Day 24: Computer Game Museum

Karl Marx street, on our way to the museum
(you can see the TV tower in the distance)

Another late morning, enjoying the activity of sleeping in (after sleeping in, Chris went for a run, the rest of us kept resting). Sunday, stores are closed. But museums are open, which museum to visit? We decided on the Computer Game Museum, as we figured it would have the most positive "kid support". We were right, the kids were excited to go see (play) the exhibits.

Berlin is beautiful. I'm sure the sunny weather has helped shape my opinion. I'm sure seeing something new, almost every day, has shaped my opinion. I'm sure being a tourist has shaped my opinion. But it's hard to not want to take photos all the time. It is pretty.

Puckman (Pac Man) table game

The kids had a great time at the museum (and so did the adults). Seeing Chris at one of the staged "rooms" playing an old game... I can just imagine this is what he must have been doing, back in the 80s.  I, on the other hand, pointed out a 7 in (or whatever) monitor that was around 12 in (or whatever) deep and said, "That's what I learned to type on!" Kids were not all that impressed. Me? Nostalgic.

I loved playing the arcade games of Frogger, Centipede, and Space Invaders, which was my all time favourite... even if I couldn't clear the first board (out of practice!) The best part, all the games were free, so no need for pesky quarters. On the other hand, some people took really long turns. But if we waited long enough or just went to another game and came back, it seems we all got to play what we wanted, no problem.

There was one crazy game, I had never seen/heard of before (see photo below on the right), called PainStation. It's based on Pong, but you get sensory feedback depending on the intensity of the game (heat, electrical shock or whipping). We watched a few play it, one guy asked Chris if he wanted to play... we passed. Crazy!

Pong (left). PainStation, Pong with pain! (right)

The adults tired out before the kids did (surprise!) But, as the kids wanted to spend some time online with their cousins and friends tonight, we had a nice "carrot" to get them out of the museum and back home. To one of our nicest home meals so far (steak, roasted veggies and salsa - shhh, the kids haven't had the salsa yet....) Yum.

Day 24: Computer Game Museum (Venice)

Hello, It's Venice again!

Today we went to the Computer Game Museum. They had all sorts of cool gaming history. We played lots of games, such as Water Drops (I think thats what it's called) when you can move shadows with magnets. I also got to play Frogger, and I got the second high score! My dad and I played a racing game, and he won every game except one, the computer won that one. But I still had fun playing it. I also got to play astroids, Tetris, and I got to talk to a computer. But the one game I loved was Zork. In Zork you enter commands to the computer such as go west, or pick up sword. I didn't get to play much before moving on, but when I got home I found it online and played to my heart's content. They also had a giant joystick that you could play Pac-Man with (the germans call it Puckman, weird!). It was really fun and cool to go to this museum. I recommend it to anyone who likes computers or video games. All in all, it was really great to be able to play all those retro games.

Asking Eliza questions (Siri's much older sister, who is also snarky)
Venice playing Zork (for a very, very long time)

Day 24: Computer Game Museum (Xander)

We went to the Computer Game Museum today! It was very fun. They had history of video games and lots of classic arcade games like Frogger, Pac-Man, and Centipede. They also had a small area for classic console games like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog. The small area had a bunch of "half-rooms" that looked like the attic of an old house where somebody would play video games. They also had text-based games like Zork.

Dad playing Space Invaders on a Commodore 64 console (left)
A desk in one of the rooms with cassette tapes and Mad Magazines (middle)
Me playing Super Mario Bros. after waiting a long time for a turn (right)

The Portland Retro Gaming-Con had a lot more playable games and was three times bigger, but The Computer Game Museum was still big. The Portland Retro Graming-Con had more playable games, and The Computer Game Museum had more history.