My relationship survived First Roll, although there were moments when we could have done with an open-toed-sandal couples counsellor beside the host. Someone qualified to handle the sentence: "You’ve taken everything. My chips. My dignity. And now you’re making me roll again."
This is an all-new competitive social gaming experience at Resorts World Birmingham, based around casino-style fun but re-imagined, with zero gambling, where the stakes are entirely imaginary and your partner turns out to have the villainary nous of Moriarty.
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I went with Victoria, her brother Tom and his wife Beverley. With two Toms present, and to ingratiate myself into their family, I nicknamed him Ace: an aspirational appointment, given he finished dead last. Bev took second, Victoria won and I spent much of the evening leading, which I now understand is simply losing very slowly.
We played High Roller and Perfect Ten. The former involves predicting the outcome of two dice; the latter asks you to back Pink, Blue or a Tie as competing card hands aim to finish closest to ten. Both are brilliantly straightforward. Our host explained everything beautifully, getting us playing quickly and cruelly.
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High Roller brought out the amateur mathematicians in us, by which I mean people confidently predicting things on absolutely no scientific basis. Perfect Ten had that lovely pause before the reveal when everyone briefly believes they’re a genius. Then the cards arrive and three people discover they’re simply holding... a drink.
But the secret weapon is the action cards. These let you steal winnings, force another roll or block somebody else’s attempted sabotage. Suddenly, a perfectly satisfactory result becomes negotiable. Someone overturns it. Someone blocks the overturning. Someone produces another card and the table briefly resembles a family Christmas conducted through solicitors.
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"NOTHING RESTORES A WOUNDED EGO LIKE BEING DRESSED TO AUDIT A CIRCUS."
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There are defences, thankfully. SHIELD protects your winnings from being stolen or split, while STOP blocks an action card being played by someone else. LOCK fixes the result so no further action cards can change it: a small rectangular declaration that this discussion is now closed. I would like one for choosing where to have dinner.
Victoria understood their potential immediately. I understood it shortly after my chips started migrating towards her. Watching a triumphant dice roll unravel under successive interventions is beautiful chaos: celebration, betrayal, counter-betrayal, then the discovery that your girlfriend has apparently been studying Jack Bauer interrogation strategy.
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Picture the emotional journey. You’ve won. You’re pleased. You might even have begun explaining why your prediction was particularly astute. Then someone can STEAL the winnings. Unless you can STOP them. Or protect the money with SHIELD. Suddenly, the roll itself feels like the opening statement in a much longer dispute, and everyone is watching everyone else’s hands with the suspicion usually reserved for a builder’s final invoice.
It's the best social gaming I think I've ever played. And I've played them all. Flight Club, F1 Arcade, Clays, the lot.
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A X2 card can double your winnings from the current round, too, giving you something even more worth protecting. The cards make timing deliciously important. You’re weighing up whether to spend your defence now, save it for later or simply accept that the person opposite has become intolerable and must be dealt with.
That’s what makes First Roll work so well. Nobody can settle into smugness because somebody else is quietly sitting on the means to ruin it. The best move isn’t necessarily predicting correctly; it’s knowing when to deploy your tiny act of treachery. Preferably just as your opponent starts explaining how good they are at this.
The live leaderboard (witness the Toms-based agony above) records these outrageous swings in fortune, allowing you to monitor your decline with impressive technological precision.
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Run out of chips and you can replenish them, provided you accept a wardrobe adjustment: enormous glasses, a jester’s hat or an accountant’s visor. Nothing restores a wounded ego like being dressed to audit a circus.
Table-service drinks help proceedings along, and the setting matters. First Roll sits in The World Bar, with a relaxed atmosphere that welcomes absolute beginners. There's nothing riding on it except the priceless commodities of pride, family bragging rights and the opportunity for you and the Uber driver to hear about Victoria’s victory on repeat.
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First Roll turns simple games into glorious social warfare, with enough twists to keep everyone involved and nobody safe from a spectacular reversal. It’s easy to learn, difficult to stop playing and excellent at turning people you love into people you briefly need a minute away from.
For over-18s only, launch prices are just £10 for one hour and one game, or £18 for two hours and two games. Do two.
Excellent value for discovering that both supposedly 'experienced' card players in your group are decorative at best. More
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SAVE 10% ON THE FESTIVE GOOD FOOD SHOW
There are two types of people at Christmas. Those who meticulously plan their festive menus weeks in advance, and those who find themselves Googling "can you microwave a turkey?" at 11.47am on December 25. Both are welcome at the Festive Good Food Show, returning to Brum's NEC from November 26 to 29.
Four days of celebrity chefs, live demonstrations, food shopping and enough free samples to make lunch entirely optional. The Big Kitchen welcomes James "The Butter" Martin, John Torode, Lisa Faulkner, Cyrus Todiwala and Tilly Ramsay, alongside newcomers including Sabrina Ghayour and Ping Coombes.
