Where to start? How do you go about writing a review about such a great event in my home city, the first ever here proper board game convention in Leeds. I’m sure my blunt 10 point doggerel won’t be able to do the experience justice. But here goes.
When this was first announced we were super excited. A board game convention on our doorstep - what would it look like, where will it be hosted, what will be there - I guess there was a little bit of trepidation, there is always a risk that a first of anything will have teething troubles, venue issues, will anyone turn up?
We need not have worried. Being at conventions It’s like when you go to a concert or a gig and you’re surrounded by like minded people in the same place doing the same thing at the same time – it’s a great feeling. Hard to describe but, that’s what it is, a feeling, its personal but shared at the same time.
Organised by Andrew, his wife Emma, and his fantastic team I have to say all the comms, emails, the app and ticketing was effortless, pre event bring n buy worked perfectly.
Its fair to say it exceeded expectations many fold, and whilst it was in a hotel, small scale, limited numbers, (fully sold out by the way, and more in demand), don’t forget, UKGE started in a hotel 20 years ago, and look at where that is now. The space was just right, tables for gaming were never full but that meant there was always a space to drop your stuff and go grab something from the library or Bring n Buy. Too many people and space would have been too tight, 90% capacity about sums it up and it was just right.
I’ve said this many times, this is a hobby that brings people together and is a celebration of diversity – Leeds BGC was no different. It didn’t take long on the first morning in the open gaming area for that unmistakable “hubbub” to emerge, that ambience of game play chatter, broken sporadically by an outburst of laughter or a cheer of achievement or the groan of a less than favourable dice roll. It was all there, and its that magic feeling you get from being there.
The team were all be-decked in true Leeds colours of blue and amber and were super helpful with entry, the library (more on that later), the raffle (more on that later as well) and it was clear that they were pleased with the way it had turned out.
As this was the first Leeds BGC, there was a handful of vendors and given that was so local to us (we live 5 minutes away - although I must give a shout out to the couple who posted a picture of them on their way - from a plane!), we took the opportunity to support as many as we could so we picked up some cow meeples and some gorgeous artisan dice from Myles (Runefable), who it turned out is local as well – you never know until you speak with people! Clownfish games were doing good business and Hachette games were there doing fabulous pick up and demo games – what a
great idea! The team were there all weekend and there was a table stacked with titles, and it was a chance to pick up and play with teachers on hand – it was a lively corner, and very popular with familes, another great sign of the appeal of the hobby that all ages were there and participating.
I have to give a shout out to Charlotte (Chaz) and Paul for their unending enthusiasm on the Bring N Buy - again for a small first time convention, you might think, well its another thing to organise, staff, manage etc lets not bother, but again, they jumped in and it was really well run. Indeed, all the staff were great, dressed in Leeds’ blue with the Owl and Dice logo front and centre, they were easily spotted and always available for a chat or to direct you. It was evident that they really cared about the event and your experience of it.
The star and stand out feature of the event though, had to be the game library. I mean, just wow. So many titles, and it added so much to the weekend. There was over 650 titles across pretty much every genre and some extremely nice deluxe versions of some games - Nippon Zaibatsu, Puerto Rico, Cloudspire, Brass Lancashire to name a few, not sure how they did it but it was amazing. The team were on hand for advice on what to play, how long, rules clarification. One of the benefits of being a smaller convention was the cross over chatter in the library, people asking about certain games, rules, time etc. We tried a couple of new games on recommendation (thanks Ruth), and glad we did!
Yes, people brought their own stuff to play but looking around the open gaming areas there were so many different games being played and that was in large part to the variety available from the library, and with no “hot launch” must haves that are released at major cons, there was no clamouring for a particular title, wherever you looked people were playing differnet things, that really stood out for us. The quality of the library opened up for more choice to far more gamers it was genuinely superb.
Another highlight were the raffle(s), one on each day and four STACKS of games to buy raffle tickets for, with proceeds going to the Leeds Motor Neurone Disease research facility recently opened in the city, in memory of a Leeds and sporting hero Rob Burrow. There was unescapable emotion as Andrew spoke candidly about the charity and Rob’s memory, and it was good to be able to contribute to such worthy work. Across the weekend over £2000 was raised. Full marks everyone.
There were some nice little details as well - each room was clearly signposted, there was free deodarant in the gents toilets, the bins included recycling and the event team were emptying them regularly. If you pre-ordered a BGC mug you had free tea and coffee all weekend, including non dairy milk, something the hotel (shamefully) failed to provide all weekend. And if group participation is your thing, Blood on the Clocktower events were running across both days, must give that a try at some point.
There is clearly a demand for these types of events at this scale, Grid Con, Bay Con etc as well as the national events, and now Leeds BGC will, we hope, fit seamlessly
into the calendar for many years to come. It will definitely take place next year and has already grown to three days! Count us in!
