Hear from Jay, Head of Retail and Chief Board Game Correspondent, about his highlights and best finds at UK Games Expo!
This May, Chance & Counters was at the UK Games Expo for the first time! We had an absolute blast there, seeing both new and familiar (not to say old) faces. It was really the cherry on top of our tenth birthday, seeing the community we’ve worked so hard to create come together.
Now that we’re all back home, there’s lots to tell you about. That’s why I met up with Jay, our Head of Retail, to ask him all about the Expo: what were the highlights? What’s coming to each site and to our shop?
We have some really great games coming, including some massively popular ones which are impossible to find (spoiler alert, one of them rhymes with Nagical Bathlete 👀).
Have a read below, and stay ahead of the curve!
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Chance & Counters at UKGE
Miriam: I’m guessing you’ve had a pretty busy weekend at the UKGE?
Jay: See, I opted not to work.
M: Oh, bold choice.
J: I’ve got an eight-year-old son who is really into board games, so I want to spend all the time I can in the world with him before he becomes a teenager and hates me.
M: (laughs) Very fair.
J: So, I did all the work leading up to UKGE to make sure they had an easy time during the Expo. We were sponsoring the event, and we also did the Hilton Games Library, so I brought in 450 games, unboxed them all and sorted them all out. It was huge! It was a huge undertaking, so I didn’t want to do more work while I was there.
M: Then you must have had a pretty nice time hanging out with your son?
J: It was amazing! Anybody who’s got a tentative interest in board games, UKGE is just an amazing experience. It’s huge, stretches over 3 days, and there’s loads of stuff to do and see, including live shows. It’s just a brilliant thing to do with family or friends.
M: Any highlights from attending?
J: Probably the funniest thing for me was with my boy. My oldest used to be into Pokémon and used to come to UKGE with me, alright? So we bought Pokémon, and we had loads of Pokémon. Then we moved house at the start of this year, and I said to my kids, ‘What do you want to do with the Pokémon cards?’ and unanimously it was ‘not interested, no, let’s just throw them away’, okay cool, fine. And then suddenly my youngest goes to UKGE, and what does he want? He just wants Pokémon. It’s just infuriating. We have to start from the ground up again.
M: (laughs) That’s some luck.
J: Pokémon has just had a mad resurgence. I think it’s the social media influencers that have really pushed it. It’s crazy!
We ended up playing a lot of card games at the Expo, my son and I. He’s into anime right now, and there’s a new Naruto trading card game that’s being released. But it’s so expensive to get into these things! We wanted to buy a two-player set, and they didn’t have one. Instead, you have to buy boosters, so you had to buy £50 worth of booster packs to start playing 2-player.
M: Wow, what a seamless opportunity to shamelessly plug our own card collector game, CCCCG, available online and at every Chance & Counters site, with a very accessibly priced starter pack 😀
J: Actually, our game did pretty well at UKGE! People were pretty excited about the new cards we have out. We collaborated with Left Handed Giant, who brew our House IPA, Luck and Logic, and their artist made some really awesome cards.
Games & Makers We’re Keeping an Eye On
M: Regarding games, what’s new? What are we looking out for?
J: There’s one company that’s been putting out some really good stuff: Allplay. They’re an American company that started out making board game tables, but branched out into games a few years ago. They had a pretty big presence at the Expo, with a big stand, showing lots of stuff.
They’ve got different ranges: pocket-size, mid-size, and then a third, larger range. The smaller and medium games are absolutely perfect for our cafés, and we have a lot of them coming in.
Do you know Oink Games?
M: Yeah, like Dropolster.
J: Yeah, so Allplay make smaller games like that, but at a lower price, around £8.99, and with the equivalent amount of gameplay.
The next set up retails at about £16.99, and they have more game per pound than Oink Games, at around the same price point. So we want to bring those into the café.
Things in Rings
J: Things in Rings is an example of a game that’s done really well. We sold it at Christmas, and now it’s back in stock after being out for a while.
It’s a great, cerebral party game that pushes around the edges of a few arguments (in a healthy, positive way!). That’s what I like. I enjoy games that cause a discussion afterwards. What were you thinking? Why did you do this?
M: There was one time a couple was playing it in Cardiff. ‘The Knower’ asked me to have a look at their game and see how ‘The Guesser’ was doing. He showed me his cards, and I thought 90% of his sorting was nonsense.
J: That’s what it’s all about. Playing games like Things in Rings or Wavelength, you can see how people perceive the world and understand certain things. So that’s a really good game from Allplay.
French Toast
J: There’s another Allplay game I’m excited to get in the cafés. It’s called French Toast. It’s a reprint of a game we used to have years ago. You couldn’t find it anywhere for a while, but it’s back now, and it’s a great game. Allplay are experts at kinda bringing back old titles and repackaging them.
French Toast is a cooperative word game. You are communicating with an alien, and you gotta use clues to ask what object he has in mind. The initial word you start with is always ‘French Toast’. As the guesser, I’ll start saying words, and the alien has to decide if the word I’ve said is closer or farther to his target than ‘French Toast’, without saying any other words.
M: That sounds fun, especially if you are a couple of Margaritas in. Is the game in all C&C locations so far?
J: It’s currently at Gloucester Road to play, but I’ll be getting it in soon for the other sites, as well as in their shops to sell.
