Late night adults opening at the Science Museum

This month at the Science Museum’s Lates we’ll be exploring the wonderful world of gaming in celebration of the opening of the Museum’s hands-on gaming event: Power UP.

Test out the latest virtual reality headsets, compose your own Chiptune soundtrack and take part in a gaming inspired dance battle.

Visitors will also get the chance to experience Power UP, our fully interactive gaming festival featuring 160 consoles and the best video games from the past 40 years. All that, plus the regular highlights including the Punk Science Comedy Club featuring Robin Ince, live music and the best silent disco in town.

Events:

Power UP

This hands-on, fully interactive gaming event features the very best video games and consoles from the past 40 years, and is as much a social and technological history as it is a full-on player's bonanza of the greatest games ever made. With classic games both old and new on offer, from Pacman and Mario Kart to Halo and Oculus Rift, there's something to suit beginners and experts, multiplayers, retro fans and everybody else in between. Get ready to give your thumbs the workout of a lifetime and enjoy a museum experience like no other.

Tickets are limited and cost £5 per person

Punk Science presents the Science Museum Comedy Club

Punk Science answer the call of duty to celebrate games, but they don’t have a monopoly on it, guess who we have coming. Infinite Monkey Cage host Robin Ince, Festival of the Spoken Nerd’s geek songstress Helen Arney plus curator of consumer technology Helen Peavitt talks games we have in the national collection. Get your tickets and join the pack, man.

Tickets are limited and cost £9 per person – available from any ticket desk.

Superbugs

Join Professor Alice Roberts, anatomist, television presenter and author, for a live demonstration of Superbugs, the new game from the UK's biggest science prize, the Longitude Prize. Play the game and try to survive as long as you can against superbugs using existing and new antibiotics.

Futures Made of Virtual Reality

Join Samsung as they take you beyond your imagination with their virtual reality headsets. Discover what is possible with VR by trying out their headsets while experts from Samsung are on hand to answer all your questions.

Dance off Extravaganza

Want to get interactive with your video games? Power UP and Costume & Play will be presenting a Dance Off extravaganza - a fun, social gaming experience with a fabulous atmosphere that everyone can join in with! Dance to your favourite tracks with friends in 'Freestyle Play' or take turns in teams with our 'Dance Off Challenge!'

GameFace’s Signature: ChipBattles

Two Chiptune artists will go head to head over 3 rounds in an 8-bit musical duel. All music is composed uniquely for the face-off and the artists will be fighting for the crowd's approval. Imagine a rap battle set in the universe of Scott Pilgrim and you’re close to the geeky joy of experiencing a ChipBattle.

Chiptune Workshop

Join GameFace, Joe Bleeps and Auracle for a workshop introducing Little Sound DJ; a popular tracker software used with the Game Boy to create mind-blowing original music. You’ll use a modified Game Boy that demonstrates the many ways Chip-Musicians customise the consoles of their childhood to create modern music enjoyed all over the world.

Gripable – putting Gaming into Personal Training

Test your hand, eye and brain skills with gripAbleTM. Designed by neurotechnologists, gripAbleTM is a digital physical and cognitive trainer for patients and healthy people alike. Compare your coordination and cognitive skills against others…will you make it onto our leader board?

Fox Talbot BSL Tour

Join John Wilson as he explores the life and works of William Henry Fox Talbot, a pioneer of Victorian photography. Gain free entry to one of the world’s most comprehensive and important collections of his work, and find out about the man who defined what was possible in the formative moments of photography.

This tour will be presented in BSL and voiceover interpreted into English

Level Up

Starting in the basement, see if you can locate the seminal gaming objects on your Mission Card. Collect stamps to level up and collect your winnings.

Light, Power, Action!

What might the future of racing cars look like? Created by Durham University students, this solar car beauty will give you something to reflect on. It competed in last year’s 3,000km World Solar Challenge in Australia where the certainty of summer allowed top speeds of 70mph.

Games to Beat Cancer

Hop into bed with a scientist, visit a virtual reality lab and play the online games helping Cancer Research UK beat cancer sooner.

LED Keyring Workshop

Electronics doesn't always have to mean soldering irons and equations. So long as you know that the circuit is complete and that the numbers match with something as simple as an LED, a battery and some tape you can make a simple keyring torch.

Workshop run by the Coventry FabLab

Game On

Design and decorate your very own gaming controller in this interactive workshop. Then, connect it up to our MaKey MaKey kits to play a game!