Quiet enough Saturday, but there’s a convention happening on both sides of the Atlantic so let’s dig in.
Origins is in full swing. Origins Game Fair 2026 kicked off on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio and runs through tomorrow. It’s the penultimate day today so the announcements are flowing. Asmodee showed off a bunch of upcoming titles including Citadels Duel and Azul Kids, plus the Take Time: Mirage expansion from Libellud coming in October. Eric Martin at Board Game Beat has been doing his usual excellent job documenting the show floor reveals. Meanwhile Allplay has a big presence at the show and is demoing their new edition of Container — a game many of us missed first time round due to insane prices and limited supply. GamingTrend also reports Allplay teased three new games at the show. If Container delivers on its promise at Allplay’s price point, it could be one of the year’s best pickups for economic game fans.
UK Games Expo aftermath keeps rumbling. The numbers from UKGE a few weeks ago are still being processed. The 20th anniversary show pulled in 51,196 unique attendees with total footfall of 87,837 — making it the largest event the NEC Birmingham has ever hosted. Geeknative reported the infrastructure actually “buckled under massive crowds,” which isn’t great, but the growth is undeniable. UKGE also announced they’re donating £50,000 across three charities: Lifelites, SUDC UK, and The Williams Montessori School Foundation. Fair play to them. For context, Board Game Wire noted the show has now overtaken Gen Con in trade hall floor space, putting it second only to Spiel Essen. That’s massive for a UK show.
Asmodee’s numbers tell an interesting story. Board Game Wire reported that Asmodee’s annual revenue surged to €1.68 billion, but here’s the thing — over 72% of that now comes from distributing other companies’ products (largely TCGs like Pokémon and Magic). Their own board game sales actually fell. The company also completed their €180 million acquisition of French social games publisher ATM Gaming (Speed Bac, Mouton Mouton) back in April, clearly doubling down on the mass market party game space. If you’re a hobby gamer wondering why Asmodee feels like it’s drifting away from you — well, the numbers confirm it. They’re a distribution company now that happens to also publish board games. Source: Board Game Wire.
BGG Hotness and what people are playing. The June BGG Hotness video featured some interesting names. Cozy Stickerville from Corey Konieczka’s Unexpected Games debuted at #10 — interesting to see Konieczka going cozy after years of epic-scale stuff. SETI from CGE is still hanging around. On Board Game Arena, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring trick-taking game is pulling nearly 9,000 plays, with Castle Combo, Harmonies, and Wingspan all doing strong numbers. The Concordia Special Edition campaign on Gamefound hit over 16,000 backers before closing, though it’s worth noting Awaken Realms had to publicly pledge “no AI art” after getting review-bombed on BGG. Their Agricola Special Edition is sitting at a 6.2 rating with a third of its scores being 1s. The AI art backlash in this hobby isn’t slowing down.
Worth watching: Kemet: The Gates of Thonis is generating real buzz — new maps, new colours, six-player support, and an escalating crystal pyramid mechanic that sounds properly clever. Also keep an eye on Everdell: The Great Delve (underground expansion, pre-orders already open, August retail) and the newly announced Cascadia: Fauna standalone for families. And Cephalofair quietly dropped the Buttons & Bugs: Pub Crawlers expansion announcement on June 18th.
Ireland corner. Q-Con Belfast is literally happening right now — today and tomorrow, June 20–21, at Queen’s University Belfast. Board games, RPGs, wargames, tournaments, the lot. Run by the QUB Dragonslayers Society, volunteer-run, proper grassroots stuff. If you’re anywhere near Belfast this weekend, get yourself there. Details on Facebook and tickets via Fixr.
Looking further ahead for Irish events: IGM Summer Edition is July 11–12 at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire. Gaelcon 38 returns October 23–26 at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport — they’re looking for board game facilitators and volunteers if anyone fancies it. Rogue Gaming, a new tabletop gaming space in Dublin, announced an opening for Spring 2026 though I haven’t seen confirmation it’s actually open yet — one to check if you’re Dublin-based. The Monday night board games meetup via Board Games Ireland on Meetup continues upstairs in Ryan’s Bar, and there’s a regular Dublin Games Night group running too. Down south I couldn’t find any Munster-specific events coming up, which is a gap we know well. That’s partly why Knavecon exists.
For the Knavecon community specifically: if anyone went to UKGE or is at Origins this weekend, it’d be great to hear what games stood out. Allplay’s Container reprint, the Kemet expansion, and Corey Konieczka’s new direction with Cozy Stickerville all feel like the kind of things that would land well at a Knavecon table. Let us know on the Facebook page what you’ve got your eye on.
One for social: “UKGE just overtook Gen Con in trade hall size and is now the second-largest tabletop show in the world after Essen. Twenty years ago it was a few tables in a hotel. That’s some going.”
Victor Gannon Games 
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