Well done to Andrew, Emma, Sam and the team for bringing us such a great event and I caught up with a rather tired but happy tired organiser afterwards to hear his thoughts and reflections.
K: So Andrew, what are your immediate reflections on the event, months in the preparaton, organisation and delivery and now done?
A: Honestly I’m just delighted with the positivity, kind words, and more than that - the fact it felt exactly as I’d hoped. When planning this, my main goal was to have an event where people could come and play awesome games with awesome people; it feels like that mission was accomplished!
K: Where did the inspiration come from for the event and was the first one always going to be an event like this? Or were there other ideas floating around?
A: The idea stemmed back 18 months or so when my good friend, Sam, who was one of the stalwarts of volunteers, was having a baby. This meant he was missing AIRECON. As such we held a mini 8-person convention at our house for the weekend! After is, Chaz suggested to me and Emma that we could actually make this a real thing! Anyone who knows me knows I like to hyper fixate, and the 50 person church hall idea mooted by Chaz became LeedsBGC!
K: You have mentioned you could have sold more tickets due to demand, the overwhleming response has been very positive?
A: Yeah we had sold out with a couple of months to spare, which we really are so grateful for! Our friends Brad and Kate @bradandkategames over on instagram have been long time drum bangers, and this mixed with my own - somewhat toe curling - social media barrage, seems to have got the message to the right people! Since the event we’ve had some gorgeous video reviews from other folks online and it’s been genuinely heartwarming to see that so many people have had so much fun!
Where to start? How do you go about writing a review about such a great event in my home city, the first ever here proper board game convention in Leeds. I’m sure my blunt 10 point doggerel won’t be able to do the experience justice. But here goes.
When this was first announced we were super excited. A board game convention on our doorstep - what would it look like, where will it be hosted, what will be there - I guess there was a little bit of trepidation, there is always a risk that a first of anything will have teething troubles, venue issues, will anyone turn up?
We need not have worried. Being at conventions It’s like when you go to a concert or a gig and you’re surrounded by like minded people in the same place doing the same thing at the same time – it’s a great feeling. Hard to describe but, that’s what it is, a feeling, its personal but shared at the same time.
Organised by Andrew, his wife Emma, and his fantastic team I have to say all the comms, emails, the app and ticketing was effortless, pre event bring n buy worked perfectly.
Its fair to say it exceeded expectations many fold, and whilst it was in a hotel, small scale, limited numbers, (fully sold out by the way, and more in demand), don’t forget, UKGE started in a hotel 20 years ago, and look at where that is now. The space was just right, tables for gaming were never full but that meant there was always a space to drop your stuff and go grab something from the library or Bring n Buy. Too many people and space would have been too tight, 90% capacity about sums it up and it was just right.
I’ve said this many times, this is a hobby that brings people together and is a celebration of diversity – Leeds BGC was no different. It didn’t take long on the first morning in the open gaming area for that unmistakable “hubbub” to emerge, that ambience of game play chatter, broken sporadically by an outburst of laughter or a cheer of achievement or the groan of a less than favourable dice roll. It was all there, and its that magic feeling you get from being there.
The team were all be-decked in true Leeds colours of blue and amber and were super helpful with entry, the library (more on that later), the raffle (more on that later as well) and it was clear that they were pleased with the way it had turned out.
As this was the first Leeds BGC, there was a handful of vendors and given that was so local to us (we live 5 minutes away - although I must give a shout out to the couple who posted a picture of them on their way - from a plane!), we took the opportunity to support as many as we could so we picked up some cow meeples and some gorgeous artisan dice from Myles (Runefable), who it turned out is local as well – you never know until you speak with people! Clownfish games were doing good business and Hachette games were there doing fabulous pick up and demo games – what a great idea! The team were there all weekend and there was a table stacked with titles, and it was a chance to pick up and play with teachers on hand – it was a lively corner, and very popular with familes, another great sign of the appeal of the hobby that all ages were there and participating.
I have to give a shout out to Charlotte (Chaz) and Paul for their unending enthusiasm on the Bring N Buy - again for a small first time convention, you might think, well its another thing to organise, staff, manage etc lets not bother, but again, they jumped in and it was really well run. Indeed, all the staff were great, dressed in Leeds’ blue with the Owl and Dice logo front and centre, they were easily spotted and always available for a chat or to direct you. It was evident that they really cared about the event and your experience of it.
