IT is one of the biggest gaming events in Hampshire.

Game Fest returned to Southampton for the third year, giving more than 300 people the chance to play arcade and video games and raise money for charity.

The event at the 1865 Club at Brunswick Square was sponsored by Europe’s leading manufacturer of custom-built arcade machines, Arcade Europe, and a large proportion of the profits made on the day will go to Southampton Hospital Charity.

The event has raised £290 so far and counting from ticket sales.

As well as all the gaming opportunities, attendees received a free computer game and were entered into a raffle to win 50 comic books.

Organiser Patrick Day-Childs said: "We were sold out, the arcade machines were a really big draw.

"We also had some industry experts talking to people about how to break into the gaming industry and students from Southampton showing of their own game they had made."

The event was so popular that Patrick thinks a larger venue may be in order.

"We will almost certainly be back next year, but we are thinking about going county-wide," he said.

"We don't want to raise the ticket price too much."

Patrick began gaming at the age of four.

He often opted for staying indoors and playing with friends online rather than going out in what he felt was an unsafe neighbourhood in Sheffield.

He said: “Gaming was there for me when I was worried about leaving the house.”

Gaming then became a source of income for Patrick after he was kicked out of school and began writing for a gaming magazine.

Now the father, alongside his wife, organise the Game Fest once a year, as well as smaller fundraising events such as video game pub quizzes.