Experiencingart and culture in Berlin is not difficult—after all, there’s something exciting to discover on nearly every corner. Just two days ago, the capital hosted the Long Night of Museums, which made it possible to experience 75 museums and around 750 events in just one night. Everything from classical to contemporary art was represented. But one museum doesn’t invite visitors to view paintings on canvas; instead, it invites them to discover genuine relics of the digital past : the Computer Game Museum. As early as 1997, it opened the world’s first permanent exhibition on digital interactive entertainment culture in Berlin and has been taking visitors on a journey through the history of gaming ever since.
Since 2011, the current permanent exhibition “Video Games: The Evolution of a Medium” has been located on Karl-Marx-Allee. This is by no means a traditional museum where you can only view the exhibits behind glass. An important part of the concept is to experience the history of video games firsthand and try out numerous games. The permanent exhibition features more than 300 exhibits and takes you through over 70 years of video game history. In addition to historic consoles, home computers, and rare original devices, there are numerous interactive stations and recreated rooms from different decades.
One of the highlights is the 1980s-style arcade hall. Here, you can play on vintage arcade machines yourself and try out classics like Pac-Man and Space Invaders. More than 70 gaming machines are also on display on the so-called “Wall of Hardware.” Various living rooms and children’s rooms from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s have also been recreated. They show how video games and consoles gradually carved out a place for themselves in everyday life over the decades. Among the items on display—and in some cases, available to try out—are Pong, Nintendo Game & Watch, the original Game Boy, and the first PlayStation. Also on display are a giant playable joystick, the famous Pain Station, and rare devices from the early years of video game history.
The arcade hall in particular is likely one of the most visually exciting areas of the museum. With its vintage arcade machines and corresponding design, it aims to convey the atmosphere of a typical 1980s arcade —with the key difference being that you can actually play many of the historic games yourself.
Not only is the exhibition fascinating, but so is the history of the building itself. Before visitors could journey through the history of video games here, this site was home to Café Warschau, one of the GDR’s most renowned restaurants. The building was designed by architect Kurt Leucht and opened on May 1, 1953 . The café was part of the prestigious dining scene along what was then Stalinallee—now Karl-Marx-Allee—and gained fame even beyond East Berlin.
This was by no means a small neighborhood café. The two floors could accommodate more than 400 guests, while the outdoor terrace offered seating for about 200 more . The menu featured Polish specialties in particular. Artists, writers, and politicians were also among the guests. The writer Horst Bastian is said to have sat at Café Warschau almost every day and to have written parts of his work *Violence and Tenderness* there.
