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READY, SOMERSET, PLAY

This month, games are taking over London’s historic Somerset House on the bank of the River Thames as part of the capital’s London Games Festival.

Kicking off the celebrations is the returning Now Play This weekend event between April 7th and 9th, which will feature tabletop titles alongside their virtual video game siblings. One of the highlights will be the Cabinet of Impossible Games, a showcase dedicated to unfinished and unreleased prototypes, including designs for games that were never produced.

The Saturday (April 8th) will be entirely focused on board games. Visitors will have the chance to pick up and play games from a library of titles, including some that are yet to be released. One of the most intriguing titles mentioned is RainboDisko, a board game that somehow makes use of a spinning record player – the ultimate hipster combo. In the evening, designers and artists will give talks on how more people can be encouraged to play together.

That’s not all; beginning on April 7th will be a month-long free exhibition titled Game Changers: Another Way To Play. Digging into the design process for digital and physical games, the display will seemingly lean towards tabletop creations, looking at the way that traditional games such as chess continue to influence modern designers in both mediums.

BRITAIN’S BEST

UK Games Expo is mere weeks away and, as the official print partner for the show, we were incredibly excited to hear some of the new and returning national tournaments coming to Birmingham’s NEC at the beginning of June.

First up will be qualifying rounds for the UK Catan Championships on the Friday and Saturday, with semi-finals and finals set for Sunday June 4th. Winners will be rewarded with flights and accommodation for the 2018 Catan World Championships in Germany.

Saturday will see a UK champion crowned in Uwe Rosenberg’s Agricola, with victory again securing flights to the world championships.

On the Sunday, the UK Carcassonne Championships will come to a conclusion; the victor will earn £250 from UK Games Expo towards the cost of attending the world championships, held at Germany’s Essen Spiel fair in October.