Geek in 2014

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The heart of GEEK is a celebration of video games. There are over 1000 playable video games to play on 150 consoles. Visitors can trace their development from 1980s to current day or just fi nd long lost favourites. Other activities include new board games, cards, interactive theatre, performance and real life social games. A full programme of talks, workshops and demonstrations run each day.

In GEEK2013 topics ranged from Augmented Reality and Composition to Zombie make-up and Educational Games. Alongside the popular family festival we will continue to support the development of new works. Our aim is to establish GEEK as a destination for families and friends at Half Term attracting visitors to Margate regionally, nationally and internationally.

GEEK (Game Expo East Kent) is a festival of Play and Games. GEEK launched in February 2012, and is held annually in Margate, Kent, UK. People have been coming to this small seaside town to play for over 250 years. GEEK invites them back. This brings fun and games to the winter months and supports the local economy out of season. GEEK is a family event. There are activies for casual as well as dedicated gamers. Digital or analogue new or familiar GEEK is a place to Meet, Make and Play.

GEEK is an experimental lab. We recognise that testing collaborative participatory work with a live audience is a valuable part of the developmental process and we therefore welcome work in development as well as fi nished work. Game makers – if you have a new work you would like to bring along – get in touch. Innovators – new ideas, new technologies, new visions – come and play at GEEK. Players – play your favorite games and help to test new ones. New works and Beta tested at GEEK2013: • Projector Games – Beta tested a move from consoles to wifi phone controllers • Theatre – Root Experience – workshopped a new work . Interactive Theatre performance where the audience controls the action • Mission Unmentionable- a new game of mystery, ingenuity and speed played across multiple venues in Margate • Crowd sourced poem – a new poem by Dan Simpson. GEEK launched in 2012 as the biggest retro gaming festival in the UK. It embraces Games and Play in many guises – celebrating traditional as well as new games. Nostalgia and innovation sit side by side at GEEK. Activities cross Art and Science topics with activities ranging from programming to knitting.

We invite makers to share their ideas. In 2013 we invited innovative game makers Hide&Seek to join us as guest curators and had Icelandic installation artist, Gudrun Haraldsdottir as our artist in residence to create the displays. Whether it is supporting the development of new work or talking about careers and skill sharing GEEK has a serious side. Each year we have included a TEDx or Sector Conversation – we hope to extend this into a year round programme of talks and workshops.

We are in conversation with Game4Change Europe and the Game Academy Netherlands as well as local UK universities to look at how this programme can be developed. • 5 Days • 2000 Visitors • 12 Workshops • 3 Industry Panel discussions • 1 TEDx talk • 1 World Record broken • 42 Tournaments • 1 night of Nintendisco • 4 Days • 3200 Visitors • 25 Workshops • 24 Talks • 30+ Tournaments • 1 night of GameCity Nights • 3 Cosplay masquerades • 2 bowls of custard (based on questionnaires returned at GEEK2013) • 55% of visitors were not from the surrounding area • 96% said they would come back for GEEK2014 • £20 average spend per person during the event (not including tickets, travel or accomadation) • Most popular word to describe event: Fun ONLINE AUDIENCE (during February 2013) Over 56000 views on www.geek2013.co.uk Average 10,000 total daily reach on Facebook 3000 views on the GEEK Promo Video on Youtube. S

ELECTED PRESS HEADLINES Gaming joins the dots between culture, education and regeneration – The Guardian, 22 February 2013 Time for digital Britain to look beyond the silicon roundabout – Huffi ngton Post, 1 March 2013 GEEK2013: Drawing on history to build a new future – Deeson, 8 March 2013 GEEK2013: the best of gaming – Metro, 2 March 2013 Margate games festival GEEK2013: a big step forward – This is Kent, 24 February 2013 PRESS AND PROMOTION Editorial and Advertsing in: – Thanet Extra – Canterbury Extra – Kentish Gazette – East Kent Mercury Advertising in Games TM and Retro Gamer News coverage on BBC News and Meridian News Radio coverage on BBC Kent, KMFM and Academy FM POS in shops across Thanet POS at Play Expo Large exterior banners across Thanet SPONSORS The event was excellent, it was so much fun it was really hard pulling myself and my son away on Saturday. We will most defi nitely be coming down in 2014… Thanks for letting GamesGRABR be a part of it! – Gavin Ellis, GamesGRABR Great ideas like GEEK really join up the dots for most of us involved in culture, regeneration and education. – Jon Pratty, Arts Council England Deeson Group is pleased to support events like GEEK which bring together Kent’s creative talents and promote its collaborative spirit. As well as boosting Kent’s economy, GEEK was hugely welcomed by the local community – something we’re also proud to be an active part of. – Tim Deeson, Deeson Creative SUPPORTERS It’s been an absolute privilege to be involved this year and we can’t wait for GEEK 2014. – Sarah Brown, Groovy Frog We would be honored to have a part in GEEK 2014 next year! For those of you that didn’t manage to get down there, you missed out immensely! – Jake Pest, Urban Art Studios I found GEEK 2013 to be the perfect blend of both retro and modern gaming which I think you will struggle to fi nd anywhere else. GEEK 2013 – the UK’s best gaming expo? – Tom Harvey, Freelance Journalist VISITORS Couldn’t have had a better day today 🙂 was nice to meet new faces. – @ pixelartjunkie Thanks #GEEK2013 for arranging a fantastic day of fun, memories, entertainment, joy and absolute epic gaming… great day out #retrogaming – @ Smuggsy massive well done to everyone at geek 2013 behind the scenes and to the replay events crew. loved it. better and better every year. x – Dean Fragile I had a excellent time at GEEK 2013! Played on ALL the games, really good fun. – Sydney Hannah SPEAKERS It was a lovely few days and the reception we received was incredible. I was honoured to be a part of the Q&A panel, and really enjoyed being able to share what insight I have to Indie development with everyone there. – Nicoll Hunt, ifi ghtbears.co.uk We had a fantastic time at GEEK. It was amazing how smoothly everything seemed to run, which probably means a hell of a lot of love and care went into the organisation of the event… I think we mentioned before how it felt like the best expo we’ve been to, and it defi nitely was. Everything just seemed to gel so well and I think all the evening events going on alongside it gave the whole thing such a friendly community vibe, something other events just don’t seem to be able to compete with. – James Woodrow, Utopianworldsofsandwiches.com PIE FACTORY GALLERY / STUDIOS POP-UP SHOP / MARGATE GEEK is organised by Marine Studios CIC. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to make GEEK happen. If you would like to get involved, please contact Kate or Kim. Email: info@marinestudios.co.uk Phone: 01843 282219 WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPONSOR 2014? GET IN TOUCH. GEEK goes International! We are headlining at the Singapore Science Festival 8th – 11th November. An amazing 40,000 people are expected to come. Look out for our updates on Facebook.