Replay 2011

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Last weekend saw another exciting retro event in the form of Replay 2011. Organised by Gordon Sinclair, Dave Moore and Andy Brown, it was an awesome event that massively improved on the one from the previous year.

Arcade games and pinball tables were in abundance, there were huge amounts of retro goodies to buy, while developers like Jeff Minter, Jon Hare and John Dennis were on hand to discuss their love of games with the public.

We were lucky enough to catch up with a very tired Gordon Sinclair to get his opinion on the fantastic weekend.

How much money was raised for charity?
This year the event supported GamesAid, SpecialEffect and Teenage Cancer Trust. There was loads of stuff going on all weekend and at the point of writing this the final figures are not yet in, but we can say that the total raised is over £4,000! Everyone at Replay would especially like to thank Simon Skelly and his team for coordinating all of the charitable activities and running the hugely popular Raffle, Tombola and Lucky Dip.
This was the first year that we have run an official after-show party and James Harkness did a great job organising the entertainment from SID80s, Nintendisco and pub quiz (run by Replay crew member Mat Corne). Around 250 people attended and over £1,200 was raised by the party alone.

How do you feel the event went?
The show was amazing. Every time we put on one of these events we are blown away by the support we receive. Around 4,000 people attended over the weekend (and increase of about a third!) and response has been amazing. Facebook and Twitter have been alight with people letting us know how much fun they had and how much the show had grown since last year. We still think we can make things even better though, so we collected feedback from those who attended and are busy working through over 400 responses to make sure Replay 2012 and all of our other events expand in all the right places.

What do you have planned next?
We are really excited to have been approached to be part of the GEEK 2012 video gaming festival. The event will run for 5 days between 15-19 February and will feature a large scale celebration of all things gaming. The Winter Gardens in Margate is the main venue, however there are also a number of fringe events also planned in galleries, bars, cinemas and other local businesses. The event is expected to attract around 8,000 visitors and Replay will be providing the centrepiece ‘History of Video Gaming Expo’, as well as providing support to many of the supporting activities. It takes place during school’s half-term, so we really hope lots of the people who can’t wait for next year’s Replay Expo come along for another awesome seaside gaming event.

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