About the Museum
World's first computer games museum
Our museum opened the world's first permanent exhibition on digital interactive entertainment culture in Berlin in 1997. Since then, we have accompanied the development of the medium in over 40 national and international exhibitions. Our current permanent exhibition "Computer Games. Evolution of a Medium" opened on January 21, 2011.
The exhibitions of the Computerspielemuseum are made possible by the collection of the "Förderverein für Jugend und Sozialarbeit" (fjs e.V.). For more than 21 years, fjs e.V. has been committed to the collection and preservation of digital interactive culture. The Computerspielemuseum has made the cultural history of games accessible to an audience of millions on this basis. This achievement was recognized in 2017 with the German Computer Games Award in the category "Special Jury Prize".
The Computerspielemuseum is a co-founder and member of EFGAMP e.V. (European Federation of Game Archives Museums and Preservation Projects) as well as a member of ICOM (International Council of Museums) and the German Museums Association.
Inventory of the collection (as of 2022)
-
over 35,000 original data carriers with computer games and applications
- over 350 different consoles and computer systems
- more than 12.000 magazines
as well as vending machines, literature, media art objects, archives, merchandising articles and video materials
Computer games are a significant part of our culture shaped by digital technologies. The Computerspielemuseum is actively committed to communicating the culture and history of digital games to a broad audience through exhibitions, media education programs, events and publications. The goal is to deepen the understanding of digital interactive entertainment media and thus increase media literacy. Aware of this social responsibility, the Computerspielemuseum offers discounted admission conditions for adolescents, the unemployed, families and school classes.
In order to improve the conditions for the collection, indexing and preservation of computer games, the Computerspielemuseum is a regular initiator and partner of scientific projects. In order to make their results as widely and diversely usable as possible, the Computerspielemuseum has committed itself to adhering to the criteria for ensuring good scientific practice.
The Computerspielemuseum does not acquire objects whose acquisition or possession violates ethical standards or legal requirements. This includes in particular objects from illegal trade or looting or objects made of protected natural materials, objects with unclear licensing and ownership rights. In all its activities, the Computerspielemuseum respects and observes the UNESCO Guidelines for the Protection of Cultural Property and the ICOM 'Code of ethics'.
The Computerspielemuseum is involved in various initiatives and projects that aim to develop strategies for the preservation of digital artifacts. For example, we explored concepts and tools for hardware-independent preservation of digital cultural assets in the European research project KEEP (www.keep-project.eu) together with three national libraries. We were a member of the nestor project - the German competence network for digital preservation - funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Today we are an associated partner of this network.
