Slap on your Assassin’s Creed costume and warm up your thumbs: it’s GAME CITY time. Once a year, Vienna’s historic town hall and square turn into a hi-tech meet for gamers of all ages, from young to young at heart.
- Austria’s largest gaming festival, including a cosplay parade
- Free entry
- 2022 dates: Oct 14-16
- See also:
What is GAME CITY?
A 3-day “gaming fair and exhibition” sums up the event, which features the usual attractions of such occasions, many of which naturally require swift thumbs and fast reflexes:
- Dozens of stands offering the latest games and hardware to view and try
- Numerous exhibitors, typically including such behemoths as Nintendo, Ubisoft, Sony’s Playstation and Microsoft’s Xbox, but also indies and related organisations
- Live eSports events
- Special games zone for younger children (4-12)
- Cosplay parade
The last GAME CITY (October 2019) attracted around 79,000 visitors. You can get an impression of the event from the video flashback at the bottom of this article.
The event places a strong emphasis on attracting people beyond what you might call the core gaming audience, hence the special kids’ section.
Though the focus is on the fun, GAME CITY also covers the wider aspects of gaming, such as the educational opportunities and, of course, the surrounding social and parental issues.
Unlike most of its colleagues around the world, the event does not take place in a convention centre or hotel complex. Instead, you enjoy the intriguing contrast of modern tech with historical surrounds. The location is the town hall, built in the late 1800s and one of Vienna’s iconic buildings.
It’s a local event, so primarily in German, but the prevalence of English in the gaming world (and in Austrian schools) means you should have no trouble communicating with exhibitors and others.
2022 dates and tickets
The 2022 GAME CITY takes place provisionally on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 14th to 16th after skipping 2020 and 2021 for obvious reasons.
Opening times are usually something like 9am to 6pm on the Friday and 10am to 7pm at the weekend.
Entry is free and you normally don’t need to get a ticket in advance. But check on ticketing arrangements, more details on the programme etc., at the official website.
How to get to GAME CITY
The Rathaus (Vienna’s town hall) is very central and easy to reach.
Subway: Take the U2 line to Rathaus and go around to the other side of the town hall
Tram: Use any of these lines to reach the Rathausplatz/Burgtheater stop…1, D or 71. Or take the 2 tram to Parlament
(Or simply walk there from the city centre.)
Address: Rathausplatz, 1010 Vienna
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