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San Francisco Opening Computer & Video Game Museum

Posted by timothy on from the even-more-reason-to-visit dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A team of game scholars, game journalists, and plain old geeks have gotten together to put together San Francisco's first and most comprehensive non-profit museum dedicated to the design, creation, history, and play of computer and video games. The museum is currently raising funds and shopping around for a San Francisco space, but they've already managed to get some obscure relics — including the only copy in existence of 1984's never-released Atari Cabbage Patch Kids game. As a scholarly resource, the museum is also dedicated to making its entire collection playable by visitors."

9 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. St. Louis video game museum by jtdennis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    St. Louis used to have a video game museum, but i think it went out of business years ago. I remember finding it on a trip when I was 10 or 11 and thinking it was the best thing in the world.

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  2. Is that what Arcades have become? by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I could see myself spending a few hours at a place like this, but that's because I'm nostalgically remembering a childhood when these things weren't called "museums".

    1. Re:Is that what Arcades have become? by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Arcades are still alive, the difference is that the technological side of things has become to where it no longer is enough to have good graphics and fun gameplay. Rather, arcades compete by having expensive hardware and novelties. For example, lightguns with scopes with screens and games with motion and non-standard controls.

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    2. Re:Is that what Arcades have become? by Temposs · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you wanna see a real arcade museum, go to Musee Mecanique in San Francisco. it's got a lot of great old mechanical arcade games from the early 20th century. They're all still playable and mostly functional, and they've modded the operation mechanisms with modern quarter slots like you'd see in a modern arcade game. They also have a few of the more classic digitial arcade games scattered throughout. Truly a magnificent place!

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  3. I hate by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    going to a museum full of stuff that is younger then I am.

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  4. Berlin already has an incredible one. by mikery1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The computerspielemuseum.

    It was loads of fun and a total walk down memory lane. It's got a great selection of historical hardware -- Magnavox Odyssey, Intellivsion, early Gameboys, an Apple ][e, Football, etc. (Just seeing new people come in and look to find their earliest game system and smile was worth it by itself.)

    Also, they've got some great experimental games, especially the PainStation (how much phyiscal pain will you take to defeat your opponent). The discussion of how they designed Pong was interesting, the wall of old Computer Games (Zork, Leisure Suit Larry, etc.) was fun.

    On the Karl-Marx-Allee in the old East Berlin. I spent a couple hours just looking, playing and reminiscing. And almost all of it is in both German and English.

  5. Why not at the real computer museum? by eggoeater · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So why not host this as an exhibition at the computer museum that's a whole whopping 30 miles from SF? They can probably make some space if they come up with enough to look at.

    Yeah, they could open the "first" museum for video games in SF, but most of the money raised would go towards rent in the insanely expensive city. They should swallow their pride and work with the computer museum to make this a reality.

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  6. Re:they should get some pinball games as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just went to the Pinball Museum in Alameda, CA., last weekend, for the first time. It's an amazing experience....WALLS lined densely with cabinets broken up by era's. Original artwork on display with anecdotes of their creation. It was fascinating finally understanding the whole For Amusement Only history of Pinball. The curators are very approachable (relating to pinball) and certainly founts of knowledge. I asked about a video game museum of similar integrity, but sadly they were pinball minded only.

    It's super exciting to find out now that just across the Bay we have one in the works! And this as I'm working on my first custom arcade cabinet build from scratch...my first use of power tools since middle school.

  7. Computer Games Gallery at CHM by Al+Kossow · · Score: 3, Informative

    So why not host this as an exhibition at the computer museum that's a whole whopping 30 miles from SF?
    They can probably make some space if they come up with enough to look at.

    Like this?

    http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/computer-games/16