It’s an exciting time of year for all of us board game enthusiasts.
The UK Games Expo is opening its doors tomorrow to a rabble of board gamers, wargamers, hobbyists, painters, designers, publishers, and the general public, and I couldn’t be more excited! 😃
🚗 Hitting up the NEC
A group of us are packing our bags and filling a car to head off early Friday morning.
We’ll be staying for the whole weekend, making the most of our first expo (ever).
Staying in Coventry means we got a nice place to crash – plus we’ll no doubt explore a bit of the local area in the evenings.
Nice pubs in Coventry, we’re sure… 🍻
The plan is to fill the boot with lots of supermarket supplies on the way there, and board gaming swag on the way back.
Think it’s a solid plan, don’t you?
I’m on the lookout for a few cardy, boardy, painty things – mainly;
- Wingspan
- Mystery Tales for Robinson Crusoe
- The Herb Witches for The Quacks of Quedlinburg
- Microbrew
- A dice tower
- More paints to help with the massive Joan of Arc paint job
What are you on the lookout for? 🔍
🔥 Change of Plans (The Good Kind)
My expected expo experience has changed rather dramatically in just a few weeks.
Originally, I would be spending my Friday preparing, playtesting, and pitching to publishers.
Now Tinderblox has been signed, I’ll just be attending the networking event on Friday evening.
That’s not to say I won’t still be a busy bee, however. 🐝
I’ll be meeting with the team at Alley Cat Games to get introduced, discuss Tinderblox, and talk with the designers about future game ideas.
I’ve also heard that they may be demonstrating my game Tinderblox at their stand in the expo!
That would be fantastic, going from planning on pitching, to actually being at the show! 🤩
It’s crazy to think I was going to the expo to try to get a game published, and now I’ll be going with one in the bag, and plans for a fruitful future with a publisher.
I’m also excited, as Caezar at Alley Cat Games has kindly said he’ll give me a copy of their hit game Dice Hospital as a welcome gift. 🚑
Just so awesome – I’m proud as punch and very grateful for this opportunity.
🤙 Who Wants to Chat/Play/Meet?
Besides a few meetings and networking events, I’ll be keeping my schedule nice and clear so I can float around the expo.
From checking out the trade halls and bring and buy, to spectating some war gaming and admiring the paintwork – I’m keen to meet and interact with fellow enthusiasts throughout the weekend.
There are so many people who I interact with every day over on Instagram but have never met.
It’d be swell to put faces to names (or @handles 😅) and meet up with any of you Instagram lot going to the expo.
I’m setting up a WhatsApp group for the expo; people can join, show off what they’re doing (maybe tip each other off to cool things), and meet up for a few games. 👋
If you’re interested, shoot me a direct message over on Instagram, or drop a comment in my recent IG post, and I’ll get a group set up.
Can’t wait for all the fun times! 🎉
If you’re off to the expo, I’ll hopefully bump into your there! If not, I’ll be posting plenty of snaps from the weekend over on Instagram, so you can keep up to date. Enjoy your weekend of tabletop titillation, everyone!
– Rob Sparks (@boardgamebud)
