You know you've reached a certain age when the elements that defined your childhood become "artifacts" in a museum. A whole generation is about to have that experience when the National Center for the History of Electronic Games opens its doors in Rochester, New York. According to a Eurogamer report, the museum includes over 15,000 objects covering all aspects of electronic gaming, including early console systems such as the Atari 2600 and Colecovision as well as handhelds and gadgets such as the Microvision, Mattel's Electronic Football, and Simon. Also inclded are a plethora of advertising, television commercials and instruction manuals. Sections of the exhibit focus on all aspects of the hobby including game developers, players, controversies, and the games themselves.


A quick persusal of the NCHEG Web site reveals the center to be part of the Strong National Museum of Play, a family-oriented museum that focuses on toys and games. The site also reveals that this appears to be a bit more than just a nostalgic collection of memorabilia. There definitely seems to be a scholarly dedication to actually curating these objects and properly placing them within a hstorical context that will shed light on the role of electronic gaming in society. Of course the place offers birthday party packages, so take that for what it's worth.



Allen says: I don't know about you, but I just found the location for my next vacation. Fortunately I'm originally from New York and I do go back to Long Island occasionally for visits so maybe there's a chance I can convince my wife to take a good five- or six-hour drive... to see a videogame museum. Sigh. I'm never getting there.

On a purely up note, let's hope this is a serious effort to preserve the early history of electronic gaming. One of the great tragedies of the film world is that so little of the output prior to the 1930s actually survives -- particularly the work of the silent era. At the time, the culture czars also thought that movies were disposable trash entertainment not worthy of serious study, and as a result we lost priceless pieces of cultural history. Yes. I just referred to Nintendo's Game & Watch as "a priceless piece of cultural history."