Play is an essential part of who we are as individuals and as a collective. Since videogames were first invented by scientists in laboratories, our relationship to play has come a long way. From arcades and the first home consoles to today’s blockbuster releases, mobile games and experimental indies, videogames have evolved dramatically and so have we. How we interpret and experience videogames, and the communities and cultures spawned from them, reveals much about how society has shifted in the past five decades.
Search the couch cushions for coins, because we're heading to the arcade. The arcade era was a period of enormous innovation which birthed iconic franchises such as SPACE INVADERS, PAC-MAN, DONKEY KONG (which also featured the first appearance of Mario)
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
On display until
16 February 2031
ACMI: Gallery 1
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
184289
Curatorial section
The Story of the Moving Image → Games Lab → GL-05. Videogames Infographic → GL-05-C01
Object Types
2D Object