Brøderbund founder Doug Carlston has given ICHEG nearly 1,500 copies of Brøderbund’s software (in pristine condition), representing virtually every product the company released, and an extensive archive of business records that document the growth of both the company and the personal computer software industry.
The Strategic Simulations, Inc. Collection
When Joel Billings launched Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) in 1979, he was fresh out of college and committed to the proposition that players would find wargaming fun and easier on a computer. The company’s first product, Computer Bismarck (1980), became the first computer wargame to gain commercial success.
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No Screen Necessary
Today, electronic games are being integrated into our lives in ways that often have nothing to do with a video screen. In previous blogs CHEGheads noted that fantasy football might be considered an electronic game and Der Gute Fabrik’s brilliant Johan Sebastian Joust is undoubtedly an electronic game, even if it doesn’t have a video screen. With players’ and game designers’ increased interest in gamification and augmented reality games (ARGs) video gaming will increasingly expand beyond play on screens.
Consider exercise. […]
The Strong’s ICHEG Acquires Massive Japanese Video Game Collection
ICHEG has acquired a collection of nearly 7,000 Japanese video games produced for 22 game systems made by Nintendo, NEC, Sega, and Pioneer. Assembled by André and Sylvio Hodos—collectors who began playing Japanese games as teenagers in France—and who then set out to amass full-sets of the systems included in this collection, these beautifully-preserved games will be a tremendous resource for anyone interested in the history of video games, their impact on the way we play, and the global rise […]
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Hidden Gems of the ICHEG Arcade Collection
ICHEG’s collection of nearly 200 arcade cabinets documents the rich history of arcade gaming. The collection features popular titles like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. It also includes many less well-known games like Breakout and Death Race. Many of these more obscure titles mark key technological or cultural moments in the history of video games.
Gun Fight is one such game. Taito, a company based in Japan, first developed the shoot-out game under the title Western Gun, and it became the first […]
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From Outdoor Survival to RuneScape
Imagine you’re lost in a wilderness. You must ford rivers, traverse swamps, scale mountains, and acquire enough water and food to survive and eventually reach your destination. Every day there’s a chance you will encounter a wild beast of some kind. Avalon Hill’s 1972 strategy game Outdoor Survival simulates the act of surviving the wilderness. The game had a crucial, though underappreciated, impact on the way we play video games today. Outdoor Survival also demonstrates how the genealogy of games […]
Finding Video Game History in the Archives
Traditional library and archival materials help flesh out the history of video games. In addition to the personal papers of famous game designers like Ralph Baer, Ken and Roberta Williams, Dan Bunten, and Bill Budge, The Strong collections include many items that shed light on the formative decades for the development of electronic games.
Our many computer and other trade magazines offer abundant information about computer games during the 1960s and 1970s. No dedicated video game magazines existed until the 1980s, […]
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A Short History of Mobile Games
I’m writing this blog while carrying a phone with the potential to play tens of thousands of games like Angry Birds, Temple Run, and Words with Friends. The incredible diversity of game options reflects a revolution in mobile gaming. Today’s smart phones offer a cornucopia of choices inconceivable to users who back in 1997 were satisfied playing Snake on their Nokia phone. But while the number of different mobile games available is new, the desire for games to play on […]
From Board Games to Video Games
The roots of video gaming go deep into the longer history of games, puzzles, and play. Backyard games of cops and robbers predated first-person shooters. Puzzles existed long before designers incorporated them in video games. Pen and paper RPGs proved so exciting and immersive that programmers began creating electronic variations. To celebrate and explore this deep history of game playing and puzzle solving, The Strong has opened Game Time!, a permanent exhibit at the National Museum of Play.
My work with […]