE for the first time (especially if going solo), I wanted to share with you some of my favourite moments from UKGE 2024:
Friday
For me, UKGE 2024 began at 4.30am on the Friday morning. I wanted to get in the queue at 9am when the doors opened and, after some persuading and the promise of a takeaway breakfast, we were soon on our way.
One of the reasons I wanted to start so early was that we needed to collect our pre-paid tickets. Especially on the Saturday, this queue can get LONG as the day progresses, even at 9am it took us about 20 minutes to get through. Whilst collecting our tickets we also (and this is a top tip for you) were able to collect tickets for our friends coming on the Saturday. If you are being joined by other gamers at later times/days, with their QR code you can collect their badges for them and save them the waiting time.
As we wandered around the halls we stumbled across our first demo, Pyramidice, and listened intently as the great team at Ares Games explained how it worked. As we were listening to the teach, another couple drifted over to the table and had their own explanation. When it came to having a demo, we asked this other couple if they wanted to join, allowing us to try this game at its highest player count. By playing with others we got to see different strategies and tactics as the game progressed, but not only that they were lovely and talking to them introduced me to Pendulum, a game they had demod at 9am that day and had really enjoyed. I had never heard of Pendulum before and in a very pleasant turn of events, when I went through the Bring & Buy later that day, I stumbled across it and now not only do I have another worker placement game in my collection, but I also have a second sand timer game!
As we had driven straight to the expo, our car was at the NEC. This meant that we did the bulk of our shopping on the Friday to save our tired arms. We may have picked up more than we expected and as a result we were carrying towers of games wobbingly as precariously as the pyramid of dice we had made earlier that day. A kind stall holder saw us and gave us some bags for free, bare in mind we had not bought anything from him and yet still he helped us out without hesitation.
Another unexpected treat was bumping into Instagramers we had been following all year, getting a photo with them and sharing the titles of hidden gems we had found. There was a board gamer bingo board on Instagram this year which had photographs of popular Instagramers, these bingo boards were created by the Instagramers themselves so as to encourage people to come up and say hi. Since the expo, being on Instagram has felt like chatting with people I know rather than just commenting on the posts of people I follow, it helped me feel closer to the community.
Our second (and final) demo on the Friday found us playing The War of the Worlds: One More Day with Matt Robinson the designer. Due to demand, we were only able to enjoy a 30 minute demo at the stand but with our top hats on solidifying our new friendship, Matt kindly offered us the chance to have a full playthrough after hours in Hall 3. Another top tip for new UKGE goers is that after the two trading halls close at 6pm (4pm on Sunday), Hall 3 and rooms in the nearby Hilton hotel are open until late so that you can play games you have purchased or borrowed from the libraries - you might even hop onto games other people are hosting (an amazing way to meet fellow gamers). So there we were, top hats once more on our heads, a flickering lantern lighting our table as we tried to survive just One More Day. Don’t get me wrong, we lost SPECTACULARLY to a level Matt had never seen before but we had such fun doing it. We also got to learn so much more about the game, the design process and the journey still to go before this excellent game is ready to be taken home, which was a real treat.
Saturday
After a DEEP sleep (we had spent over 12 hours at the NEC the day before) and a plate full of croissants, we were ready to go again! Day 2 was our meet up day and the chance to see all our friends from home in a different county (always weirdly exciting). We didn’t need to drive that day and so used the train to avoid going through central Birmingham (top tip no.3 is that there is a train station in the NEC and it runs LATE, we got the 10pm train back on the Saturday).
First things first, we met with our home city gamers and handed over the passes we had kept safe for them (quest complete), after a group photograph by the dragon we went our separate ways but this meeting was not set to be our last. Despite the fact that 65,281 people visited the UKGE in 2024, we regularly bumped into people we knew. By seeing these familiar faces throughout the day, we were able to check in, unwind from the hustle and bustle and share demo recommendations…though admittedly this was only true for half of those friends, the other half could have flown to France for all we had known, we did not even spot their silhouettes in the sweeping view from the Hall 2 staircase.
Wondering through the halls, we stumbled across a banner for the Frost Punk TTRPG. This game was still in its paper stage but as it’s set in a world we find so interesting, we wanted to give it a try. As two people a solid TTRPG team doth not make, the amazing staff at Catalyst Game Labs joined in meaning we were able to demo this game to its fullest. Tasked with stopping an attack on the mines, our band of professionals instead started a revolution which set out to improve the working conditions and quality of life for the people of New London. The stalls at the expo are all staffed with like minded gamers who have as much a passion for the hobby as you do, they are very knowledgeable about the games they offer and are also eager to play games and join demos, so don’t be afraid to ask.
The expo is also a safe space to meet online friends. As a Twitch Streamer, there are lots of amazing people I speak to who do not live anywhere near me. As Birmingham is a central location for the UK, the UKGE was the perfect place to meet a Streamer couple I had come to know. Sometimes when you meet someone for the first time you can run out of conversation or can feel shy or nervous, playing a board game together takes away a lot of this anxiety and is the perfect ice-breaker. Being surrounded by demos, you are able to get into plenty of games and have time to get to know each other in a relaxed setting. Also, as this couple had never played modern board games before, it was amazing watching them enjoy the hobby so much that they picked up the first edition for their collection (Final Girl by Van Ryder). When meeting an online friend IRL for the first time, meeting somewhere public is important to ensure everyone feels safe. At the UKGE there are also plenty of volunteers and members of the security team, if you ever did not feel safe then there are lots of people you can turn to.
That evening we went for dinner in the Resorts World next to the NEC and I queued, by myself, for about 40 minutes to get into the restaurant (whilst the rest of my table took board games back to their car). 40 minutes standing in a queue can be as enjoyable as watching paint dry, but when surrounded by people who are laden down with games and as such have clearly come from the expo, you might just find yourself chatting the time away. I was stood in front of some lovely people and we chatted the whole time we were in that queue, we spoke about games we’d seen, games we’d bought and our all time favourites. Most of my friends nowadays play board games and that’s not surprising as I know around these people I will never feel bored, how can you when you can have endless conversations about building rooms in caves to house as many sheep as you have dwarves (I’m talking about you Caverna).
Finally, the whole weekend was made even better by the fact that it was my partner’s first time at the UKGE. I was able to explore the endless halls, demo gems I had never heard of before and hunt for a tiny wooden hedgehog with him by side. Taking someone new to the UKGE is a fantastic experience and one I would highly recommend.
My final top tip from the 2024 UKGE is that I would recommend at least two days if you want to game with friends, this is so you can have at least one day to look around yourself and do your shopping and the next to focus on gaming and demoing.