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.

Asteroids, Manic Miner, Frogger and Street Fighter 2 – once the height of new gaming technology – were the forerunners of today’s multi-billion pound industry of Playstations, Xboxes and Wiis. Opening on February 13, the National Media Museum’s Games Lounge will include these seminal games, and more, many of them in authentic arcade cabinets.

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 celebrated releases from the 1990s such as Super Mario Kart and 007 Golden Eye.

Tom Woolley, the National Media Museum’s Curator of New Media said: “We’ve chosen seminal games that are easy to pick up and play, either for a quick 5 minute blast or a few hours.

“We’re hoping the games will 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. It’d be great to see kids beating their parents at Super Mario Kart or Street Fighter 2!”

Gallery Development Manager Joe Stocks-Brook said: “We want to bring old games to life for a new generation. The Games Lounge will be an informal, enjoyable space for people to meet and experience a taste of their gaming heritage.”

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 a new pastime. A dedicated Museum website is set to provide further information and interactive content exploring the tradition, culture and design of videogames.

The Games Lounge is also the first public gallery that draws on the collection and knowledge of the National Videogame Archive (NVA). Launched in 2008 as a partnership between the National Media Museum and Nottingham Trent University, the NVA records the vital role videogames play within the national heritage and the place they now hold in modern culture.

It is a purpose-built area forming a major part of the National Media Museum’s £390,000 redevelopment of its ground floor and foyer, which also includes a new box office, electronic information points, fast ticketing machines and new signage.

Featuring 15 titles, the Games Lounge offers a selection which are coin-operated for the closest recreation of the original arcade experience possible, alongside a small number which are free to play. 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.

For more information, or to request images please contact:

Phil Oates, Press Officer, National Media Museum, 01274 203317 Phil.Oates@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

Games Lounge
The full list of games available to play in the games lounge is:

Arcade classics: Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Pac Man, Defender, Space Invaders, Frogger, Centipede, Street Fighter 2, Gauntlet, Galaxian

Home favourites: Pong, Super Mario Kart, Manic Miner, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Golden Eye 007 (tbc).

Coin-operated arcade cabinets accept the same payment as required at the time they were first in use.

National Media Museum
The National Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire, opened as the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford in 1983, with a remit to explore the art and science of the image and image-making, and has since become one of the most visited UK museums outside London.

The Museum is devoted to film, photography, television, radio and the web and looks after the National Photography, Photographic Technology and Cinematography Collections. Its Television Collection incorporates an unrivalled collection of objects relating to the history and development of television, including John Logie Baird’s 1923 experimental apparatus.

The Museum organises four major film events every year – Bradford International Film Festival and Bradford Animation Festival, plus Bite the Mango and Fantastic Films Weekend. It also hosts three cinemas – Pictureville, Cubby Broccoli and the first IMAX screen in Europe. The Museum shows films in all of the major formats from Cinerama three-strip, to digital, to IMAX 3D.

It is also home to two temporary exhibition spaces and recent programme highlights include Don McCullin – In England and Live by the Lens. Die by the Lens: Film Stars and Photographers. Entry to exhibitions at the National Media Museum is free.

Other attractions at the Museum include a host of galleries including permanent galleries Experience TV, a hands-on visitor experience about the history, present and past of television, featuring TV Heaven, the Kodak gallery charting the history of photography, the Animation gallery, and the Magic Factory for the young and young at heart. Learning activities for families and schools bring the Museum’s subject matter to life and there are regular cultural events for adults to complement the Museum’s changing programme.

For more information visit www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk