'Epic' Minecraft Fan Experience Coming To Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If your child has been spending countless hours playing the Minecraft video game they aren't alone. It's one of the more popular games today.
But what you may not realize is while building objects in the game, they're also building their mind.
MINEFAIRE: A Minecraft Fan Experience -- coming to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center October 15th and 16th -- digs deeper into that.
"It's going to be packed with dozens of YouTube VIP's coming in from all over the world that just can't wait to meet their fans," says founder Chad Collins. "And One of the great parts about MINEFAIRE is that every entry into the event gives you the opportunity to meet your favorite YouTubers."
Minecraft hit the scene several years ago. While Collins says on the surface it may look like a very generic, old school video game, "as you dig a little deeper, you'll find that there's a lot of brainpower that goes in and all the players that really get involved start to understand that when you combine different elements together you can make different things that help you advance and help you creat different objects inside the game."
He says the event will feature several stages packed with entertainment, presentations reviewing the most exciting parts of Minecraft and they'll also go over minecarting. But one of the key parts of MINEFAIRE...
"We're going to be going over educational benefits of Minecraft," Collins says. "Parents, we really want to help them understand that while their player is immersed in the game, there are these connections being made in their brain, it can be used as a helpful tool as kids grow. We have a learning lab, an official Minecraft education mentors roaming around, helping kids and parents through the game."
Collins adds the event won't be short of hands-on activities:
"We have a few records we're going to attempt to break. There's going to be LEGO building exhibits and attractions. We also have a build battle stage where there's going to be challenges. Anyone from the audience is going to be able to come up and have build battles in the game on large screens that everyone can see."
He says while this event is really geared toward those that have followed along with Minecraft for some time, "if you're a newbie into the Minecraft world this is going to get you an education really fast. If you know that Minecraft player and you know that they've been following along on YouTube or they've been involved in the community, or if you want to get a better understanding yourself on what makes this game the phenomenon it has become, all of you questions will be answered and more."
For more information or to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE.