The star and stand out feature of the event though, had to be the game library. I mean, just wow. So many titles, and it added so much to the weekend. There was over 650 titles across pretty much every genre and some extremely nice deluxe versions of some games - Nippon Zaibatsu, Puerto Rico, Cloudspire, Brass Lancashire to name a few, not sure how they did it but it was amazing. The team were on hand for advice on what to play, how long, rules clarification. One of the benefits of being a smaller convention was the cross over chatter in the library, people asking about certain games, rules, time etc. We tried a couple of new games on recommendation (thanks Ruth), and glad we did!
Yes, people brought their own stuff to play but looking around the open gaming areas there were so many different games being played and that was in large part to the variety available from the library, and with no “hot launch” must haves that are released at major cons, there was no c
lamouring for a particular title, wherever you looked people were playing differnet things, that really stood out for us. The quality of the library opened up for more choice to far more gamers it was genuinely superb.
Another highlight were the raffle(s), one on each day and four STACKS of games to buy raffle tickets for, with proceeds going to the Leeds Motor Neurone Disease research facility recently opened in the city, in memory of a Leeds and sporting hero Rob Burrow. There was unescapable emotion as Andrew spoke candidly about the charity and Rob’s memory, and it was good to be able to contribute to such worthy work. Across the weekend over £2000 was raised. Full marks everyone.
There were some nice little details as well - each room was clearly signposted, there was free deodarant in the gents toilets, the bins included recycling and the event team were emptying them regularly. If you pre-ordered a BGC mug you had free tea and coffee all weekend, including non dairy milk, something the hotel (shamefully) failed to provide all weekend. And if group participation is your thing, Blood on the Clocktower events were running across both days, must give that a try at some point.
There is clearly a demand for these types of events at this scale, Grid Con, Bay Con etc as well as the national events, and now Leeds BGC will, we hope, fit seamlessly into the calendar for many years to come. It will definitely take place next year and has already grown to three days! Count us in!
Well done to Andrew, Emma, Sam and the team for bringing us such a great event and I caught up with a rather tired but happy tired organiser afterwards to hear his thoughts and reflections.
K: So Andrew, what are your immediate reflections on the event, months in the preparaton, organisation and delivery and now done?
A: Honestly I’m just delighted with the positivity, kind words, and more than that - the fact it felt exactly as I’d hoped. When planning this, my main goal was to have an event where people could come and play awesome games with awesome people; it feels like that mission was accomplished!
K: Where did the inspiration come from for the event and was the first one always going to be an event like this? Or were there other ideas floating around?
A: The idea stemmed back 18 months or so when my good friend, Sam, who was one of the stalwarts of volunteers, was having a baby. This meant he was missing AIRECON. As such we held a mini 8-person convention at our house for the weekend! After is, Chaz suggested to me and Emma that we could actually make this a real thing! Anyone who knows me knows I like to hyper fixate, and the 50 person church hall idea mooted by Chaz became LeedsBGC!
K: You have mentioned you could have sold more tickets due to demand, the overwhleming response has been very positive?
A: Yeah we had sold out with a couple of months to spare, which we really are so grateful for! Our friends Brad and Kate @bradandkategames over on instagram have been long time drum bangers, and this mixed with my own - somewhat toe curling - social media barrage, seems to have got the message to the right people! Since the event we’ve had some gorgeous video reviews from other folks online and it’s been genuinely heartwarming to see that so many people have had so much fun!
K: You’ve already hinted that next year will be across three days instead of two - already planning the next one? Any hints as to what you will want to include in a bigger event next time?
A: Somewhat! Plans are in motion and negotiations with some venues in Leeds are underway! We’d love to do three days as a way to extend everyone’s fun - it’s a bit of a tightrope though. Clearly there’s the demand for more - we could’ve sold 400-500 tickets for this year - but this has to be balanced with keeping that beautiful buzz and feeling that we had at the first event! Leave it with me! Oh and sign up at LeedsBGC.co.uk so you don’t miss out on any updates!
K: Just finally, want to say a big thank you to you and the team for organising Leeds’ first ever board gaming convention, Leeds BGC no. 1. Done.
A: Thank you so much for attending and being one of the awesome people playing awesome games!
K: You’ve already hinted that next year will be across three days instead of two - already planning the next one? Any hints as to what you will want to include in a bigger event next time?
A: Somewhat! Plans are in motion and negotiations with some venues in Leeds are underway! We’d love to do three days as a way to extend everyone’s fun - it’s a bit of a tightrope though. Clearly there’s the demand for more - we could’ve sold 400-500 tickets for this year - but this has to be balanced with keeping that beautiful buzz and feeling that we had at the first event! Leave it with me! Oh and sign up at LeedsBGC.co.uk so you don’t miss out on any updates!
K: Just finally, want to say a big thank you to you and the team for organising Leeds’ first ever board gaming convention, Leeds BGC no. 1. Done.
A: Thank you so much for attending and being one of the awesome people playing awesome games!
