A popular gaming festival will expand again when it returns to Harrogate this spring.

AireCon, one of the UK’s largest analogue gaming festivals, will take place over four days and use more space than ever before at Harrogate Convention Centre.

It will run from Thursday, March 9 to Sunday, March 12, featuring more than 80 exhibitors along with space and time for more than 40 hours of gaming.

A spokesperson for the event said:

“Keeping community at its core, 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.”

As well as dedicated gamers, AireCon aims to encourage new players, with Leeds-based board game chain Travelling Man offering free loans of its games for people to play during the event.

There will be a family zone for introductions, demonstrations and gaming sessions run by Imagination Gaming for children of all ages, as well as the AireCon Inter-School Tournament featuring teams competing in a number of different tabletop titles.

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AireCon has been in Harrogate since 2017, having first been held in founder Mark Cooke’s flat and then a smaller venue in Bradford.

It has expanded significantly since then, with more directors coming on board to work with Mark and the latest new features in gaming brought to each year’s event.

The AireCon spokesperson added:

“An essential, inclusive event for any new gaming fan or longtime tabletop enthusiast, AireCon 2023 is an unmissable opportunity for thousands of gamers, creators, families, independent companies and more to get together, share ideas and have fun playing classic games and exploring new ones; whether they’re attending with friends or coming down to the convention solo.”

Tickets range from £7 to £22 for an adult each day and are free for under 18s, with some of the events during the weekend also requiring tickets. For details, click here.

A three-day board gaming festival will take place next weekend at Harrogate Convention Centre.

AireCon 2022, one of the biggest board gaming festivals in the UK, will run from March 11 to 13.

Attendees can expect a wide variety of games, product launches and special guests.

Guests include the creator of popular game CoraQuest and gaming YouTubers.

The festival was founded in 2015 when Mark Cooke set up a private mini-convention attended by friends in his Yorkshire flat. It has expanded each year and moved into Harrogate’s convention centre after selling out a smaller venue in 2016.

Mark said;

“The first public AireCon sold out and the entire venue was full. Every year it just keeps going beyond what we possibly could have imagined.

There’s something about board gaming that brings people together; it breaks down barriers between people, it’s a lot of fun and it’s time away from screens.”

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In 2017 the festival gained support from Nabil Homsi, who owns the board game store Travelling Man. The store now has several branches across the UK.

Travelling Man will provide more than 600 games for the event.

New to this year is the AireBus, a shuttle bus travelling from London to Harrogate with built in board gaming tables.

There are still a limited number of tickets left which can be bought here.