One of the UK’s largest analogue gaming festivals is bigger than ever in 2023. AireCon, born in Leeds and based in Harrogate, has been extended by one day, and is taking more floor space at Harrogate Convention Centre to increase capacity for over 80 exhibitors for over 40 hours of gaming.
The online G.A.M.E System will keep you updated and in the Gameseekers Area, a dedicated Game Guru will be on hand to help solo attendees find like minded people to game with.
In addition to gaming and exhibitions, there’ll be exclusive product launches, special guests and large-scale social games.
Director Mark Cooke originally set up AireCon in his flat so that he and his friends could play games for a weekend. This was before he teamed up with Ben Clarkson. After a couple of public events in Bradford, it became clear there was already a need to expand.
Software engineer Rick Meeson and Nabil Homsi, Director of the Leeds-based Travelling Man chain of comic and board game shops were brought onto the team. Then a long search led Mark and co. to The Harrogate Convention Centre, their home since 2017 and a platform that has allowed AireCon to become one of the largest and most popular events of its kind across the country.
Guests this year include the award-winning Parable Games (Shiver), the exciting Kickstarter success story Play For Keeps (Overstocked) as well as custom D&D dice specialists The Dice Dungeon and international gaming distribution powerhouse Asmodee.
Community at its Heart
AireCon 2023 will offer more table space than ever before so attendees can meet and game as they please outside of the exhibition space. The beloved Bring ‘n’ Buy area is back to help visitors complete their collections alongside a whole host of tournaments, events, RPGs and a carefully curated selection of the finest street food trucks from across Yorkshire on hand to keep everyone fed and watered.
For anyone new to analogue gaming or wanting to experience tabletop gaming for the first time, Leeds-based board game chain Travelling Man will be back with over 700 games for attendees to borrow for free and play over the convention.
Elsewhere on site, fans young and old will be more than welcome in the Family Zone for gaming sessions, tabletop introductions and game demonstrations all run by Imagination Gaming and catered to kids of all ages. 2023 will also see the welcome return of the renowned AireCon Inter-School Tournament in which Imagination Gaming invites teams from local schools to compete for gaming glory in an exciting variety of tabletop titles.
Tickets for AireCon 2023 are available now and can be purchased here.
Mark Cooke, AireCon Show Director and Founder:
“We’re so excited to be returning to Harrogate for our biggest event ever in 2023. We’ve increased the physical size of the convention with more exhibitors, more halls and more gaming space! AireCon 2023 is going to be the best yet, with so much for people to do whether they’re attending in groups or coming solo.”
Full list of exhibitors:
Aleto, All Rolled Up, Arion Games, Asmodee, Bedsit Games, Beyond Cataclysm, Blood Moon Games, Blue Fox Comics, Born in the Barn, Bright Eye Games, Bubba Dawg Ltd, Cake of Doom, ChaosCurios, Coiledspring Games, Counter Attack, Crab Studios, Critical Kit, Dice Sports Limited, Dissent Games, DMB Games, Emmanuel’s Collective, Eurydice, Fights and Fancy, Firestorm Cards, Floating World Designs, Footprints on Forever, Gameland Manufacturing, Games Crusade, Geeknson, Geeky Meeples 3D Printing, GelatinousCute, Hachette Boardgames UK, Hall or Nothing Productions Ltd, Harps Corporation, Honeybadger Games, Imagination Gaming, Jewellery Star, Kasasagi Jewellery, KOSMOS, MajorWood Studios, Medusa Games, Meeple Design, Meeple World, Misty Moon Illustrations, Oink Games, Paperboat Games, Parable Games, Patriot Games Ltd, Peruke Games, Play for Keeps, Radical 8 Games, Ralph Horsley, Rebellion Unplugged, RuneFable, S C Games, Senior Games, Stephen Yates, Stop, Drop & Roll, Stuff by Bez, Tabletop Crafter, Teleporthole Games, The Detective Society, The Dice Dungeon, The Dice Miners, The Secret Lair, The Thornless Rose, trademark52, Travelling Man, Trayed and Tested, UK Games Expo, Warlord Games, Wayfinder Games, Wotan Games, WWF, YAY Games, Zatu
Socials
https://www.facebook.com/aireconuk
https://www.instagram.com/aireconuk/
More information and tickets can be found here
Photography by Hubert Hung, H2 Photography.
