The UK Games Expo 2026

Inexplicably, not everyone loves board games. In fact, mentioning the existence of Board Game Mondays - which I do all the time - can sometimes swirl into viscious two-way tedium as I discuss my favourite games that my partner-in-conversation couldn't care less about and they try and relate with the banal Monopolies of the world, that I couldn't care less about. The familiar viewpoint that "board games aren't for me" may sway you that this hobby is niche (we'll ignore that, in my opinion, "board games aren't for me" is akin to "books aren't for me" in being a premature sweeping dismissal). However, for one weekend in Birmingham, absolutely none of this is true: everyone loves board games and niche suddenly refers to your preference in genre of board game box insert and not the topic as a whole.

The highest footfall Stamford Bridge has ever seen over the course of a weekend is roughly 72,000. This falls well short of the heights of 80,000 people that attended the UK Games expo in 2026. It made 4 enormous conference halls feel more than a little cosy. The 1000 stalls vary from playtesting upcoming releases, trying out tried and tested favourites with a new expansion, shops to buy any of the games you see, game production companies, artists, and all manor of board game accessories. Alongside the stalls were many areas for competitive gaming with a myriad of national championships taking place over the course of the weekend; certain characters I could take one look at and know their SWPOE was high.

After the impressively swift and structured sign-in and welcome pack process, we took in the sensory overload for a few moments before someone suggested we sit down and play a game I hadn't heard of. It was limited information deduction game and the starter challenge required a level of deduction that made me feel awfully clever, unfortunately, everyone else had the same epiphany and there was no result. It was called Kronologic and it's certainly piqued my interest in to how it gets more complex. Seemingly moments after the first game, I'd played my second, then third, then fourth, and bought two of them.

I played many other games across the day, some with strangers, some with just our group. Notably, I rolled a lot of dice in a silly take on cricket, I harshly stole a Viking raider victory, and, of course, I bet on a hot dog mascot in Hot Streak.

Notable not necessarily because they were good, but because I was taught each game by its creator. It’s an entertaining dance with a pseudo-celebrity, as they expectedly nail the teaching process and then either discuss the useful aspect that only one person really needs to know the rules for Hot Streak, anxiously hope for you to be entertained in the cricket game, or, best of all, confidently smirk as the game-breaking fuckery of the Viking game surfaces midway through, neatly left untaught by its creator.

Truly the magic of the expo.

There are many people at the expo you'd firmly place in the stereotype you're currently imagining. And yet, one of the stalls with the most buzz that blocked adjacent paths as people wanted in on the vibes, was a group of 10 mates in their early 20s, dressed as jesters running a ridiculous party-game-dungeon-crawler where you wander through Ol' Engoland singing sea shanties and befriending monsters. As it turns out, this game was made by two brothers and they get their mates to help out with marketing at big events. They opened their kickstarter on May 20th with a goal of hitting £9000. They closed their kickstarter on the 16th June having hit £1.3 million.

Highly recommend the expo, it's nerdy, it's fun, there's good food and passable coffee.