Mountain Goats
J: Mountain Goats has been a bit of an evergreen with us. It’s a semi-quasi-push-your-luck game. You take control of some goats and roll dice to move them up a mountain. If you get to the top, then you get a certain number of points, but other players’ goats can knock you down as well.
It’s a really nice game. It’s currently out as one of their mid-range games, but it’s going to come out as a smaller, pocket-sized game at £8.99.
M: Are we going to stock that?
J: Yes, we are currently stocking the medium one, but will be getting the smaller one in!
Allplay are a big favourite of mine. They do really great packages.
Timber Town
J: There’s another company, Alley Cat Games, that is making great games.
One of the best games that my boy and I played at UKGE was a game called Timber Town.
J: Head-to-head game, two-player. It’s a little puzzle-y. It’s got a little essence of Tiny Towns to it. You are beavers competing to build the best town. Every game you’ll get a different goal, different tiles you need to draft and build up, so every match is different.
It’s a simple game, not super adversarial. It’s a nice time, I really liked it. And my boy, too, even though I beat him, it’s fine. It’s not a game where you crush your opponents. You’re just trying to figure out your own personal puzzle.
M: That sounds like a nice game for families, maybe couples as well.
J: Yeah, exactly. Every café is going to have it for sure.
Foxglove Farm
J: Bigger tip, bigger game from the same company: Foxglove Farm.
This is a work placement game. You are constructing buildings and trails to produce and sell goods for points. It’s a good family game, but a bit more expansive, more ‘thinky’. It’s another game that has been reissued, and given a new look with the little animal farmers.
It’s a really nice one. Every café is going to have it on the wall and to sell.
The Vibe
J: For party games, we have one coming called The Vibe.
It’s kind of like a party game with A-levels. You work together as a team. You’re using a series of artworks from across time and all around the globe to get your mate to discover your keyword, so you use these artworks to give them a ‘vibe’ of what the word is, organising them from most to least relevant.
M: Oh interesting, that reminds me a bit of Dixit.
J: Yeah, if Dixit didn’t exist, this game wouldn’t exist. Dixit is responsible for a whole slew of games. But we’re looking forward to bringing this to the cafés. It won’t be up for sale, yet, but people can use it on site.
SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
M: And on the heavy strategy front, anything good coming?
J: Yes! Even though it’s an ‘older’ game from 2024, we’ve only just got it in stock: SETI, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
M: Oh, I’ve had people come in asking for that. One of them informed me it was all the rage in San Francisco. I’ll take his word for it.
J: Yeah, it’s a heavier, deeper strategy game, but it’s broken into the public consciousness, which is less usual for heavier strategy games. But SETI is one of those from recent history. It’s been hard to get hold of it, but it’s now available to a wider audience.
Unmatched: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
J: We have a new Unmatched set that is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed. Most cafés will have this in stock soon.
Unmatched is a series with a common game system. It’s actually mine and my family’s favourite game. It’s quite adversarial. The core game has you battling each other using well-known characters. Previous sets have featured Sherlock Holmes, the Invisible Man, things like that. It really feels like you’re playing each character. It’s very well done.
The TMNT set is actually the second cooperative set they’ve done. It was launched at UKGE, so we’ve got that in stock now. And the great thing is that you can take these characters and use them in other Unmatched sets.
The Chance & Counters Favourites
Magical Athlete
J: There are two big games we need to talk about. First, Magical Athlete.
M: Ooh, I love Magical Athlete!
J: Magical Athlete had a big presence at UKGE. They had a big version of it that was always super busy. It’s been really well-received and sought after, which has made it impossible to find anywhere. But we’re finally going to be getting copies in between mid and late June!
M: A lot of people have come in to C&C asking after it, so this is pretty good news.
J: It’s definitely one of the biggest games of the past year, so we’re excited to get it in stock!
Hot Streak
J: The other big game we’ve got coming is Hot Streak.
It’s from the same publisher as Magical Athlete, CMYK, and it shares a similar DNA. It’s a big party game with a push-your-luck element and a lot of fun, chaotic gameplay.
It’s also been difficult to find anywhere, so we’re excited to stock Hot streak!
Catan on the Road
J: Another game we’re excited to have at Cance & Counters is Catan on the Road.
Obviously, Catan is a massive presence at UKGE, and of course they had this there to showcase. It is literally a card game version of Catan. It was released a couple of months ago, and we’ve already got it in stock. I think it’s going to be one of the bestsellers this year, up there with Flip Seven.
Catan on the Road has basically replaced Catan for a lot of people. It plays in 15 minutes, but it has the same feeling as regular Catan. You’re trading the same resources, collecting points, stealing, all the good stuff as in the original game.
Thank you to Jay for once again lending us his expertise, and thank you to everyone we saw at UKGE!
There was such a great buzz, so many lovely people. It was really special seeing everyone from all over come together. It’s good to be reminded of what this is all about.
For more highlights of the expo, check out our Instagram!
We’ve got lots of great things coming, not only these games, but whole new lines of merch that we launched at the Expo, so be sure to keep in touch.
Looking forwards to seeing you guys at UKGE next year! Until then, we’ll see you soon your local Chance & Counters 🙂
All of these games are available online or at our Chance & Counters board game cafés in Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham.
