Let me give you a reason to visit Geek Native’s home city of Edinburgh. In the heart of the Scottish capital, just a stone’s throw away from the bustling Waverley train station, is the impressive National Museum of Scotland, which is the perfect host for Game On.
Game On is the world’s largest interactive exhibition of video games, and by interactive, I mean you can walk in, pick up an old console controller or sit behind a steering wheel and start to drive.
Members, like me, of the National Museum of Scotland can even do it for free. It’s cheaper for everyone else to book a day in advance, but under fives are always free, and adults who rock up on the weekend and chance their luck still pay only £15.
Inside Game On
Game On fills the NMS’s exhibition gallery space. That’s about four or five large living rooms worth of consoles, arcade cabinets and the occasional table of hardware from ancient 8 bit history.
There’s plenty of space, although I doubt triplet-capable pushchairs will be popular, and it means you can bypass any one row of consoles that feature especially popular retro hits from the 80s and queues to play them and get to an even more obscure corner and delight yourself by finding an even earlier game.
There are newer games, too, which are ideal for helping you contrast where computer games have started to where they’ve got to. I thought I was there just to feel smugly old and revel in nostalgia, but I found new games. For example, I had no idea there’s a Very Positive rated Steam game called Chinese Parents, popular in China, in which you cope with having Chinese parents.
As you’d expect (perhaps hope) for a gaming exhibit, it’s dark inside, fairly noisy – although the computer games are on mute – and full of flashy lights.
Game On’s History
Going to Game On counts for something – over five million people have visited the exhibit as it’s toured two dozen cities. It’s even been to Edinburgh before, but, as you’d expect, it’s changed over the years.
You can play the games but there’s education and history on offer here. Each old bit of hardware, each game, has an accompanying info card (a character sheet for the game) to tell you about it.
A trip to Game On is a chance to walk through five decades of computer game history.
Overall
Game On is worth visiting Edinburgh for. It’s absolutely worth the price of a train ticket, and don’t forget there are still dinosaurs, Vikings, giant animals and toys to check out at the Museum while you’re there.
Recommended.
Quick Links
- Tickets: Game On.
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