Weekend at the Asylum. The World’s Largest Steampunk Festival 2026

WEEKEND AT THE ASYLUM

The Steampunk Convention and Festival.

“CONVENTION” WRISTBANDS

Evening show tickets and collectable badges etc available separately. Please see the bottom of this page.

Please Read Carefully

Weekend at the Asylum is the world’s largest Steampunk festival and has been enjoyed by tens of thousands of people and this year we are celebrating our sixteenth festival. This year (Asylum 16) it will take place in the City of Lincoln which traces its history back for more than two millennia. This will be our steampunk “Year of the Dragon” in collaboration with our partners in Lincoln. Of course, our overarching theme is unashamedly steampunk but expect some dragon shaped additions and surprises to unfold.

What is Weekend at the Asylum? First and foremost it is a convention style event. It is a gathering of Steampunk enthusiasts looking to share their hobby with other enthusiasts from around the world. To participate fully in the Weekend you need a wristband. Here you can buy a weekend wristband which covers all four days and offers a substantial saving on single day wristbands which will go on sale in a few weeks. Wristbands cover all of the daytime content only. Evening events and catered features are ticketed entirely separately.

This year your wristband grants you access to the County Assembly Rooms, Westgate School,  Lincoln Castle Ward and the Castle’s Steampunk zone which includes The Viewpoint  (formerly the Heritage Skills Centre) and marquees. Here you will find an extensive programme of exhibitors, workshops, talks, displays, games and features.  When we first created The Asylum we really wanted to encourage and support creativity, crafting and imagination so watch out for more classes and demonstrations this year as we continue that tradition.

Of course we are aware of the problems faced by the economy and budgets continue to be squeezed tightly. Weekend at the Asylum does not receive any outside financial support and has always been proud to operate entirely on income from wristband and ticket sales. We haven’t increased our prices since the pandemic but the time is sadly here. Even so if you buy an early bird wristband this will be less than a regular wristband last year and we continue to offer free wristbands to all under 17s when accompanied by a paying adult. This makes us much more affordable than all comparable fan conventions and comicons etc.  We hope this helps.

When you buy wristbands you will receive an electronic confirmation. Keep this safe. Bring it along to event control on Castle Hill during the event (Times listed on your confirmation). If you go on to acquire a ticket for the Advanced Guard gathering on Thursday evening you will have opportunities to obtain your wristbands there too.

Please check the terms and conditions for full information. (Tickets purchased through misuse of discount codes and special access may be cancelled without refund.)

Free carer’s tickets are available to ADULT wristband holders. Buy your own wristband and show your PIP/DLA entitlement letter at control when you collect it. Your carer will be given an equivalent wristband to yours. There is no need to prebook for your carer.

Keep up to date with news and further information at our website www.ministryofsteampunk.com or on our Facebook group “Welcome to the Asylum”. Sorry we do not operate a general mailing list or similar due to data handling regulations but key updates will be emailed to ticket purchasers as is permitted.

Merchandise and collectables this year are on a separate booking portal which you can find here:

https://buytickets.at/mosevent/2086800

These are pre order for collection only. You will need to bring your purchase confirmation with you to event control on Castle Hill during opening hours to collect your items. We are sorry but we are unable to offer any form of mail order fulfilment for medals and pins.

Evening feature tickets are available here : https://buytickets.at/mosevent/2133039 

We are really looking forward to welcoming you to “The Asylum” and seeing your creativity in the most splendid of surroundings.

Very best wishes.

The Ministry of Steampunk