The Best Board Game and RPG Conventions

Written by James Wallis

It’s a whole new year – which means it’s time to plan out our holidays, strategically book time off work, and allocate resources to the different things we want to do. All that can feel a bit like playing a board game, so if you haven’t included at least one games event on your list, you’re missing out on a good time. 

The UK is home to over a hundred tabletop events every year, all of them stacked with enthusiasm and joy for all shapes and sizes of games, from casual pick-ups to weekend-long mega-games with hundreds of players. Here’s a selection of some of the best for the year ahead.

HandyCon

Running four times a year, Handycon is an ideal introduction to games conventions: it’s not too big and not too expensive, with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, and an excellent games library covering everything from light socials to massive strategy. It’s all based in a hotel in Milton Keynes so you can game all night if you want. Check the website for the 2025 dates.

AireCon

Airecon is only eight years old but is already attracting almost five thousand gamers to the Harrogate Convention Centre every spring, and has spun off sibling events in Manchester and Telford. Its reputation is as a gamer’s convention: there are exhibitors and a few seminars but the emphasis is on hall after hall of open gaming tables waiting for players. The atmosphere is excellent, the bring-and-buy is colossal, and it’s a no-nonsense good time. 

Salute

Salute is the show for wargamers and miniatures enthusiasts. Organised by the South London Warlords, it’s a one-day event dominated by exhibition games with spectacular scenery and over 120 trade stands. Salute is an institution, and for many it’s more of a chance to see old friends than an excuse to buy stuff - though they’ll still buy a lot of stuff there.

UK Games Expo

The great gathering of the tribes, UK Games Expo is where everyone comes together once a year. Now the biggest tabletop show the UK has ever seen, and the second-largest English-language games event in the world, it’s a fantastic mix of traders from all over the world, plenty of spaces to play your purchases or favourite games you’ve brought with you, plus talks, performances, a Viking village and more. The hotels on site get booked up early, but you can come for one day, or stay in Birmingham and nip in by train every morning.

Read our Guide to UK Games Expo if you're thinking of attending this year.

Strange Games Festival

If you love games but wish they were a bit more outdoorsy, or like music festivals apart from all the tunes, then Strange Games is for you. A gathering of five hundred people on a Sussex campsite for a long weekend, it started in 2016 as a group of Werewolf players and has grown steadily ever since. These days it’s a mix of social games and megagames, and traditional boardgames from a huge library. You can bring your own tent or book a pre-pitched one. Unique!

Mindsports Olympiad

If you’re into games for the competitive element, or you love watching top-level players competing, then the annual Mind Sport Olympiad is a must-visit. It’s the mental equivalent of the Olympics, a tournament of brainpower and tactics across a mix of classics and recent titles including Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Wingspan and 7 Wonders Duel. With financial prizes available alongside the medals, it’s a ferocious competition over eight days, MSO also runs qualifiers at UK Games Expo and online, so look out for those.

Tabletop Scotland

It’s far from the only Scottish games convention, but Tabletop Scotland has risen quickly to become the largest in the country, with a growing reputation to match. Now in larger premises close to Edinburgh Airport, it attracts visitors from far and wide with a large trade hall, loads of open-play space and even a game jam for anyone wanting to try a spot of design. You shouldn’t need an excuse to visit Edinburgh, but if you do then this is it.

Dragonmeet

2025 is Dragonmeet’s 25th year and it’s celebrating by moving to the ExCel centre, to give it new space to breathe. Originally set up in 2000 as a one-day event with an emphasis on RPGs and fantasy, these days it covers more general games, but still it packs a lot of activity, trading and play into a few hours. It’s also a great place to pick up some unusual Christmas presents for the gamers in your life.

Here's everything you need to know about Dragonmeet. 

Local events

If you’re new to games events then maybe try a smaller show in your local area to start with, something like TringCon in Tring, or the self-explanatory Dudley Bug Ball. For hardier types there are long-running perennials like Leicester’s Manorcon, which started in 1983, or Gaelcon in Dublin. Some cities have games festivals: Norwich and Manchester, for example, though be warned the London Games Festival is almost 100% videogames. There are even specialist-interest events like Fighting Fantasy Fest, or retailer-organised ones like ZatuCon. The selection is almost endless.

Overseas

Europe is a short flight or a moderate train ride from the UK, and the range of games gatherings there boggles the mind. Try experimental games at Denmark’s Fastaval, the open-air Paris Est Ludique, or FLIP, the French festival that takes over the medieval town of Parthenay every July. Gen Con (Indianapolis, USA) and Spiel Essen (Essen, Germany, and we've got a beginners guide to Spiel Essen if you're debating it this year!) are the world’s biggest tabletop shows, equally amazing but very different in tone. I recommend all of them.

If none of those tickle your fancy or fit your diary, don’t lose hope. Dave Wright of Tabletop Scotland compiles a list of every upcoming UK and Irish games event. 

And if you still can’t find an event that caters to your taste, you can always arrange one yourself. It’s easier than you might think. Some years ago I was in a pub with friends, moaning how London didn’t have a decent games convention. “Someone should organise one!” I declared, and realised everyone was looking at me, and that was how Dragonmeet got started.