GamesMania – Glasgow Science Centre, 20 days of gaming and festivaling

Super Mario, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot and Minecraft’s Steve are all making their way to Glasgow Science Centre (GSC) this summer. The visitor attraction will host GamesMania, a festival featuring over 150 consoles, computers and arcades from 27th June until the 16th of July. The festival is a celebration of the last four decades of gaming and will feature classic upright arcade games like Asteroids and Space Invaders through to the latest games like using cutting edge VR technology.

As well as playing the hundreds of games on offer, gamers will also be able to use rare and obsolete systems, try BASIC programming and find out about the history of the machines and game developers.

The 150 featured consoles expand the past four decades of gaming with classic and bartop arcade machines, SEGA Megadrive and Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 and Wii, Commodore 64, XBOX, PSVR, Atari and more.

The festival promises something for everyone from a dedicated Minecraft Room, Indie Games, Family and Kids titles to Classic DOS PC games.

Chief Executive of GSC Dr Stephen Breslin said:
“GamesMania is essentially about coming together with your family and friends and having fun playing the hundreds of games that are on offer. Whether you are a serious gamer or a youngster exploring for the first time, there is something for everyone. We are very excited about the festival and can’t wait to open it to our visitors.”

The games development sector in Scotland is booming with over 100 companies developing mobile, online and console titles. There has also been a huge rise in the number of people working in the industry in the last couple of years.

Stephen continues:
“From Lemming in the 90s to modern day games like Grand Theft Auto, we have a huge talent here in Scotland. We are also lucky to have universities like Abertay who offer some of the top games design courses in Europe. Visitors to GamesMania will get the chance to try programming so as well as having fun, hopefully we will inspire the next generation of Scottish game designers.”
Gamers can visit GamesMania for a 90 minute session for £8 per adult and £6 per child.  Autism friendly sessions are available on Sunday 15th of July.
Adult only sessions will run on Thursday evenings during the festival (28th of June, 5th and 12th of July) from 7pm to 10pm. Tickets cost £15 per person and a full bar will be available on the nights.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday 3rd at 11am from www.glasgowsciencecentre.org