2026 was UK Games Expo's biggest year ever

UK Games Expo took place this past weekend, and the convention reported record attendance figures of 51,196 unique attendees (up from 42,000 in 2025), holding on to its position as the 3rd largest tabletop gaming convention in the world. Vendors on the floor reported record sales figures, and the event itself has now expanded to cover multiple event halls with over 800 exhibitors.

Event	Unique Attendees	Exhibitors
Essen Spiel 2025	Unknown	948
Gen Con 2025	72,000	575
UK Games Expo 2026	51,196	800+
Play Festival del Gioco 2026	35,000 (approx)	200+
Pax Unplugged 2025	30,000 (est)	300+
Origins Game Fair 2025	19,171	410

By comparison, Gen Con 2025 boasted almost 72,000 attendees, but fewer exhibitors, while Origins Game Fair pulled in 19,171. Essen Spiel, in Germany, published 220,000 visitors in 2025, but only reports turnstile figures, not unique attendees (i.e. if a visitor enters and leaves more than once, they get counted multiple times--this is the figure that UKGE calls 'total attendees'). The top 6 list also includes Pax Unplugged (30,000+ estimated attendees) and Italy's Play Bologna which boasted 35,000 unique attendees this year. There are, of course, other large conventions which cover the broader topic of pop culture, including Comic Con, DragonCon, and so on, rather than being tabletop gaming specific.

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[Eyes of Nine]

Hopefully the EN Publishing after action report is forthcoming.

 

[agrayday]

means floor space will be exponentially higher next year.

 

[Morrus]

What interests me is Games Expo, fills all this with no official WotC presense at all, no Magic the Gathering other than a few vendors selling cards, no D&D other than a few games GMs offer to run, even the vendors don't seem to have a significant number of D&D books.

A lot of the time, WotC isn't at Gen Con either. This year, they are taking over a separate building. But in terms of exhibitor space, they don't typically take up more space on the floor than, say, Paizo or Games Workshop, or Asmodee, or some of the large retailers, etc. Even the largest stands/booths in the exhibitor halls are still just stands/booths, albeit larger than the smaller outfits.

While exhibitor space at UKGE rivals Gen Con, gaming space doesn't. Gen Con has a LOT more gaming going on. And a lot of Gen Con stuff also happens away from the convention centre itself, with gaming unofficially taking over downtown Indy. That can't happen at UKGE as the NEC isn't in downtown Birmingham, it's out by the airport.

 

[Neal Freeman]

What interests me is Games Expo, fills all this with no official WotC presense at all, no Magic the Gathering other than a few vendors selling cards, no D&D other than a few games GMs offer to run, even the vendors don't seem to have a significant number of D&D books.

Yes, that really is interesting. And there are so many RPGs being run that are not D&D. The UK has always had a strong non-D&D GM base but I'd love to know if that's reflected in the number of actual players. Are there lots of young players coming to Expo and wondering where the D&D games are?

 

[Bagpuss]

While exhibitor space at UKGE rivals Gen Con, gaming space doesn't. Gen Con has a LOT more gaming going on. And a lot of Gen Con stuff also happens away from the convention centre itself, with gaming unofficially taking over downtown Indy. That can't happen at UKGE as the NEC isn't in downtown Birmingham, it's out by the airport.

I believe Hall 1 is generally gaming rather than exhibiting, and then the is most of the ground floor of the Hilton.

There is also gaming going on in unofficial places, for example I stayed at the Crown Plaza in Solihul about 10 minutes from the convention centre and there were several groups there playing boardgames in the bar. I imagine that is reflected in other locations.

 

[ngenius]

A lot of the time, WotC isn't at Gen Con either. This year, they are taking over a separate building. But in terms of exhibitor space, they don't typically take up more space on the floor than, say, Paizo or Games Workshop, or Asmodee, or some of the large retailers, etc. Even the largest stands/booths in the exhibitor halls are still just stands/booths, albeit larger than the smaller outfits.

While exhibitor space at UKGE rivals Gen Con, gaming space doesn't. Gen Con has a LOT more gaming going on. And a lot of Gen Con stuff also happens away from the convention centre itself, with gaming unofficially taking over downtown Indy. That can't happen at UKGE as the NEC isn't in downtown Birmingham, it's out by the airport.

Thanks for both the floor space information in square kilometers, and especially, this caveat, that Gen Con probably has more actual gaming space, despite similar sized exhibitor space.