UK Games Expo is one of my favourite expos and I managed to spend three days there this time (the bonus being it's about 40 minutes drive from my house).
Highlights
I managed to speak to a lot of people over the long weekend, a few of which turned into opportunities (and hopefully future opportunities) to carry out a board game shoot for them.
Some of my highlights of the show were
Earth Rising - Stop, Drop & Roll Games
Viking Raiders - Neowulf Games
Heroes of the Shire - Senior Games
Resist! - Salt and Pepper Games
Anger Smash - How Am I Weird Games
Undermined! Pairadice City - Devilfly Games
1815 - Hall or Nothing Games
Wayfarer's Tale - Wayfarer Games
Quirky Quarks - Quirky Quarks SARL
Aethermon: Collect - Aethermon Studios
There were also two stands that really stood out for me, Mi-Box Live and Farplace Games.
Both of these companies are using boardgames as a way to support causes they really believe in, with Mi-Box Live using a hybrid app/boardgame approach to support the development of maths skills in younger students, and Farplace Games taking all profits made to support Farplace Animal Rescue.
Both of these are great examples of the power of boardgames, and a real inspiration in how they can be used for the public good.
[Edit: it was due to these two companies that we altered our pricing structure to offer free photoshoots for small charity, non-profit or companies working towards the public good in an area like education, health care or social services]

There were also a lot of other stands we caught up with, spoke to and discovered, some new to us and some more established - but we can't capture them all here.
So here's a few ad-hoc photos taken of some of the stands we spoke to as well.
Rising Dice Minion
I rarely buy things at expos, mainly for two reasons. If I open that flood gate I don't know where it ends, and (this is the main reason) my Rising Dice minion who always accompanies me does spend money - usually mine - and it's not her that end up carrying it all!
As always, we had a great time - though the Yu Gi Oh treasure hunt almost broke us - and honestly one of the joys of coming to expos like this is just trailing her around as she runs from stall to stall, usually at opposite ends of the halls!
(While I don't tend to buy much at the expos, I did then come away with a few things... Anger Smash, Resist! and Final Girl - A Knock on the Door did all make their way onto my game shelf).
People Photography
As well as boardgame photography my other passion is street photography, which I try to do as much as possible so I always like to end an expo by wandering around with my camera snapping shots of people engrossed in playing games or interacting with other players.
I usually don't spend that long doing this - by the end of three days there's not much walking left in my legs - but I did manage to catch a few this time around.
And you cannot beat the life sized model of Vault Boy!
Roll On 2025
While there are a few large boardgame expos left over the rest of 2024, I don't think you can beat the UK Games Expo, so here's looking forward to 2025!
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