Computerspielemuseum

From the 1997 World Record Holder to the Permanent Exhibition on Karl-Marx-Allee

The Computer Games Museum holds a superlative that no one can take away from it: Guinness World Records lists it as the world’s first permanent computer game museum. In 1997, it opened the world’s first permanent exhibition on digital interactive entertainment culture in Berlin, at a time when computer games were barely considered cultural assets. In 2000, the museum went online and existed primarily on the internet for over a decade before physically reopening on January 21, 2011, at Karl-Marx-Allee 93a in Friedrichshain, with the permanent exhibition “Computer Games, Evolution of a Medium.” The address fits better than it first appears: Karl-Marx-Allee was the socialist grand boulevard of the GDR, and it is precisely here that the history of a medium is told, which was received very differently in East and West. In 2017, the museum received the Special Jury Award at the German Computer Game Awards for this work, recognizing its efforts to make the cultural history of games accessible. The fact that a museum first had an exhibition, then primarily a website for over a decade, and only then physical premises again, is itself a piece of media history.

Nimrod, Poly-Play, and an Exhibit for Ages 18 and Up Only

Over 300 exhibits are on display in the game and experimentation landscape of the Computer Games Museum, with thousands more stored in the archive. The collection comprises more than 35,000 original data carriers with games and applications, over 350 different consoles and computer systems, and more than 12,000 magazines, as well as arcade machines, media art, and merchandising; it is described as the world’s largest collection from 70 years of computer games. Three pieces stand out. The Nimrod is a replica of one of the world’s first gaming computers from 1951, whose original operated with 480 tubes. The Poly-Play was the arcade machine produced in the GDR and is displayed here as an exhibit. And the PainStation is the only exhibit in the museum that is only accessible to visitors aged 18 and over, as it physically punishes players’ mistakes. Admission costs 12 Euros, reduced 8 Euros; family tickets are 20 or 32 Euros. The U5 stops at Weberwiese station, about a hundred meters away, and bus lines 240 and 347 also serve the area. Those coming with children should allow plenty of time, as almost everything here is meant for trying out, not just looking at.