Elsewhere, the Festive Kitchen offers practical Christmas cooking tips, while Kitchen Tales gets audiences up close with their favourite food personalities. The Christmas Challenge Stage promises chef cook-offs, quizzes and inventive uses for leftovers. Because apparently turkey curry isn't the only option.
Cheese enthusiasts can lose themselves in the Cheese Hub, cocktail lovers can get hands-on at the Princess Cruises Cocktail Club, and anyone with a sweet tooth should make a beeline for the new Pop-up Patisserie, featuring Jane Dunn's legendary rocky road.
Use code ICHOOSE for 10% off tickets until 9 November.*
T&C: *Ticket offer valid on adult/over 65s standard entry tickets only, not valid on VIP, booking fee, workshops, Group tickets or with any other offer. Ends 11:59pm on 9 November 2026. £1.75 booking fee per ticket. Not all experts appear on all days, see website for details. Details correct at time of send.
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ONE-TWO FREDDY'S COMING FOR YOU
Bit of news. Your plans for July 2027 have arrived, which is impressive given you still haven’t sorted tonight's dinner. Fat Freddy’s Drop and DJ Shadow are the first names announced for Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul, sharing Sunday night headline duties in Moseley Park.
Running July 9 to 11, the festival has secured two acts capable of making a Birmingham park feel like the centre of the musical universe. Which it is, for three days. New Zealand’s Fat Freddy’s Drop return following their 2023 appearance, bringing their glorious tangle of reggae, soul, psychedelia, jazz and house. Music that starts somewhere around your hips and quietly takes over the entire nervous system until you're twitching like Herbert Lom in the Pink Panther.
DJ Shadow, meanwhile, arrives celebrating 30 years of Endtroducing, his landmark debut assembled entirely from samples. He’ll perform the album in full: excellent news for anyone who’s spent three decades explaining its importance to people who only asked what they should put on at a barbecue.
Beyond the headliners, expect three main stages, grassroots discoveries, DJ sessions and independent food and drink, all in a setting that makes “just another hour” dangerously easy to justify.
Friday and Saturday’s headliners are still to come, so there’s plenty more to look forward to beneath Moseley Park’s trees. Be warned: Tier 1 tickets have already sold out. Tier 2 and 3 are on sale now.
Marty McFly called. Something about Moseley Park, a pint and making sure you book tickets.
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NOT YOUR AVERAGE STOCKING FILLER
Christmas shopping is all well and good until you realise you've bought your mum another candle, your sister another scarf and your partner something that suggests you've only recently met. Time to take matters into your own hands. Literally.
On Saturday, December 12, independent jeweller Josefina Flello Martinez of Atypical Thing hosts a 90-minute pendant-making workshop at Craft and Culture, the new café beside the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter.
Using soft jeweller's wax and simple hand tools, you'll carve, shape and texture your own pendant, creating something entirely unique. Delicate, chunky, abstract or deeply meaningful, the design is yours. And if your artistic abilities peaked with a potato print in Year 4, fear not. Absolutely no experience is required.
Once you've finished, your wax creation will be professionally cast in recycled sterling silver, polished and finished, with a chain included. The finished piece will be ready to collect before Christmas, meaning you can casually announce that you made someone's present, without mentioning the highly skilled professionals who handled the difficult bit.
All materials and expert tuition are included, with just 20 places available. A genuinely personal Christmas gift, or an excellent excuse to make yourself something lovely. Nobody's checking who it's for. Book your place for £75.
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ALL THE JINGLE LADIES
Edgbaston Village is switching on its Christmas lights, November 14, which means you have permission to stop describing your lunchtime wine as “a bit much” and start calling it “festive”.
Greenfield Crescent hosts the Saturday celebrations, with the Artisan Market getting things moving from 10am. Independent traders will be selling their wares until 6pm, giving you eight hours to buy presents for other people and somehow return home with exclusively things for yourself.
Entertainment begins at 3pm, featuring Elmhurst Ballet School, festive choral music and a Frozen-inspired show. Parents, consider this your advance warning that “Let It Go” may be returning to heavy rotation. Santa and Mrs Claus will also be in attendance, alongside a Beauty and the Beast appearance courtesy of Birmingham’s Old Rep Theatre and Polka Dot Pantomimes. A strong turnout from the fictional community.
The lights themselves go on at 6pm, with the obligatory countdown offering a rare opportunity to shout numbers in the street without alarming anyone.
Make an afternoon of it: browse the market, watch the performances, then seek refreshments at Chapter, The Highfield, The Physician or Loki Wines. Christmas shopping is thirsty work. Even when you’ve only bought yourself something.
