The convention, which has sold out before opening for three consecutive years, is currently operating at a hard capacity ceiling at the Indiana Convention Centre.
The surging visitor numbers - up 64% in just three years - mean UK Games Expo is now pushing steadily towards the 70,000-plus visitors recorded by giant US tabletop convention Gen Con each year since 2023, and is more than two and a half times larger than last year's Origins Game Fair.
Soaring interest in the show has now seen Spiel Essen boost its floor space four times in as many years, with this year's event in October set to be about 30% larger than the already massive 62,500 sq m show which took place in 2023.
The generally congested Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the show were joined by a noticeably busier Sunday this year after Spiel made the decision to get rid of four-day tickets - reasoning that many people were buying the whole-show pass but skipping out on the final day.
North America's biggest tabletop gaming convention, Gen Con, has scored another year of record attendance and exhibitor numbers, despite fears that ongoing US tariff volatility would see publishers and visitors choosing to skip the 2025 show.
Another year of surging growth has seen the British hobby gaming convention UK Games Expo overtake US giant Gen Con in trade hall size - putting it second only to Spiel Essen for trade hall floor space, co-organiser Richard Denning has told BoardGameWire.
North America’s biggest board games industry trade show, GAMA Expo, is moving to Baltimore after surging attendance numbers left the event straining at the seams again - just two years after the show shifted to Kentucky to handle growing interest.
The world's biggest board game fair, Spiel Essen, has posted a new post-Covid attendance record amid completely selling out of tickets for the four-day event for the first time in its 41-year history.
BoardGameWire spoke to a string of publishers who ran booths at this year's record-breaking Gen Con event, to get the inside track on highs, lows, opportunities and challenges at the show. Those responses were far more than we were able to use in our headline article - Gen Con celebrates record 71,000 attendance after event sells out for first time in history - so we've collected their views in their totality on this year's event here.
GAMA’s annual tabletop gaming convention Origins has sealed a record post-Covid attendance, with visitor numbers up 10% compared to last year's event.
