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This is now the 4th time for us joining the friendliest bunch at Handycon. As always there were lovely game developers that demonstrated and ran test plays for the attendees, “the hive” cup in the tournament zone, Handycon Noir Murder Mystery in the large games room, teaching sessions, bring and buy zone and the usual Handycon Library where you can borrow and play games, a family area where children can play junior versions of our favourite board games, a stall with games for sales on incredible discounts and as a treat this time a lady who makes INCREDIBLE fudge!
Tickets for the whole weekend were £50 for adults and £25 for children (6 – 15), held at Delta hotels in Milton Keynes. unfortunately, we were only able to attend on the Sunday (£25 for adults), but still enjoyed a great day and played lots of games.
This is a great, respectful and inclusive event, as soon as your ticket gets scanned, you are offered a lanyard where you can write your name and preferred pronoun so that everyone knows how to address you, this little gesture immediately puts you at ease, you know you are in a safe place.
Staff and organisers are always very kind and super helpful if you need advice or guidance on a game. You can order food and drink at the hotel and either eat at the restaurant area or have your food brought to you while you are deep in a game.
We immediately went to the Developers area where we tried 4 games prototypes:
Fist one is called Froots by Ickle Fam Games. This is a very cute family game, suitable for children 8+, but it can definitely be understood and enjoyed by a younger audience too. For 3 to 6 players and it takes 20-30 mins to play.
The objective of the game is to collect different types of fruit to achieve your secret mission and score points, there are a few foes that will foil your plans but with the funny puns that the author came up with you won’t get too cross! The art is simple but super cute, these lovely little fruits will make you fall in love with the game and bring a different personality to each individual fruit. Scott’s favourite is the angry pineapple, Roberta really likes the grumpy banana!
We wish the best of luck to Colin Lee for the kickstarter of the game in May 2025, we can’t wait to buy it and review it here on Zatu!
Find out more here!
The second game we tried is called Ocean Pods by Molinarius games, a very aesthetically pleasing game about sea creatures.
Players roll dice to gain food to be able to attract and feed sea creatures, you have to watch out for plastic in the ocean and a boat going on a journey. But we don’t want to give away too much as we are reviewing the game, so watch this space!
Because we tried the game at the convention, we got access to a special offer that tied the expansion with the base game for only £2 extra and the game designer also gave us a lovely little boat instead of the red circle included in the box.
Great fact about the game is that no plastic is used in the packaging and 25% of earnings is donated to the Ocean Generation charity that tackles ocean threats.
Find out more on www.molinariusgames.com or follow them on Instagram at molinarius_games.
We continued our day by trying Avium by Bossmittens, a cooperative game where futuristic animals escaped a declining earth and work together to fight off the evil cat.
Players take it in turn to be the captain, collect energy or produce resources and fight off various enemies. Each character has a unique ability, and the game takes 60 to 90 minutes of playtime. People who like Pandemic will love this game.
We admitted to the developer that the first couple of rounds were a bit confusing and felt long, as there is a lot to set up and a lot happens but as soon as the aliens get closer to your butt and you almost destroyed the virus, competitiveness kicks in and before you know it you are fully invested into saving your team!
Fun fact the evil cat is a real cat owned by a friend of the developers, apparently, she is mean, and we really want her to meet our evil black cat Romeo… could this be a match made in heaven?
Find out more at www.bossmittens.com.
The last game we tried is a prototype for a game at the first stages of development called Fight for Inheritance by Red Cannon games, a card game where you have to kill your siblings so you can get your hands on your daddy’s money, who by the way is a mad king…
The game works in a similar way as Exploding kittens, there are coin cards that will help you purchase some cards that will protect you and some others that will let you hire criminals or spread rumours about your siblings.
The creator of the game used his sister as the artist, a nice touch to help her get her art out. The game is easy to understand, quick and enjoyable.
We wish Red cannon games all the best for the future stages of the game development and hope to see them at the next Handycon.
On our own table with friends we also tried Harmonies and Castle Combo, both very well made and quick to grasp games that we hope we can review in the future.
All in all, as always Handycon was a success and the perfect way to spend a day (or three) for board game geeks in Buckinghamshire.