From the dawn of Pong to today’s Xbox 360—play your way through the history of video games at eGameRevolution, an original, 5,000-square-foot, highly interactive exhibit opening Saturday, November 20, at the National Museum of Play at the Strong. The exhibit (produced by the Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games), dominates half of the museum’s second floor, offering a sweeping panorama of the electronic game revolution and its impact on the way we play, learn, and relate to each other. 

Oversized figures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Link from The Legend of Zelda will greet you at the exhibit entrance. Once inside, experience for yourself a wide breadth of electronic games—from pioneer Ralph Baer’s first Brown Box games to today’s sophisticated, high tech games.

Enter a recreated, old-fashioned video arcade featuring more than two dozen operating historic video games. Play old consoles like the Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64. Visit one of several emulator stations around the gallery and challenge yourself to dozens of PC games such as SimCity and Oregon Trail. You can also play Guitar Hero and Boom Blox Wii, or step lively on an LED Lightspace dance floor. And pit your skills against others on a gigantic game of Tetris. Young children will especially enjoy creating artwork with oversized translucent pegs on a gigantic Lite-Brite-like pixel wall.

Virtually every classic board and card game has made the leap to computers—Monopoly®, backgammon, poker, hearts, and solitaire, to name just a few. See how games evolved from other forms of play by examining playthings from the National Museum of Play and their video game counterparts  (eg, a dollhouse and The Sims, or baseball board games and their computerized equivalents). Examine artifacts spanning five decades of video game history and follow a timeline to see how video games and game platforms have progressed and increased in sophistication over past decades. Historic items are sprinkled liberally throughout the exhibit along with notes and drawings from various game inventors including Ralph Baer, who developed the first home video game system, and The Sims creator Will Wright.

The exhibit also tackles some big questions surrounding video games: What games are appropriate for kids? Do they cause violence? What are the health effects? How do they change the way we think?

eGameRevolution opening weekend festivities include an electronic-themed dance party on Saturday, November 6 and Sunday, November 7 from 1 to 4 p.m. Guests can also meet and greet the three CHEGheads (experts from the Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games) who will be in the exhibit to answer questions about the exhibit’s creation on Saturday only from
6 to 8 p.m.

eGameRevolution was produced by the Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. You can learn more about video game history when you visit www.ICHEG.com, find ICHEG on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ICHEG), or follow ICHEG on Twitter (@ICHEG).

Museum Hours:
Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 

Admission Fees:
General Admission (does not include admission to Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden):
Adults $11; Seniors $10; Children (2–15) $9; Children younger than two free; National Museum of Play members free.