It is distressing to conclude that people simply don’t read stuff, especially as a journalist. So when you hear for the 50th time during EAG: “why don’t they put the two shows together?” you feel like screaming.
It isn’t, of course, as simple as that. There are a number of very good reasons why the EAG and ICE Totally Gaming events cannot be put back together, and it isn’t just pig-headed stubbornness. ICE has opted for the same dates for the next four years, around February 5-7 depending on when the Tuesday-Thursday slot falls.
Yes, there is a hall that could accommodate EAG at the same time, but that location is on two storeys – and the amusement and gaming sector abandoned ATEI at Earls Court because it was moved upstairs. So that’s not an option.
Another reason for keeping EAG on its present dates, the third week of January, is the significant minority of exhibitors collectively known as plush - the suppliers of toys and merchandise for cranes and other prize games. They make up about 12 per cent of the floor and won’t go to the February dates because they clash with their spring fair at Birmingham’s NEC – as vital to them as ICE is to the gambling sector. So EAG cannot afford to lose such a substantial chunk of its exhibitors.
It may all be inconvenient for the visitors – those who have to go to London twice in a fortnight, assuming they have business at both EAG and ICE – but it isn’t acceptable to sizeable sections of the exhibitors for the shows to co-habit.
The problem with situations like this is that if you ask 20 people the same question – simply “what’s practical?” (as opposed to “what’s best?”) – you get 20 different answers. Who’d be a show organiser?
