Video game museums of the world?

[Macross_VF1]

I'm not sure this is exactly the right category but I figured it can't be completely off topic.

Anyway, serious question time, I'm currently thinking about writing my will and testament and since I have a rather large collection of video games, consoles, computers and other related stuff, I need to give that special consideration. Ideally someone could inherit the collection and continue it but I have no children of my own and my sister's children might not be interested. Not that I'm planning to die anytime soon, I plan to celebrate my 40th birthday this year and continue at least 40 more years.

One viable option would to donate to museums but I know very little of the museums around the world that would want this stuff. So this is my question to you guys. Are there any really good museums, preferably in Europe, that deal with these items? I mean I can google as well as any one but that doesn't truly help me narrow it down a whole lot.

 

[jhd]

I have no suggestions about specific video game museums, but I want to commend you for thinking of (eventually) donating your collection to a public institution. I too have an extensive specialized collection (albeit not at all related to video games) and in the absence of a family I want it to go to an institutional repository. 

 

Note that some general history museums have computers and video games in their holdings (e.g. the Royal Alberta Museum has a very extensive collection of children's toys and related artifacts as well as some old computer hardware) even if they never actually exhibit them. You may wish to inquire within your local area to determine what they will accept. 

 

The Canadian Science and Technology Museum has some computers and video games in its holdings, but I don't know if they are only accepting objects with a connection to Canada. 

[youxia]

 

My favourite, Load ZX Spectrum from Portugal. These folks really went the whole nine.

Edited January 4, 2021 by youxia

[Macross_VF1]

On 1/4/2021 at 9:25 PM, jhd said:

I have no suggestions about specific video game museums, but I want to commend you for thinking of (eventually) donating your collection to a public institution. I too have an extensive specialized collection (albeit not at all related to video games) and in the absence of a family I want it to go to an institutional repository. 

 

Note that some general history museums have computers and video games in their holdings (e.g. the Royal Alberta Museum has a very extensive collection of children's toys and related artifacts as well as some old computer hardware) even if they never actually exhibit them. You may wish to inquire within your local area to determine what they will accept. 

 

The Canadian Science and Technology Museum has some computers and video games in its holdings, but I don't know if they are only accepting objects with a connection to Canada. 

Aww, you make me sound so noble.  Anyway, I know most would consider it a bit early to start thinking about this stuff at the age of 40, but I like to plan ahead and I really don't want my collection to end up in the 'wrong' hands.

[CatPix]

You may wanna try here :

 

 

 

The ComputerSpiel Museum in Berlin

[Mikebloke]

My house. 

 

To be honest I think it really depends what you have. Obviously unique collections, particular those with memorabilia are going to be more usable for public display. You'll find most localised museums will probably already have a "focus" if they are video game or computer related. Many UK local VG museums focus on nostalgic elements, and hence tend to be strongly 80s microprocessor system based but there is other things out there. 

 

If you have any stored data (game data, builds, etc that is just not found on the Internet) then you might find larger institutions might be interested in keeping it for archive purposes even if it's not for public display. 

 

General VG collections of "Common" commercially available games however is likely to be better off being sold and then donated to preservation projects. Region exclusive, rare runs (such as misprints, mistypes etc) will likely have more interest though for preservation purposes. Anything from developers will also increase preservation value. 

 

Deep down, there needs to be a "story" behind it, some history that can be shared, particularly if it's not already commonly known, or at least backing up previous rumours. 

 

Some people also do commercial rental/convention style services where organisations or groups can buy in the use of machines and games for an event. While these are "for profit" initiatives it does have preservation of using these machines as a medium of enjoyment. This might be something you want to do yourself rather than waiting for your will to be enacted though. It comes with its own risks of course. 

[Macross_VF1]

On 1/7/2021 at 7:02 PM, CatPix said:

The ComputerSpiel Museum in Berlin

That one looks promising. Thanks!

 

 

16 hours ago, Mikebloke said:

My house. 

 

To be honest I think it really depends what you have. Obviously unique collections, particular those with memorabilia are going to be more usable for public display. You'll find most localised museums will probably already have a "focus" if they are video game or computer related. Many UK local VG museums focus on nostalgic elements, and hence tend to be strongly 80s microprocessor system based but there is other things out there. 

 

If you have any stored data (game data, builds, etc that is just not found on the Internet) then you might find larger institutions might be interested in keeping it for archive purposes even if it's not for public display. 

 

General VG collections of "Common" commercially available games however is likely to be better off being sold and then donated to preservation projects. Region exclusive, rare runs (such as misprints, mistypes etc) will likely have more interest though for preservation purposes. Anything from developers will also increase preservation value. 

 

Deep down, there needs to be a "story" behind it, some history that can be shared, particularly if it's not already commonly known, or at least backing up previous rumours. 

 

Some people also do commercial rental/convention style services where organisations or groups can buy in the use of machines and games for an event. While these are "for profit" initiatives it does have preservation of using these machines as a medium of enjoyment. This might be something you want to do yourself rather than waiting for your will to be enacted though. It comes with its own risks of course. 

I hadn't really considered that angle but you are of course correct. Now to be clear I don't really collect games, but rather systems, and I do own a fair amount of systems that would be considered quite rare. I obviously have lots of games as well, but that's not my aim with the collection. 

 

[widowsson]

What about the John Hancock museum? Is it open yet?

[+thanatos]

On 1/7/2021 at 12:02 PM, CatPix said:

You may wanna try here :

 

 

The ComputerSpiel Museum in Berlin

 

Ouch.  What a weird coincidence to run across this thread and pic considering what day it is.  I got a bit of a chill.