The Dragondaze event takes place this Saturday in Newport and will be an entertaining day out for all the family.
Dragondaze has its roots in the core of Newport gaming. It started as an annual event in 1984, for a limited amount of friends to meet and have a whole day of gaming with a little extra effort put in to make a day to remember.
As with all good things, this came to an end as people moved on with their lives.
Then in 2013, a few people, along with the original founder, had the idea to re-launch it but to make it bigger in every way and most importantly to use it as a platform to raise money for a great cause.
It was decided that, like the phoenix rising from the ashes of previous years, on September 20th 2014, Dragondaze would take flight again!
The plans were begun and instead of a dozen boardgames and role playing games in a church hall, the organisers aimed for bigger premises. The Newport Leisure Centre was secured along with many different attractions, all with the aim of raising as much money for Barnardos Young Carers as possible.
Each year they have had 40+ trade stands from businesses both local and from all over the UK; Cosplayers including Daleks, Stormtroopers,Darth Vader and reenactors from Medieval and WW2; A Starship Bridge Simulator where participants can take over the role of Captain, Engineer, Comms and all of the others you would expect to see on Star Trek!
Board Games distributors demonstrating the latest games; Counters, a Boardgames cafe with a library of over 200 games for the guests to not only play at the event, but also be taught the rules by a friendly assistant; A Bring and Buy stall where bargains can be won and lost; A raffle with in excess of £1000 worth of prizes donated from local and national businesses; local volunteers running role-playing games and wargames for the guests to play through the day.
Every year the event is opened by the Newport Mayor and so far Dragondaze has managed to raise over £5,554 for charity, and this year, with the aid of the Newport and Vale Lions Club, they are aiming to split the money raised between Barnardos, Sparkle Childrens Charity and the Lions Charity Fund.
To attract more people this year, Dragondaze has invested in some celebrities with the aim to recovering those costs and raising more too.
This year they have some stars from science fiction TV shows and famous authors.
Also, Dragondaze is also hosting the Official Battletech Welsh National Tournament this year with people flying in from all over Great Britain to participate. The winner to go on to the European finals in Germany.
In summary, Dragondaze aims to give its guests as enjoyable a day as possible while attracting people to Newport, generating business and most importantly, raising as much money as possible for some great causes.
The Dragondaze event takes place in Newport this Saturday, September 30, from 10am to 5pm.
