Strong National Museum of Play- Rochester, NY- High Bandwidth-pics

[icemanxp300]

Ok so my wife and I grabbed the twins today and took them on a trip to the museum of play it's only like 30 minutes max from me probably more like 25. They have lots of stuff for kids. I mainly wanted to go to see the video game collection which I honestly was disappointed in.

 

Sure they had some nice stuff especially the NWC cart which I loved seeing in person, but on the website they state this;

 

"The International Center for the History of Electronic Games^® (ICHEG) at The Strong houses and interprets the largest and most comprehensive public collection of video games, other electronic games, and game-related historical materials in the United States and one of the largest in the world. ICHEG's holdings include more than 55,000 video games, other electronic games, game platforms, and related artifacts and publications, plus a growing array of archival materials."

 

http://www.icheg.org/collections

 

I get there only to find a small handfull of games on display nothing like the pictures online show. I was very disappointed in what I was able to see. I asked a worker if this was all they had an explained on the website they list have 35,000 games (I know I read that number somehere lol). He explained to me they have a seperate area not open to the public where they keep majority of items and only display a small portion.

 

He told me I may be able to get a private tour if I request one. So on the way out I asked about it and was given the curator of electronic gaming's contact info, in which I fully intend on calling tomorrow and hopefully getting a tour of what they have.

 

I am low on time now so I will just link my photobucket for now. I will imbed mainy of the pics later on.

 

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s14.photobucket.com/user/icemanxp300/embed/slideshow/Museum%20of%20play"></iframe>

[VectorGamer]

So it wouldn't be worthwhile for me to make the 5 hour drive to Rochester to see this place? It looks like everything is behind glass and there's really nothing to do there...

 

I can take my kids to Funspot which is an 8 hour drive for me and at least they are able to play a ton of games.

[icemanxp300]

Well it has much more to do for kids than what I showed. I'll upload more pics to the rest of the place. They have life size die cast cars to sit in. They have a sesame street play area, a decent size train ride, a carousel, a play shopping area for buying groceries and then putting them back, a big plane cockpit you can sit in and listen to a pilot recording while you manuever levers around.

 

They have an arcade " you pay to play". They have a comic zone gallery that has games to play, a reading section w/games, a bernstein bears section w/games, and more. Just browse the website.

 

Browse, this.

 

http://www.museumofplay.org/see-do

[Greg2600]

I don't know if it's worthwhile to drive 5 hours to Rochester period! He he he. Strong Museum receives a TON of collection donations, but it's not a video-game specific musuem. Another thing to remember is that museums typically don't operate like a retro arcade. They're going to be more as a holding spot for the collections. You'd be better off driving out to Yestercades in Red Bank to be able to play a ton of retro arcades and game systems. Or the Silverball Pinball Museum in Asbury Park!

[VectorGamer]

You'd be better off driving out to Yestercades in Red Bank to be able to play a ton of retro arcades and game systems. Or the Silverball Pinball Museum in Asbury Park!

 

I've been to Silverball Museum before but not Yestercades. If I can swing it, I'll do a weekend tour of NJ by stopping at Richie Knucklez, both Yestercades locations and Silverball Museum.

[Nateo]

I really do like the arcade exhibit, and the fact that in the large ballroom area they have a recurring "boardwalk exhibit" as an excuse to trot out more of its video arcade and pinball collection. I'd say it's worth it if you live nearby - from what I hear, its definitely worth it the trip if you get the private tour arranged. I'm hoping that enough people will request the private tour that it will nudge them towards the decision of expanding the video game section, maybe even spin it off into its own museum!

[20ohm20]

When I used to work downtown Rochester, I'd make the 10-12 minute walk to Strong Museum for lunch and a few games of Tempest and Centipede once or twice a week.

 

I haven't been since early March, do they have the Computer Space out again so the public can play it?

[icemanxp300]

Ok heres a bunch of the pics from the album.

 

 

...