So good.

UGE's had a charmed life so far, and NUMBER FIVE was no exception. Blessed with glorious spring weather, a remarkable lineup and the bestest-best attendees ever.

Thanks to everyone who came, played, took part, glitched out, debugged, hung around, dropped in, tuned out, had fun, went large, speed ran, home brewed, role played, and rolled with it. You were all amazing.

Not too long until we meet again. Mark your calendars for Sunday 14 June.

As always, you’ll hear from us soon with all the details. Photographic highlights are above and below, with thanks to Yan Cong and Chris Chen.

You can also follow and gossip about us on Instagram and Bluesky - we like compliments! If you have any feedback, we would really, truly appreciate hearing from you. Please use the subject line “…but how is it art?”

Works featured in edition #5

• a permanent echo by Three More Years

  • Also check out Mini Mini Golf Golf and Mini Mini Talk Talk

• Yuha’s Nightmares by Supr Experience

• Wyvern Tales by Nomad Studio

• Jana Romanova’s 10-minute larp lecture!

• The Benelux Speedrunner Gathering (BSG), represented by Riekelt Goucem

• Ape Escape 2, by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan

• The Dark Queen of Mortholme, by Mosu

• The Oracle of Transfeminist Technologies, by Coding Rights and the Design Justice Network

Community updates

• Jana Romanova will be running a session of her (spectacular) Broken Archive larp at the NEMO Museum on Saturday 30 May, 13:00 - 17:00! Sign up now.

• Wonder and wander with Puck Verras at her graduation show in Utrecht! Her work will be part of HKU Exposure from 25-28 June at De Nijverheid. Follow her on Instagram for more.

• UGE co-organizer Yan Cong invites you to join a very special discussion and "let’s play” session around the politics of data centres. Thursday 4 June, 18:30 onwards at Varia Rotterdam.

• Our wonderful friends at Wildcard Nights have put together a “playtest” session on Sunday 31 May at TENT Rotterdam, featuring Plum Road Tea Dream (UGE #2, Feb 2026).

• The schedule for the 2026 annual Benelux Speedrunner Gathering Marathon is now live! 26 July - 1 August. Follow along and drop in a donation on-stream if you’re able. All proceeds go to Stitching MIND.

• Follow us on itch.io! Here’s a collection of all available games showcased at UGE so far, which we’ll update after each edition.

Recommendations from edition #5

• Season 31, an extraordinary work about climate disaster, degrowth, and…French car racing? Stick with it through the first section, and forgive the wonky English translation.

• Forbidden Solitaire, a card-slashing horror game about unearthing the contents of a cryptic 1995 CD-ROM that should have never existed: “game publishers are evil.”

• “Feral Futures”, a conversation with Anna Tsing. Wednesday 27 May 16:00 onwards at the KABK Auditorium. If you stop reading now and run, you’ll make it!

• A fascinating writeup and interview about a recent larp: “Epos Daimon, The Antifascist Magic School for Teens”

• Super Tilt Bro: “a demake of Super Smash Bros for the 1980s Nintendo Entertainment System, complete with a wifi-enabled cartridge for online play(!)”

• Apply to BRIEFS 2026! It’s a micro-publishing initiative that gives out small grants for small digital games. Think jam-sized. Think €1500 for that effort. Apply by 16 June.

• Also apply to the Rabbit indie games residency! A fully-funded, one-month residency for indie game developers to “focus, feast, and find their fluffle deep in the Brandenburg countryside.” Deadline is 7 June.

Until next time,

[uge]