The National Media Museum’s Games Lounge is a brand new attraction giving visitors the chance to plug into the history of videogaming, play classic, groundbreaking games in their original arcade or console formats and discover the story behind a global phenomenon.
The Games Lounge is also the first public gallery that draws on the collection and knowledge of the National Videogame Archive (NVA). Many of the playable consoles and objects on display form part of the NVA and have been donated by generous members of the public or bought from collectors such as Console Passion.
Anyone visiting the Museum will be able to play their way through the titles that helped videogaming become one of the most successful entertainment industries in the world; from the sensational Pong (1972) to releases from the 1990s such as Super Mario Kart and Golden Eye.
The Lounge features a selection of seminal games that are easy to pick up and play, either for a quick 5 minute blast or a few hours. Games have been chosen to ignite feelings of nostalgia in visitors who remember them when they were first released, and give young people the chance to play them for first time.
Visitors will be able to track the history of videogames through a giant timeline as well as view the early computers and games consoles that turned a nation on to gaming. A dedicated Museum website provides further information and interactive content exploring the tradition, culture and design of videogames.
Featuring 15 individual games, several of the Games Lounge consoles are free to play, and others are coin-operated for the closest recreation of the original arcade experience possible. The lounge also hosts a unique arcade-style cabinet designed to give wheelchair users access to many of the titles through a free-of-charge simulator.
