Videogame History Museum Calls For Donations

Author: by Danny Cowan, Frank Cifaldi

Digital Press members and Classic Gaming Expo organizers John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Joe Santulli have initiated a Kickstarter donation drive for the Videogame History Museum, a non-profit physical collection "dedicated to preserving, archiving, and documenting the history of the videogame industry." "The museum we envision will be all-inclusive, comprehensive and interactive," reads the project's mission statement. "Unlike some of the other efforts we've seen put forth which have a limited focus, our intention is to cover it all!" "Every game made for every system, every piece of promotional material made for each game, every revision of every console with specific notes as to the differences, the design progression, etc.. As it stands today, our collection is well on its way to achieving this goal, but there are holes that can only be filled by making more and more people aware of our archive. "With your help we can accomplish our goal of a physical museum location open to the public within the next eight years. Initially the funds raised through this Kickstarter project will be used to make our collection more mobile and give it a permanent home." "Currently the bulk of our collection is in storage in Las Vegas where we have ready access to it as it goes on display each year at Classic Gaming Expo. A large portion of it is also stored in our homes in the Midwest and east coast. With a more suitable location in the Silicon Valley area, we would like to finally bring everything together under one roof." The museum's impressive board of advisors includes home video game creator Ralph Baer, Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, and Activision co-founders David Crane and Garry Kitchen. E3 2011 attendees may recall The Videogame History Museum's sizable South Hall exhibit, which showcased 30 arcade machines, several classic consoles, and a display of more than 200 gaming rarities and curiosities. The collection caught the eye of Sonic the Hedgehog programmer Yuji Naka, for one, along with many more retro gaming enthusiasts at the event. The donation drive has already accrued over $5,000 toward its goal of $30,000, with 54 days left in the campaign. Donators are eligible for prizes including t-shirts, Digital Press Collector's Guides, and admission tickets for the museum's future opening.