Especially then, actually. More
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TEN SHOWS TO SLEIGH CHRISTMAS
Christmas is coming, and Birmingham's Town Hall and Symphony Hall have apparently decided that subtlety is for January. Between them, they've assembled a festive programme featuring everything from singing frogs to flying snowmen, soulful superstars and a small boy committing grievous bodily harm against two burglars.
First up, The Overtones bring their doo-wop, soul and festive harmonies to Jivin' Home for Christmas (Dec 4), before Disney's The Muppet Christmas Carol (Dec 8 and 9) gets the live-orchestra treatment. Michael Caine acting opposite a frog remains one of cinema's greatest achievements.
Joss Stone delivers powerhouse seasonal soul on her Merry Christmas, Love Tour (Dec 11), while Birmingham's own Toyah Willcox throws Toyah's Christmas Party (Dec 13), presumably with the volume set somewhere north of reasonable.
Love Actually (Dec 14) receives full orchestral accompaniment, allowing audiences to experience Hugh Grant's dancing with considerably more musical gravitas and December 20 brings two very different treats: The Snowman, screened with live orchestra, Shaun the Sheep and a festive singalong; and Christmas with Sir Karl Jenkins, featuring carols, classical favourites and the composer himself conducting.
Strictly's Gorka Márquez leads the glittering Xmas on the Dancefloor (Dec 21), before Home Alone in Concert (Dec 23) sees the CBSO perform John Williams' glorious score live. Kevin McCallister, backed by Birmingham's finest. What could go wrong?
Finally, The Glenn Miller Orchestra (Dec 27) rounds things off with big-band swing and wartime classics.
Ten shows. Two magnificent venues. Absolutely no excuse for staying in.
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GET OUT.
WATCH TELLY.
Davros used to work at MAC. Before creating the Daleks, apparently, he had a perfectly respectable arts job in Birmingham. Actor Terry Molloy returns on November 7 for a screening of Resurrection of the Daleks and a Q&A, part of MAC’s Square Eyes TV Festival, running November 6 to 15. Presumably someone’s checked his references this time.
Now in its sixth edition, the festival gives television the big-screen treatment, with archive oddities, familiar favourites and guests who can explain what was going on.
Ghosts: The Possession of Button House reunites the BBC comedy’s cast for a feature-length supernatural outing, while Gangsters celebrates 50 years since its gloriously strange exploration of Birmingham’s criminal underbelly, with production team members joining the discussion.
There’s a Widow’s Bay quiz and screening for devotees of cursed New England tourism, plus The Art of Heated Rivalry, in which visual culture historian Sabina Stent examines the hockey romance through costume, scenes and art history. Academic rigour meets extremely attractive men.
Closing proceedings, Peter Richardson and Phil Cornwell revisit The Comic Strip Presents…, Rik Mayall and Stella Street, alongside screenings including Four Men in a Car. Plenty here to justify leaving your own sofa. It’ll cope without you for an evening. More
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JERSEY BOYS
★ ★ ★ ½
We don’t usually do half stars, but Jersey Boys has forced us to get the scissors out. The vocals are worth four on their own. A few things elsewhere bring it back down to three and a half.
To get cast in a show about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, you’ve got to have the pipes. And boy, do these lads have the pipes. Luke Baker, in particular, makes Valli’s falsetto sound like a perfectly reasonable thing to ask of a human being. He’s up there hitting notes we’d need planning permission for. See ‘December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)’, ‘Beggin’’ and ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’. The story of four blue-collar New Jersey boys making it big is well told, too, with plenty of room for the rough stuff along the way. Jail time, drug overdoses, debts. Quite a lot going on between those harmonies.
The staging occasionally feels a bit predictable, and we’d have liked more from the set and costumes. Opening in 2000s France, with a modern take on one of the group’s hits, also feels like an odd way into the story.
Still, it’s a cracking night out when those four voices get going. We can see why it’s got a mantelpiece full of Tonys, Grammys and Oliviers. We’d just have liked a bit more of what’s coming out of the speakers to make it onto the stage.
At The Alexandra until this Saturday, November 21.
Tickets
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Venue: Kibou, 61-63 Temple Row, B2 5LS; Instagram
Choice: Volcano Roll (£21.10) Chooser: Erm, me, to be honest
I’ve finally found a way to make sushi unhealthy. Years of research. Astonishing commitment, all things considered. Birmingham’s new KIBOU will dip the stuff in tempura batter and fry it for you. My work here is done.
This sprawling, 200-cover Japanese restaurant is a gladrags affair: deep neons, dark corners, Hokusai-coloured curved banquettes and little fringed lamps illuminating your better decisions. There’s a touch of Tattu’s Instagram appeal, with the theatrical flummery mercifully dialled down. Come after dark.
Crucially, beneath the considerable decoration, the sushi is insanely fresh. Victoria favoured the Spider Roll (£21.70), ten pieces of crisp soft-shell crab tempura futomaki with tobiko and sriracha mayo, every bit as good as the crab at Gaijin, and I say that as a recovering crab at Gaijin addict.
