Type Gaming Expo Place Margate, England Slogan Meet, Make, Play | Genre Retro and Indie Owner Marine Studios | |
Major events Cosplay Parades, Indie Panels, Film Screenings | ||
Game Expo East Kent (GEEK) is a retro gaming expo in held in Margate, UK. The annual event is held during the February half term break. Previously it was held at the Winter Gardens but 2017 will see the event take place for the first time at Dreamland amusement park. GEEK showcases the history of games, of various kinds, from board games and the earliest examples of computer games and consoles to the most recent. The exhibition has hundreds of consoles from very early models to the most recent, all of which are playable.
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GEEK 2012
GEEK 2012 was the first GEEK expo. During the event, people took part in a Guinness World Record for the Largest Tournament of Pong, and succeeded with over 256 players and won by Retro Lord Bob (Robert Dixon). Also present at GEEK 2012 was Ian Livingstone, the president of Eidos Interactive. The event also featured an exhibition focused on providing an access point to education and training in gaming.
GEEK 2013
GEEK returned for 2013, and saw a visitor increase of over a third compared to GEEK2012.
GEEK 2014
GEEK 2014 had the biggest Minecraft Cave in the UK, unfortunately this meant there was no Arcade section this year. It also featured a recording of the Retro Asylum podcast., and the premiere screening of the short film "Us and the Game Industry".
GEEK 2015
It has been announced that GEEK2015 will see the return of the Arcade section, although the Minecraft section will stay in place as well. It was also announced on the Marine Studios website that "GEEK 2015 will be organised in themes, one of these will be space." and also that they are developing their own space-crew game, which will be beta-tested at the 'First Friday' events.
World Records
During GEEK 2012 people took part in a Guinness World Record for the Largest Tournament of Pong, and succeeded with over 256 players and won by Retro Lord Bob (Robert Dixon).
During GEEK 2014, the record for quickest Super Mario Kart Time Trial PAL Mario Circuit 1 was broken by previous record-holders Sami Cętin and Leyla Hassano.