The UK Games Expo was one of the biggest events on the calendar if you are based in Europe, and possibly beyond. The hype was, as they say, “real,” with 32,000 unique visitors descending on NEC and the Hilton to attend this year’s edition which resulted in the biggest turnup in the event’s history.
The overall number of attendance stood at 52,000, which marks the event’s strong draw, but also the fact that it had plenty of excellent games to show. The 10th edition of Warhammer 40,000 and Disney Lorcana were in themselves enough to stir sufficient interest and make people come down to Birmingham and see what goodies have been prepared for attendees.
This is not just a post-COVID recovery thing, as UKGE has now officially improved on its previous record set in 2019 when 25,704 unique entries were registered. UKGE has asked rhetorically on Twitter if this record may be improved as well, and the answer is – most likely yes.
As board game expos go mainstream, interest in them soars. The success of individual games has played a crucial role in that, and a few subtle marketing ploys, including the one-thousand-pound giveaway every day of the UKGE, definitely were contributing factors.
Board games expos have been making a return following the COVID lockdowns that cancelled out most of the events and limited attendance to what few were there. This year marks one of the first that restrictions have been lifted, allowing travelers to converge on one of the most significant events in the industry.
There are more good events to look forward to as well, with PAX Unplugged confirmed for December 1-3, 2023, and Spiel Essen set for October 5-8, 2023. Another notable event is GenCon which will be taking place on August 3-6, 2023.