Arcade History Exhibit to Debut at Strong National Museum of Play

The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, will soon host the debut of Videotopia, a touring hands-on exhibit dedicated to arcade gaming history. The exhibit will feature more than 100 playable arcade cabinets, and will contain kiosks and interactive components that explore the history of video games. Admission to Videotopia is free to all Strong museum guests. Arcade play requires tokens that can either be purchased at the museum or earned by successfully answering gaming history trivia questions at "Power Up" stations located throughout the exhibit. Videotopia's arcade cabinets represent multiple eras of gaming history. The lineup includes early hits -- Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man -- along with latter-day titles that defined the modern arcade experience. Arcade games in Videotopia are grouped by manufacturer, year produced, and hardware used. An Atari-specific exhibit features arcade classics like Blasteroids, Marble Madness, and RoadBlasters while a section dedicated to laserdisc games showcases Dragon's Lair and Sega's holographic interactive movie Time Traveler. Videotopia is scheduled to open on May 30th. The exhibit will remain at Strong until November 1, 2009. (Photo courtesy Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, NY.)