In da 80's - A retro gaming weekender celebrating 80's video games and culture

Event information

This celebratory event is intended to be a laid back gathering for the retro gaming community, giving visitors the chance to play a selection of classic arcade machines, 8-bit home computers and consoles, whilst sampling a selection of fine ales and good food.

This event will also be hosting a homebrew coding geekend, a chance for an informal discussion between independent programmers from across the UK, and hopefully the chance to meet some legendary coders from the commercial era - maybe even some Acorn programmers.

We aim to start the day at 10am and it’s a ticket only event until 6pm when the doors open up to the public again. We’ll get the programme to you all in good time once we’ve got all our dates confirmed, don’t worry.

At the core of the event are competitions, mostly held on the Saturday. Current proposals include;

• 80’s gaming tournament [Saturday]

• A Quartet Marathon [Saturday], as we take it in shifts to try and reach level 100 of this fiendish 4 player Sega arcade platformer

• Atari VCS knockout contest [Sunday]

• Multiplayer games, including the usual suspects Bomberman, Warlords etc.

• Pac-Man Vs for Gamecube on a big screen

Other activities going on throughout the weekend include;

• Homebrew coding all weekend, with coders working on live games supported by industry pros from the day.

• Stand-up comedy, with an 80’s tinge, naturally. Acts confirmed to date include stand-up comedian and videogame designer Graham Goring, [Saturday] who performs an audio-visually enhanced stream of rapid-fire gags which skips gleefully through the videogame infused life of an emotionally stunted manchild who relates to Pac-Man better than women. "...the gags-per-minute rate is impressive...truly memorable lines..." Chortle

• Themed burlesque dancing , 6/7pm ish [Saturday],. We look forward to welcoming Miss Sweet Cherry Kiss who does a Pac Man Boogie routine and Ginger La Rouge, who does a Sonic the Hedgehog routine

• Screenings of 80’s themed classic TV and film [all weekend]

• 80s themed quiz [Sunday], with a mix of gaming and non-gaming rounds.


• Talks from vintage coders and industry pros from the day, celebrating the cream of 80’s gaming. Featured guests are likely to include;

* Andy Walker, founder of Taskset Software

* Archer Maclean, author of Dropzone, IK+ and Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker who, in an event exclusive has got some unseen video footage from the 80s/early 90s he’s bringing with him;

*Jim Bagley. Jim worked on Spectrum Games for companies such as Ocean Software, US Gold and Melbourne House during the late 1980's and early 1990's. Some of his games include the excellent conversions of classic arcade games Cabal and Midnight Resistance, playable movie tie-in Hudson Hawk, graphical adventure Throne of Fire and the seminal golfing simulation classic, World Class Leaderboard.

* Paul Hughes, stalwart of Manchester’s Ocean Software and creator of the innovative FASTLOAD system.

* Kevin Edwards, legendary programmer on the BBC Micro and creator of Optimon, Galaforce and Crazee Rider

* Kenton Price another BBC Micro coder from the 80s, author of treats like Hyper Viper and the brilliant conversion of Starquake

This being Lassfest though, we do have a number of shows throughout the evening so you’re welcome to stay for any of those (although separate charges may apply). We also have a Northern Soul DJ on free of charge all Saturday night, right the way through to 1am.