Top 10 Games UK Games Expo 2019

It’s UK Games Expo time again! The start of the con season, the start of the big releases for 2019, and a wonderful chance to try out upcoming Kickstarters. Even though the UKGE continues to grow, it remains small enough that it is just about possible to get around and see the whole show, even try out some of the smaller niche games which are still well represented here.

This year I’m sadly only around on the Friday so I’ll only get chance to try out one or two of these so I hope YOU can make the most of this list in my stead!

10 – Magnate

An upcoming Kickstarter, Magnate is a game of real estate moguls, buying land, building property and selling it on. And real estate moguls being real estate moguls, you’re going to crash the economy. The only question is when. It’s this question that hangs over the game as you buy, rent and sell, waiting for the right time to liquidate your assets and run. The answer to which will make or break your game! Magnate is a title I’ve actually played, albeit at a slightly earlier stage of development, and is definitely worth checking out!

Find Magnate at Naylor Games (2-T3)

9 – Ragusa

Calimala was an excellent Euro game released in 2017 with a fantastic action selection mechanism. Ragusa is that designer’s newest title with a similarly intriguing system: placing houses into the corners of a hex grid rewards players with the resources and actions associated with each of the neighbouring hexes. You also reactivate nearby houses as you do so, giving that similar positive interaction that made Calimala stand out to me so well.

Ragusa will be at Braincrack Games (Stand 1-836). Be sure to also check out Brain Crack’s other big upcoming Euro game, Venice.

8 – Chocolate Factory

I got to play an early prototype of Chocolate factory last year and rather enjoyed myself! Channel your inner Willy Wonka… or at least Mr Cadbury, to produce a quality street of miniature heroes. The physical factory production line is the game’s centrepiece, demanding timing and planning to turn your raw chocolate slabs into all manner of delectable treats. Hopefully the freshly foiled finished product will be just as tasty in the eating.

Taste Chocolate Factory at Alley Cat Games (1-936)

7 – Bosk

After the success of Photosynthesis I can’t deny the appeal of tree-based area control games! Bosk features growing trees in a national park in spring, then spreading your leaves about all autumn. The spring phase demands both chasing scoring and setting up the bases from which you’ll spread in the autumn phase. These linked segment games like Blue Lagoon last year are really quite interesting and I’m keen to play more of them. So it helps no end that Bosk is gorgeous. Sounds like a tree-t!

Find Bosk at Floodgate Games (2-336)

6 – Imperial Settlers & other dice games

It seems the Roll & Write releases continue apace with Imperial Settlers, Second Chance and Cat Café all showing their faces at the UKGE. Second Chance is card driven about filling a grid with polyomino shapes – the Patchwork roll & write as it were, and from Uwe Rosenberg no less. In Cat Café draw the best toys in the best places to attract the most cats. But I think my instinctive top pick goes to Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write for the more theme-led design and engine builder mechanics, rather novel for a roll and write! It also comes with a large deck of unique single player sheets as a challenge collection to complete.

The Imperials are Settling at Portal Games (2-552), Cat Cafe in Alley Cat Games (1-936) and a Second Chance at

5 – Europe Divided

If one game has had a powerful impact on me over the last couple of years, it is Twilight Struggle, a card driven political/economic battle for the soul of the world during the cold war. Europe Divided focuses in on the struggle between the EU and Russia during the 30 years that follow. It’s not the same system, but it’s in that vein and that certainly makes it interesting to me. Card driven, but built around your own decks. Will the weaker, but more responsive Russia rise against the more economically powerful but hopelessly bureaucratic EU?

Find out more about Europe Divided at Phalanx (2-205)

4 – Inuit

Inuit is a new card game from Board & Dice and they happen to have sent me a review copy of. So the fact that this is so high up on this list tells you it is holding up extremely well. You’re building an Inuit tribe by drafting cards into a tableau using a nice engine building/assignment system with a market that can grow or shrink according to how players act. It ends up nicely interactive without being in your face and plays super smoothly. Definitely recommend checking this out.

Inuit is available from Board&Dice (1-506)

3 – Undo

Following the undeniable success of the Exit and Unlock series, Pegasus has a new system of puzzles-in-a-box style games in the form of Undo. These aren’t about escaping a room, but helping someone escape an unpleasant fate. It’s a time travel game! Can you change history to save a life? That’s a fantastic premise though time travel is a notoriously difficult system to implement well in games. Details are a bit thin on the ground but if this lives up to its potential then I will be ecstatic!

Hit Undo at Pegasus Spiele (2-204)

2 – High Rise

From the designer of The Networks, comes High Rise, a game of building tall towers; very, very tall towers as components go! I enjoy a good city builder and this one brings in some interesting mechanical, thematic and component tweaks to the genre. Players make time based actions like Tokaido or The Dragon & Flagon, a turn system I really enjoy, with powerful actions available for landing in the right spots. There is also a corruption mechanic associated with the most powerful actions adding what will hopefully be a real source of tension.

Climb High Rise at Formal Ferret Games (2-402)

1 – Sanctum

Sanctum. A big box adventure to rid the world of monsters. It’s one epic fantasy trope after another: the last remaining city, the Lord of Demons, dice throwing, co-op. Surely we’ve seen it all before!? But this comes from the wild & wonderful Czech Games Edition who rarely put a foot wrong, as well as the designer of the excellent Adrenaline. If there is one designer who can bring something special to this set up it’s the man who euro-fied 1st person shooters. I am taking a lot of this on faith, but such is the way of anticipation and, lets be honest, this team has earned it.

Demo Sanctum at Czech Games Edition (2-418)

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What games are you looking forward to?