I went potty for the Volcano (£21.10): salmon, avocado and tobiko, lightly tempura-ed — my Eureka moment — then drizzled with sriracha mayo, sweet chilli and unagi sauce. Both rolls deliver glorious crunch without sacrificing the freshness within. That sauce on the Volcano, though, precariously balanced atop, was what won it for me. A real nine-napkin-three-shirt-oh-sod-it kind of a dish.
Pork gyoza (£10.30) and takoyaki (£11), Osaka’s crisp-outside, soft-inside octopus dumplings, rounded out our table. We reached an unspoken agreement: I took custody of the gyoza, Victoria polished off the takoyaki. No lawyers. No paperwork. Just two people quietly ending a sharing plates concept.
The following day's me made me promise I'd mention that my decision to overorder sushi and ask to have it bagged up was an act of foresight that looked, to the untrained eye, exactly like gluttony but was in fact real leadership. I recommend caning the lot while watching Dominic West in War.
Sparkling ginjo junmai sake (£27.90) brought light fruit and clean refreshment while the Sake Colada hurled in a pineapple, coconut and lime grenade. Winning tipple, though, was the KIBOU No.3 combining vodka, Lillet Rosé, cherry and vanilla in a coupe so tall it should have a warning light for aircraft.
On dessert, the shichimi chocolate tart was incredible: rich chocolate, biscuit base, frosting and vanilla ice cream, with Japanese chilli that initially keeps its head down before gently introducing itself. Less a kick, more a warm hand on your shoulder. Not so much Sir Alex at half-time, think Gareth Southgate checking you got home okay.
A restaurant this photogenic could coast on appearances. It doesn't at all. That freshness is why you’ll return. The fryer is why I will. We all have our own personal motivations. Menu
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THE PUB FORMERLY KNOWN AS PURECRAFT
Beer, wings and the chance to blame augmented reality for your rubbish darts. Purecraft Bar & Kitchen reopens on Waterloo Street on November 6 as Purity Bar & Kitchen, the official taproom of Warwickshire’s Purity Brewing Co. Expect one of the city’s biggest beer line-ups and a kitchen in the hands of Birmingham’s Bad Boy Wings, whose founders have bagged 29 Wingfest awards.
Wings are the obvious shout, but the menu also runs to burgers, grilled prawns, loaded fries and mac and cheese. Downstairs, the new Cellar Bar has its own bar, an American pool table and those AR darts. You can book the whole space for private parties.
Fancy getting in a night early? There’s a preview from 5pm on November 5 with free samples from the new menu. The first 100 guests can nab a free pint if they post and tag the venue while they’re there.
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Death gets a surprisingly uplifting makeover in Mortuus, a family-friendly romp through global remembrance rituals, blending puppetry, storytelling and folklore. Catch it at Wednesbury Museum (Nov 7), Thimblemill Library, Smethwick (Nov 8) and Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre (Nov 13). Book
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Fancy something beyond the usual fade? L.F. Studios’ Alex has worked on shows for Gucci, Chanel and Victoria Beckham and cuts all hair textures. ICB readers get £10 off men’s cuts until November 30 with code ICHOOSEBIRMINGHAM. Book here.
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Tranquil 1992 Coffee Studio opens at 10 Cannon Street on November 12, bringing the Jewellery Quarter favourite’s Vietnamese phin filter coffee into town. Good things come to those who wait.
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Slow Century Records turns one on November 7 and Knowle’s getting a six-venue birthday party. Expect DJs, live sets and psychedelic punks Sweetpool playing in-store at 1pm. Most of the action is free to boot. More
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Shower singers, Birmingham Opera Company wants you. Try singing in a chorus for free at The Crescent (November 13) or Fabric Studios (November 15). No experience needed. Sign up here.
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Nobody puts Baby in a corner. The Alexandra’s putting her centre stage as Dirty Dancing returns to Birmingham January 19 to 23. Tickets
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Fierce Festival’s leftovers get an encore at Eastside Projects tomorrow (Nov 6). Five artists, including Brum saxophonist Xhosa Cole and guest Katy Baird, make new live art with the festival’s cast-offs. 6.30pm to 9.30pm, £5. 18+. Book
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Three centuries, one choir. James Burton conducts Ex Cathedra in motets by Bach and Sven-David Sandström, who set the same six texts centuries apart. St Francis Church, Bournville, November 14. Tickets
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It's Kings Heath Artisan Market on York Rd this Saturday (Nov 8, 10am to 3pm).
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For the Brummie who has everything, including strong opinions about where Stirchley ends. The I Choose Birmingham shop has tees, pins and gifts for the proudly, incurably Birmingham people you know..
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Live like blazes.
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