Kent and South East Retro Computing/Gaming day!

[fitzsteve]

Hi All!

Since most of the events a meeting seem to be up north I was thinking of arranging a meeting in Kent so that us South Easterners can get together and enjoy a day or retr0 mischief!

Of course everyone would be welcome if you want to make the drive down from Essex or any other part of the country!

I'm going to start looking into to venues, I was thinking to hire a function hall for a day, probably a Saturday some time in the new year (February maybe?)

I can supply a lot of kit to get the event going such as my Amiga's and consoles and have something special running on my projector.

It would be a meeting therefore not just for Amiga's but retr0 gaming too and I'd encourage others to bring their systems too.

It would be a great opportunity for new Amiga users to come along and get some time to sit down with more experienced users and learn some tips and tricks to get the most of of their setups, I would of course be on hand to help with setting up CF cards, etc.

So what do you all think? Would you be interested in attending?

I'm going to look into venues and I'm oping this can be very cheap event to hold with just a small donation at the door to cover the costs of the hall hire. If it's successful maybe we can make it a more regular thing?

Thanks for reading!

Steve.

Update - 31/10/13

I provisionally have a booking for Saturday 1st February 2014 from 9am-5pm at the Otford Village Hall.

The Club room isn't available, in fact it's booked out every Saturday morning as a Village tea room (how quaint )

So therefore I have the main larger hall:



We have access to the stage and kitchen, there is a projector screen so I will be running some little tournaments throughout the day such as lap times contest on Stunt Car Racer, No Second Prize and of course some Sensible Soccer

Mrs Fitz has offered to do the catering so we will have goodies such as bacon butties, tea, coffee and cold drinks!

I will be finding out about access nearer the time, for setting up, etc. There will be plenty of room if anyone wants to bring along some systems, just remember anything you bring is at your own risk. Nearer the time I will do a table lay out plan.

I hope the day works for as many people as possible, it was the only Saturday available in February which was my target month. If successful we could make it a quarterly or half yearly event depending on success.

There will be no entry fee, if you would like to make a small donation towards the hall hire you are welcome. There will be a small charge for refreshments or you can bring your own packed lunch!

There is also a really nice pub opposite who do excellent food.

For travel the nearest train Station is Otford which has train services in and out of London and Kent, the M25 and A21 are near by and there is ample parking.

Here are the venue details:

http://www.otford.info/ovmh/

Please let me know if you are coming, of course you can bring friends or family but please let me know in advance so I can keep a track!

That's it for now, I'm going to start making plans for the event and will post news and updates here.

Thanks for reading and I hope we can make a successful event.

Update - 01/01/14

List of potentially interested attendees:

EAB

Manic23
Akira
Fatboy
Lukassid
Big-Byte
Hungry_Horace
Mort
musojon

Amibay

edd_jedi
CrazyC
Johnim
bagpuss22
Paradroid90
Harrison
dj.echo
BrooksterMax
Woodycool
SunDown79
Tajmaster
Peter
Firthy2002
Nes4Life

Update 22/01/14

Now taking suggestions for layout. If anyone has extensions leads they can bring please let me know as I will need to buy some otherwise.

I was thinking a layout like this:



Food & Drink will probably stay in the Kitchen depending on how big the venue is.

So Systems would be setup all around the outside of the gaming area with some storage in the middle for boxes/etc.

Of course we can change things on the day, I'm going to pop down and double check the facilities before the event.

I'm hoping some of us can get in a little early to start setting up

As said before if you are bringing kit please makes sure you bring everything you need to get it up and running, 4/6 gang surge protectors, mice keyboards, screens, etc. Oh and some Games to play on them!

I'll be running the projector setup with tournies like Puzzle Bobble, Bomberman, Street Fighter II, etc throughout the day, I'll probably run my Sega Saturn, Sega MDII/32X setup and Philips CDI for some Mad Dog action! Be great to get some PC Engine Shooter action on the big screen at some point too!

I'll need at least 2 tables for other my setups, each table I guess will take 2 machines, there may be room for more. I'm displaying A4000, A1200, Neo Geo MVS, Micro AmigaOne and Amstrad CPC464/Spectrum +3/128 on the Amstrad Screen, maybe switching to my A500+ in the PM.

I'll have some backup machines such as my C64/SMS/NES/N64. I'll probably bring along some of my handheld's too if we want a little handheld gaming section.

[Amiga1992]

I think I mentioned this to you before, but I was thinking about this chance myself. Let me know if I can help you out!
Is there any place we can team up with? I am thinking something like Retro Gamebase in Croydon.

[fatboy]

I'm in West Kent. I'd like to see a SE Amiga/Retro meet nearby

[fitzsteve]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking of using my local village hall:

http://www.otford.info/ovmh/

Could be very handy for you fatboy

[manic23]

Great idea Steve, count me in, I have loads of consoles as well that i can bring

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by manic23

Great idea Steve, count me in, I have loads of consoles as well that i can bring

I thought you'd be interested

[manic23]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

I thought you'd be interested

Hehe, you bet, I'd have loved to go to the last retro event that was in Manchester (?) but just a bit to far for me.

[fitzsteve]

Yeah it was Manchester, play expo. We're doing one in December in Wolverhampton if you fancy it. Retro revival it's called.

I'm exhibiting and we're having a small Amibay table.

[Amiga1992]

Having a big related swap shop/boot sale would be awesome.

[lukassid]

Do you take Poles from Surrey? I'm might come if job allows.

[fitzsteve]

All are welcome and feel free to bring along bits you want to sell swap etc :-)

[Big-Byte]

Im very interested in this as live in Southborough so only 20 mins from otford. I have quite a lot of items that peope might be interested in.. my best items are a boxed Sega Multimega, Atari Lynx and Dreamcast.

[fitzsteve]

That's awesome Big-Byte, I've noticed quite a few people in the Kent area popping up here and at Amibay so was thinking we'd have enough locally for a pretty decent meeting.

I've messaged the Otford Village Hall to find out about rates to hire then I'll update if it's going ahead and dates

[manic23]

Splendid, I for one can't wait

[Hungry Horace]

Would love to know a date so I can put it on reserve! Otford is not massive trek for me

If they are still in my loft by then, maybe I'll bring some games to sell!!

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Yeah it was Manchester, play expo. We're doing one in December in Wolverhampton if you fancy it. Retro revival it's called.

I'm exhibiting and we're having a small Amibay table.

Would it be possible to get more info on this meet please?

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

Would love to know a date so I can put it on reserve! Otford is not massive trek for me

If they are still in my loft by then, maybe I'll bring some games to sell!!

I'm going to give them a call tomorrow and see what dates are available as no reply to my email!

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

Would it be possible to get more info on this meet please?

Sure it's:

http://www.revivalretroevents.com/in...ewevent&itid=2

This is the mini event in December, their main event is next August

[Big-Byte]

I can also bring along a few friends if they are around.. Steve (zzapMort) - still doing his Magazine scan cd's I believe and hes married now so I expect wife may convince him to bring some stuff along to sell

[fatboy]

Originally Posted by Big-Byte

Im very interested in this as live in Southborough so only 20 mins from otford. I have quite a lot of items that peope might be interested in.. my best items are a boxed Sega Multimega, Atari Lynx and Dreamcast.

I'm in Southborough too!!! Must be an Amiga haven

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking of using my local village hall:

http://www.otford.info/ovmh/

Could be very handy for you fatboy

yep not far! but I might be asking too much to have it pretty much on my own doorstep

[mikey2002kent]

ask to join this group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/retrospectkent/

we all do something similar every few months or so, would be many interested in joining