From retro favourites to tomorrow’s technology – all aspects of gaming will be on offer at Dreamland this weekend.

From VR to apps and gaming contests to workshops with industry professionals, the amusement park is being transformed into a techy’s paradise this weekend, with three days of gaming and technology.

The family-friendly festival, which is expected to attract some 4,500 visitors over the three days, will feature 1,500 games and 25 retro tournaments.

It will mark two big anniversaries: the 25th anniversary of Mario Kart, complete with an official tournament and the 40th anniversary of Judge Dredd’s 2000AD comic book world, marked with an exclusive exhibition by comic book artist Rufus Dayglo.

Much of the revealing artwork which will be on display has never been shown before.

Gaming delights include the chance to play the award-winning game Renga, a live, 250-player game, where guests arrive as an audience but leave as a team.

Arcade-style Space Toads Mayhem which pays homage to classics from the 80s, will be part of the Indie Zone.

Want to know everything there is to know about games and how they are created?

There will be workshops, talks, and challenges across the weekend and new this year is the Demystify Bar – a portal into some creative areas of gameplay which in the past may have seemed inaccessible.

You can explore the world of apps on the Friday, so drop in to the Demystify Bar and find out what apps are and even make your own.

On Saturday, the bar will be showcasing Games Workshop’s Warhammer. For more than 30 years Warhammer has been creating chaos in kitchens across the country and some of that will be coming to the show.

On Sunday, the Bar will host a Raspberry Pi Jam. For those not in the know, Raspberry Pis are credit card-sized computers which can be used in electronics projects and other things such as word processing, browsing the internet, and playing games. The catch is: you have to build and program it yourself.

ESports and games tournaments will take place over the full three days of the festival, accompanied by commentary from Sky Sports’ Matt Andrews.

This year is also the first year of a GEEK House Cup and the Iron GEEK tournament, where a difficult array of games will test visitors’ skills across multiple platforms and genres.

DETAILS

GEEK is at Dreamland, Margate from Friday, February 17 to Sunday, February 19.
The official Nintendo Mario Kart Anniversary Tournament will be held on Saturday, February 18.

Tickets cost £12 and £7 for children. Under-fives are free and an adult for this event is aged 15 and over. For details go to dreamland.co.uk/geek