Deeson Online does GEEK 2014

On Saturday February 22, I attended the excellent GEEK 2014 in Margate, showing kids and their parents the marvel that is the Raspberry Pi.

What is GEEK?

GEEK is an annual celebration of games and playing games. Attendees are invited to explore all forms of gaming entertainment from retro computer games of the past 40 years right up to the present day, with a host of indy game makers demonstrating their latest offerings.

On our Raspberry Pi stand, with support from the Kent branch of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), attendees got their first taste of how to create their own games. And unsurprisingly it went down very well!

What is a Raspberry Pi?

The Raspberry Pi is a tiny, but fully functional computer which allows people of all ages to get into programming by providing a low cost, straight forward starter package.

At our stand, gamers of all ages got their first taste of creating their own game using Scratch, and wiring in LED lights and buttons.

One of the most interesting programs we showcased was a full game of Pong, controlled with our eggs box controller - yep its an egg box with buttons on it for playing games with! (See if you can spot it in the vine below...)

Who are they for?

The Raspberry Pi foundation's aim was to produce a low cost computer that could be given to a kid for their own use to freely experiment with, explore and learn through experimentation. Nice!

I also gave a presentation, which you can check out below.

Slides from Geek 2014

For the technical details on the Raspberry Pi's on show, check out the IET Kent blog post.