UKGE visit local college for a Board Games Design day!

UK Games Expo were delighted to be invited by Halesowen College to talk to a room full of BTEC Level 3 Business students about how we run a successful board game convention.

We started with introducing the students to the UK Games Expo, explaining who we are and what we do as a company. Richard explained how he turned a hobby into a big business and showed the students a number of pictures with stats from where it all started to where it is now.

Richard also showed how board games have become popular in the mainstream media, with shows like Stranger Things and Big Bang Theory to popular actors who are avid gamers such as Henry Cavill and Vin Diesel.

To get the students started we introduced a number of fun quick games. In their groups they played Happy Salmon, Liar's Dice and a quick introduction to Ticket to Ride. Quickly from that Richard explained about the main task of the day, which was to be able to design and create a prototype of a board game.

Students, in groups had to come up with the idea, design it and create the rules for the game. One person was allocated by each group to be the team leader, who would ultimately showcase it to other pupils.

The overall incentive with this task, would be that the winning group would be invited to playtest their prototype at the expo next year.

With an abundance of game pieces, card, pens and paper, we let the students in their groups, decide on how their game would look and how it would be played.

Once all the designs were completed, we then allowed a period of time where the students could visit other tables to playtest the various games that had been created. There were some fantastic ideas for games from a card game called YOLO! to a strategy game called Battle of the Races.

We would like to thank Halesowen College for their time and hospitality. Also we would like to thank the students who listened and engaged across the two days.

We are putting together a section on our website about running a Board Game Design Day. Email marketing@ukgamesexpo.co.uk for more information.