UKGE 2018 show report

It’s that time of year again when Elaine and I met our friends, Val and Chris, for UKGE at Birmingham NEC. We were a bit nervous due to last year’s fiasco: Snowy cut his paw and needed stitches; motorway snarl-up’s; torrential rain etc. This year everything was fine and we got to the site by 10:30am on Friday. We were staying at a hotel the other side of Birmingham International station, a few minutes walk from the venue. The show had basically the same feel as last year, with a huge array of traders, games, punters, cosplayers and events. There was a second hall this time which eased crowding and allowed a large open gaming section to be included on the NEC site, which meant we did not have to visit the Hilton hotel to play games in the evening. Overall, I think this expansion worked well and was a definite improvement. On the downside, the evening catering at the NEC was poor and, shockingly, there was no bar! Unbelievably, the Wetherspoons opposite the show was also closed in the evening; a missed opportunity because they could have made a fortune! The organisers could also have provided more re-cycling and litter facilities because the few small bins were soon overflowing.

We spent the next couple of days alternating between shopping, gaming, talking to traders and occasionally trying new kickstarter games. We did not visit the Bring and Buy; the queues were horrendous and I have previously found the prices to be too high (very few bargains available). We also did not attend any of the talks, which is surprising because we normally like to do this. My shopping haul is shown below:

We did not spend too much. Elaine was really taken with Parfum which she bought after playing at Thirsty Meeples. She also visited Ragnar Brothers, whose games we have enjoyed in the past, and purchased a hiking game set in the Lake District (where she originally comes from). We got a copy of Mind the Gap mainly because we wanted a game based on the London Underground network. I finally got a copy of Paperback, which I have wanted for some time, plus I bought some bits for miniature gaming; tokens, dice and book of laminated floor plans. Elaine also got some meeple earrings from Jennifer Ham, wife of Rahdo!

Much of our time at the show was spent gaming and a list of the games played (plus my personal rating for each game) is given below:

Minerals	4/5
Lost Cities Boardgame	3/5
Pikoko	2/5
Pesky Gnomes	1/5
Parfum	4/5
Ice Cool	3/5
Century Spice Road	5/5
Photosynthesis	4/5
Mind the Gap	3/5
Cottage Gardens	4/5

The best game played was easily Century Spice Road (which Val bought); excellent mechanics, fast playing, visually attractive and good components (I particularly liked the inclusion of spice cups to hold the cubes). Elaine especially liked Parfum, which strongly resembled Fresco with a different theme added. Cottage Gardens was basically a multi-player version of the 2-player game, Patchwork, and we liked this a lot. Another increased player count game was the Lost Cities Boardgame but unlike Cottage Gardens, I felt this multi-player version was not as good as the original. Minerals was a very nice kickstarter game (to be released at Essen), which is like “Hey, That’s My Fish” but with more depth: different theme, set collection, restricted moves, variable goals. The hex tiles are also more substantial and the player tokens are suckers that enable the hex’s to be removed easily from the board. Photosynthesis seemed to be one of the ‘hit’ games of the show with many people buying and playing it. Although I enjoyed playing the game, I was not as enthused as I hoped to be (possibly I just need to play more games before it grabs me). Pikoko was a strange game resembling the classic card game, Contract-Whist. You can see the other players hands (cards are held in a peacock standee) but not your own. You bet on the tricks the other players might take, and you play cards of the player to your left, not your own. The game works but it feels counter-intuitive and uncomfortable because you want to see and play your own hand of cards. Finally, Ice Cool is just a silly bit of fun which I can see working well with young children, and I was impressed with the way the box rooms fit together.

Elaine and I left UKGE late on Saturday afternoon feeling rather exhausted and not too overspent. We did not attend the final day but I think a full 3 days at the convention would prove too much. On the Sunday, Elaine and I unboxed and played Paperback. It is as good as I hoped. A nice combination of Scrabble and Dominion. It takes the best of both and is fun, certainly much more enjoyable than basic Scrabble. There is a co-op variant that we have yet to try.