A thread for convention plans, since I’ve just booked my hotel. I expect to spend about half my time demoing for either Wotan Games (if they get a booking together) or Ares (Wings of Glory), but on past form I have more fun wandering round the halls with a friend than solo.
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What hotel are you staying in? I’m about 5 minutes away in Coleshill, because it was £50 a night rather than £200
Ibis Coventry South, same reason - it’s about 20 minutes’ drive in. (For anyone else, I’d recommend it, but I have very specific demands of hotels: quiet, parking, and breakfast. I don’t care about a gym or the TV in the room, etc.)
I’m going, with Mrs Dangerous! We booked the Premier Inn, just round the corner immediately after last year. Booked in on the BITS Traveller game, and a Runequest one (can’t remember the actual names off-hand). Last year we spent Saturday on a mad dash around the halls, but this year we’ve bought 3 day tickets! Looking forward to finding some gems in the bring and buy, my Mrs has a serious boardgame addiction though, lucky I drive a Mondeo, really . . .
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I booked at the Ibis hotel by the airport (wooo! Sky train!) after I saw the 2023 dates in their Programme PDF
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I need to get around to actually booking this and finding a hotel 
Sadly no longer a maglev, but being cable-hauled with rubber tyres it’s pleasantly quiet.
In previous years they’ve hidden the URL, but there’s a public interface to the Bring and Buy so that you can actually see what’s there before you plunge into the undifferentiated random mass. That might just be frustrating, of course.
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If any of you are in or near Manchester then you’d be welcome at my alternative “con”. Couldn’t justify the hotel cost and would rather spend it on more game and some beer!
I’d planned to invite friends and acquaintances to a hired pub/community centre venue, but following feedback on availability and cost preferences it has turned into a house invasion for the weekend. Let me know if you’re in need of gaming action at zero cost and we can squeeze you in!
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I had planned to skip this year, but when confronted this my oldest and normal Expo partner suggested otherwise …
So … our usual hotel is booked out and travel from Edinburgh (used to be a flight) is less fun. How is driving from a further (and cheaper) hotel and parking each day? Are there big queues?
I used to book on a hotel in Central Bham and take the train or Uber it to the NEC. It was far away that it was affordable yet it was easy to access.
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I stay at the Ibis Coventry South, which is basic but clean (and has that essential component for me an unlimited hot breakfast buffet), and drive in each day, taking about 15-20 minutes, with very little in the way of queues but I’m tending to turn up an hour before nominal opening time because I’ll be demoing. You can book a parking space at the NEC in advance, which is worth doing - they’ll be using NEC East which is a mild walk, but there are shuttle buses. (Some people bring camper vans…)
My wife’s just been to the Eastercon at the NEC Hilton, and stayed in the Strawberry Bank Hotel in Meriden, which is even closer (about ten minutes). She says: “Breakfast ok but not buffet, bed comfortable, family feel to it. prices wildly different from day to day: Thu £60.30, Fri £62.10, Sat £72, Sun £55.80, Mon £62.10. Breakfast costs extra. Pleasant place on the whole.”
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All booked up now with son 1 and looking forward to it.
Still don’t know when I’ll be working, but it looks as though I’ll be working for Ares Games (Wings of Glory).
Programme is up: https://media.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/prod/documents/Magazine_2023_ONLINE_small.pdf
No map, apparently as a matter of policy
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Have my ticket for the Friday, but concerned that there will be no/minimal trains on that day.
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My list so far: UKGE 2023 Checklist | BoardGameGeek
I got discouraged with Planet B after getting more information about it. One of the club members saw my Geeklist and he’ll let me lend The Light in the Mist. Only the top 2 are the must-have
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My ukge alternative gaming weekend seems like it’s actually going to happen 
Hope you lot all have fun at the big one. Let the rest of us know what the highlights were 
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This is my list for checking out at the expo. Based mostly on a skim of the new game list on the UKGE website.
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I can vouch for turing machine. It takes a couple of plays before you start to see that lots can be inferred from ALL of the cards being required for the solution.
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Hoping to get in a demo of that at some point; it’s very nearly a buy for me right now…
Provided I can get to UK games expo. Lol my train is at 5 am because of strikes, you can have mine! Let me know where you are at on Saturday and I’ll pop it over.
Edit: of course I know that 99 percent of the joy of board games is peeling off plastic wrap. I was going to put it in the bring and buy otherwise.
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