Interactive Futures is free on 13 and 14 November across the Pump Rooms, Town Hall, Vue and SAE Institute. Saturday is the public day: expo, workshops, talks.

Interactive Futures, the county’s games festival, comes back to Leamington on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November, and for the first time it is spread across the town rather than held in one building. Every session is free, but you need to register on the festival website.

Updated 8 November: the programme now starts on Thursday 12 November, with the Silicon Spa exhibition at the Town Hall from 10am and a free Let’s Show and Tell evening at the Windmill Hill Brewery Taproom, 6pm to 8pm.

Warwick District Council sent us the news today, pointing to the full release from Warwickshire County Council, which runs the event. Friday is for people who already work in games. Saturday is the public day, and it is the one most readers will want.

Where it is

The festival’s host venues page lists four places, all in the town centre:

  • Royal Pump Rooms, The Parade, CV32 4AA: the Assembly Room, the Conservatory, the Art Gallery & Museum and the Craft Studio, on both days.
  • Leamington Town Hall, Parade, CV32 4AT: the Silicon Spa exhibition and a demonstration space on the ground floor.
  • Vue Cinema, Portland Place, CV32 5ET: talks and demonstrations on both days.
  • SAE Institute, 2 Spencer Yard, CV31 3NE: Saturday only.

The organisers say this is a change from past years. “The Royal Spa Centre has been a brilliant home for Interactive Futures, but using different spaces gives us the opportunity to offer a broader programme for a wider audience,” the festival FAQs say. If you plan to move between venues, they ask you to allow time for the walk.

Saturday: the public day

Timetable grid for Saturday 14 November 2026: the Expo runs 10am to 4pm in the Royal Pump Rooms Assembly Room; Games Design workshops in the Conservatory; talks in Vue Screen 4; ZBrush sculpting and Tamagotchi programming workshops at SAE Institute; close at 4.30pm
The Saturday programme at a glance, by venue and time. Image: supplied by Interactive Futures

The What’s On page sets out the day. Most of it runs from 10am, and the programme grid shows the festival closing at 4.30pm.

  • The Expo, 10am to 4pm, Royal Pump Rooms Assembly Room: stalls and game showcases from local studios and businesses. Drop in, no booking.
  • Portfolio reviews, 20-minute slots with recruiters and staff from Flix Interactive, Jagex and Wargaming, plus drop-in reviews on the Warwickshire College Group and SAE Institute stalls. Ages 14 and over. The booked reviews ask for your portfolio a week before.
  • Games Design Workshop: Boss Fight / Tabletop, 10am and 12.30pm, Royal Pump Rooms Conservatory: teams design a tabletop game and their own boss encounter. Ages 14 and over, 24 places each.
  • Games Art: ZBrush Sculpting, 10am and 12.30pm, SAE Institute Lab 1: sculpt a creature or character head in professional 3D software. Ages 14 and over, 15 places each.
  • Games Programming: Let’s build a Tamagotchi!, 10am and 12.30pm, SAE Institute Creative Corner: code a virtual pet in Unity and C#. Ages 14 and over, 10 places each.
  • From Brush to Mesh, noon, Vue Cinema: Ivan Batsalov, a senior character artist at Leamington’s Playground Games who has worked on the Forza Horizon series and Fable, on sculpting in ZBrush and Blender.
  • How To Get Into The Games Industry, 1pm, Vue Cinema: a recruitment panel with Flix Interactive, Electric Square & Lively, Third Kind Games, Sumo and Playground Games. Ages 14 and over, 85 places.

The workshops have the fewest places, so book those first. Most other sessions are drop-in once you have registered, “subject to capacity”, the FAQs say, and your QR code is scanned on arrival. Walk-up registration is available on the day, but it does not guarantee a place.

Silicon Spa at the Town Hall

The Silicon Spa exhibition, first shown at Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum in 2023, is back at the Town Hall, 10am to 4pm, and the programme now opens it a day early, on Thursday 12 November, as well as on both festival days. It tells how Leamington became one of the UK’s main centres for making video games, “from the early days of home computing to the internationally successful games and studios based here today”. It is drop-in and suitable for all ages.

Thursday: an early start

The programme now has a Thursday 12 November evening as well. Let’s Show and Tell, run by Marie Foulston of Good Afternoon, is at the Windmill Hill Brewery Taproom from 6pm to 8pm: local game makers give rapid-fire talks on what they are working on. It is free, but places are limited and you register separately on Eventbrite, through the festival’s listing.

Friday: for people in the industry

Timetable grid for Friday 13 November 2026 across the Royal Pump Rooms Assembly Room and Conservatory, the Art Gallery and Museum, Vue Screen 4 and two Town Hall rooms, from an 8.30am Leadership Breakfast to a 4.30pm close
The Friday industry programme at a glance, by venue and time. Image: supplied by Interactive Futures

Friday’s sessions, put together with the trade body Ukie, cover marketing, finance and investment, skills, legislation and winning contracts, the county council says. The day opens with an invitation-only Leadership Breakfast featuring Matt Western MP. The keynote is a conversation between Craig Duncan and Louise O’Connor at 9.45am in the Assembly Room. A Star Wars Galactic Racer fastest-lap tournament runs on the big screen at Vue from noon to 1.30pm.

There is no expo on Friday this year. The FAQs say feedback from earlier festivals “highlighted how much people valued the industry sessions”, so those have been given more room, and industry delegates are welcome at Saturday’s expo.

What the councils say

Councillor Ella Billiald, Warwick District Council’s portfolio holder for arts, culture and economy, said:

“Leamington has an incredible games sector and Interactive Futures is an opportunity to celebrate that, while also making it more visible and accessible to the people who live here. This year’s programme takes Interactive Futures out across the town, bringing together our games businesses, venues, educators, and communities.

“Whether you work in the industry, want to find your way into it or are simply curious about what happens right here in Leamington, there’s something to discover. We particularly want to inspire young people, opening their eyes to the opportunities on their doorstep and the potential for a future career in the games industry. We’re really pleased to be bringing everyone together for two days and, importantly, making the whole programme free to attend.”

Councillor Rob Howard, Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for economy and rural development, said:

“Interactive Futures is a fantastic example of how collaboration can support the creative sector and help showcase the breadth of talent, innovation and opportunity across Warwickshire. The county is home to a thriving creative economy, and events like this provide an important platform for businesses, educators, students and communities to connect, share ideas and discover what is possible.”

What it means for you

  • It costs nothing, but register first on the tickets page. When you register you pick the sessions you are likely to attend; that helps the organisers plan but does not hold a seat on drop-in sessions.
  • Some sessions need a separate booking, including those run by partners. The What’s On page links to each one.
  • Teenagers thinking about a games career should look at Saturday: most workshops, the portfolio reviews and the careers panel are for ages 14 and over.
  • Access needs: the organisers ask you to get in touch with the sessions you are interested in, so they can plan arrangements at each venue.
  • Getting there: all four venues are in the town centre. See our guide to parking in Leamington.