UKGE Recap – How Did I Survive My First Ever Board Game Convention?

The United Kingdom’s biggest board game convention is, without question, UK Games Expo. This year was bigger than ever, with a record-breaking attendance of almost 90,000 people over the three days of the event. As it happens, it was also my very first board game convention as Brand & Marketing Manager at Mindclash Games.

Hopeful Expectations

I think I am a well-organised person and I plan to prepare everything in advance. We packed everything we needed, we double-checked that we packed everything we needed, passport, ETA, tickets, credit cards, booth number, plugs, pricelists, hi-vis vests, etc. At that point, I was feeling quite pleased with ourselves. Everything seemed under control, we were ready to go, and I was already starting to think of the trip as a holiday. Unfortunately, I failed to consider the Law of Murphy, which is: „Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

NEC Birmingham

UKGE is a three-day convention held at the NEC Birmingham during the last weekend of May in 2026. However, the convention scene was completely new for me, Birmingham is not. Not just because like many of you, I played Brass Birmingham a lot, or watched Peaky Blinders, but because I lived for 4 years in the West Midlands, namely in Rugby and Coventry. Therefore – in a way – it was like coming home for me. And that sense never faded throughout the event.

Funny enough, despite flying between Birmingham and Budapest many times and seeing the NEC signs from the train station, I had never actually visited the venue before. The venue is huge, there were 3 halls altogether, one of them split into 2 sections. To get from Hall 4 (where we were located) to Hall 2 could easily take 15 minutes through the crowds. But obviously even more, feeling lost among the hundreds of thousands of boxes of amazing board and tabletop games. 

A lot of you may know this already, but we had a mix-up with our booth, and first we only had a 6 square metres area in Hall 3, but with the help of our Head Demoer, Hendri and the amazing team behind UKGE, we’ve got a 50 square metres one instead in Hall 4. The only catch was that we were placed on the edge of the hall, close to the storage area used by exhibitors (going under the perfectly chosen name: the Void). Fortunately, a lot of you eventually found us, and in the end, our tables were full all 3 days. 

Setting Up

Although the convention starts on Friday, we arrived one day earlier to set up the booth and arrange everything that’s needed. The journey from Budapest was already long, as there were no direct flights to Birmingham that day, so we travelled from Heathrow instead. We even had large, heavy bags with us, packed with tools and accessories we needed for the booth. But against all odds, we arrived at the venue on time and transformed our space into the welcoming booth you eventually saw. It was extremely hot both inside and outside, so it felt like we were getting an extra workout before the convention had even started.

Mindclash Demo Team

To meet and spend time with the Mindclash Demo Team was a wonderful experience. I was really excited and nervous at the same time to do so, but they made all of my concerns go away in a minute. They are true professionals with deep knowledge of the industry, and they are all exceptionally fun people to spend time with. Most of them took a long trip from home to join us and make the event as smooth as possible. (So they definitely went the extra mile!) 😉

No wonder our tables were full all the time. Their enthusiasm and game explanations were infectious. A lot of people even came to us to give nice reviews about them.

I have to say, we are truly grateful for their help and professional approach! They had helped me a lot at the convention, how to navigate between tasks and by sharing general knowledge. Meeting them in person reminded me how important face-to-face interactions really are, and also that I have to redo our Essen Demo schedule to provide them a better fit. 

You People

I think the most important thing which made this convention so exceptional was You. (Close seconds are the board games of course). Obviously, no convention and no board games would exist without you, only empty halls, tables and chairs.(How sad just to imagine…) But the thing is, that your presence, kind words, great vibe, curiosity and shared excitement helped me get through the long days. Which brings us to the next chapter, the days of our lives under the convention.

Days of Our Life

Thanks to the Hotel’s restaurant where we had our accommodation, we started our day the best way possible: with a proper English breakfast. (I have no shame telling you this, but yes, EVERY morning!) Naturally, it had a great boost on our days that only started to fade in the afternoon. We arrived at the venue around 8 a.m. each morning and prepared the booth to welcome visitors.

One thing no amount of preparation could have prepared me for was seeing the halls fill up on each morning. Before the doors opened, everything felt calm and empty. A few minutes later, thousands of visitors were pouring into the venue, maps in hand, heading towards their goal.

One of the biggest surprises was how approachable everyone was. Whether it was visitors stopping by to ask questions, fellow exhibitors sharing advice, or content creators introducing themselves, there was a genuine sense of openness throughout the event. Despite the size of UKGE, it never felt overwhelming.

We had to pay close attention to which type of games, what titles people wanted to play during the expo at our tables, so we sometimes closed and in some cases opened new demo tables. 

If there was one title that stood out throughout the weekend, it was Emberheart. From the moment the doors opened, visitors were constantly stopping by to ask about it, demo it, or pick up a copy. Watching players discover the world, characters, and gameplay for the first time was one of the highlights of the entire convention.

No wonder by Saturday morning, Emberheart had already sold out. By Sunday morning, Voidfall, Trickerion Anniversary Edition and Septima followed. 

Day by day I had great meetings with wonderful content creators such as Polyhedron Collider,  NinjaGeek Games, Playalongwithmae, JUCCHEE, Allies or Enemies, Shut Up & Sit Down and Gaming Rules!

After the closing hours we were heading out somewhere to eat. Sadly, we hadn’t made restaurant reservations, which turned out to be essential for a group our size, so we ended up in the same place where we started our day: in the Hotel’s Restaurant. (Full circle moment.) But we did not waste all of our time eating, we had hilarious conversations and amusing game nights until our heads fell down.

Key takeaways 

• A great demo team is worth its weight in gold.
• A busy table is the best advertisement.
• Staying flexible always pays off.
• Stock disappears faster than expected.
• Face-to-face conversations are irreplaceable.
• Never underestimate the importance of restaurant reservations.

And of course, I owe a special thanks to Robin, our designer (Septima, Justice (Work title)) and resident sociologist-journalist, for helping me survive my first-ever convention. He not only provided invaluable advice and guidance, but also became my partner-in-crime when it came to sampling British food, tasting local ciders, and rediscovering Coventry.

I hope you enjoyed this slightly rambling recap and had just as much fun at UKGE as I did. If we didn’t get a chance to meet this time, make sure to stop by and say hello at Essen Spiel this October!