"2018 has been the biggest ICE yet"

"It's the biggest ICE yet," said Kate Chambers, managing director of Clarion Gaming, the owners of the show. "The eyes of the world are focused on the events taking place at this historic edition of the show and the technologies that are being unveiled by the industry's leading innovators."

The world's largest gaming event almost certainly broke attendance records on its opening day, it was becoming evident as dat two of ICE got under way. The crowded aisles at ExCeL saw 589 companies from 65 countries take up the largest amount of space in the event's history.

The organisers are naturally reluctant to be quoted on figures, as Clarion insists on independent auditing of the attendance and those numbers will not be available for at least two weeks. But they did admit that "the visible evidence suggests that the overall attendance will be in line with the four per cent increase in pre-show registrations."

The 43,500sq. m. of ExCeL that are taken up by the show this year, is in itself a record and the exhibition is now edging towards completing the total take-over of the entire venue. This year it occupies 36 halls or 82 per cent of the 44 halls available.

Since the exhibition departed Earls Court in 2012 it has virtually doubled in size. But the organizers are keen to emphasise that the strategy is not growth at any cost, but rather to build visitor numbers in tandem with exhibitor numbers.