GridCon Review

I spent last weekend nestled in the picturesque town of Tiverton, Devon, or at least I am told it is. I didn’t get out of the hotel to see it… because I was at a games convention! GridCon is the brand new gaming convention courtesy of Paul Grogan of Gaming Rules! (Gaming Rules in Devon con… GridCon… see?) Not to be confused with Paul Harris who runs Handy Con. In the UK it is the law that only people named Paul can run conventions. 

As I have done in the past when attending a new convention, I thought I would provide a little write up of the event.

Note: I’ve done quite a few media things with Paul in the past and would obviously like to see him do well. That means I am a bit biased. Fortunately, they did a really good job with this convention, so I don’t have to feel conflicted. Phew!

Like most of the UK’s convention circuit, this takes the form of a hotel conference room or four filled with gamers, tables and board games. Which, let’s be honest, is a pretty strong start. There are no exhibitors, as in a UK Games Expo, but there were quite a number of rather famous UK (and beyond) designers in attendance, surreptitiously showcasing/testing prototypes or just playing games like the rest of us. And of course, there was Paul on hand to run demos of various games on his luxurious Game Topper adorned table. I got drafted into a surprise game of Flick Fleet which was as clever as it is ridiculous.

The real draw of GridCon though, for me, was the chance to play all those big games released at Essen. A chance made so much more likely by the games library, stocked with all the titles I wish i could have got at Spiel, and then some! There is just one game from my most anticipated games video I wasn’t able to try (Flotilla…) and that is only because I ran out of time. But I also got to play a couple of others multiple times and one I hadn’t heard of that proved exceedingly good (La Stanza). In terms of trying lots of new games, this con was a triumphant success!

I even got to beat Vital Lacerda at Copenhagen. Which I’m taking as a personal triumph!

One thing that really impressed me, and took me quite by surprise, was how good the hotel itself was. Or rather, I should say, the staff. They were helpful, they were attentive, they would go out of their way to make things easier. This is an astonishing contrast to the majority of board game convention hotels where service is glacial if you can even find bar staff at all! Meanwhile the prices for food and drink were positively reasonable, and the food especially was exceedingly generous in both quantity and quality! What a wonderful surprise to not be left feeling ripped off and ignored by greedy hotel chain policy and under-trained staff. It was clear someone at the Best Western at Tiverton cared and made sure their staff cared too.

OK, slightly in danger of turning this into a hotel review rather than a convention review. There is not much more to say. It is a little out of the way, for those of you travelling by public transport or not near the south west of the country. But that is the only negative thing I can think of. 

This was a fairly simple con (not much in the way of events) but an exceedingly well ran one, which is exactly what you need from a first time convention. There was a big (BIG!) games raffle, and the usual local store in the corner and a bring and buy to tempt you. Whether they will start experimenting with more events in the coming years remains to be seen but honestly it doesn’t need anything more. It’s a venue to play games, and with plenty of space, a generous game library and attentive hotel staff, they’ve already done a fantastic job of creating that!

Rating: On the Grid

But what games did I play? Well! I may have a little video in the works discussing exactly that.