I’m off to Play Expo Blackpool on Saturday, for what promises to be a hectic but fun-packed day of gaming – of both the retro and future flavours.

I have a few potential articles lined up based on some of the people and games being shown at the expo, so it’s going to be a bit of a mad rush to get round it all and make all of my appointments. (Can’t say much about them right now, unfortunately, but check back soon.) Still, I’m hoping there will at least be time to hear the talk by Henrique Olifiers (of I Am Bread fame) on the history and future of the ZX Spectrum.

I’m also dead keen to have a go on the Defender arcade cabinet. I played the Amiga conversion to death when I was a kid, but I’ve never had a chance to play on the original, so that will be a real treat. They also have a Virtual Boy at the Expo, so I’ll be making a bee line for that when I can. I’ve always been interested in having a go on Nintendo’s curious commercial failure.

If you’re going to be at the exhibition and want to say hi, please leave a note in the comments – always interesting to meet AMAP readers! I’ll report back next week on how my day went…