Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 3, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Thirty-five years ago, in the summer of 1972, the video game industry began. Magnavox licensed the invention of German-born Ralph Baer and brought the first home game console to stores: Odyssey. At about the same time, Nolan Bushnell founded Atari and installed his first “Pong” machine in a pub, which proved to be a gold mine.
Over the years, a medium worth billions grew out of arcades and living rooms. While the latest hits were initially playable only on coin-operated machines, home consoles with interchangeable game modules gained importance in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, the great era of home computers began with computers such as the legendary Commodore 64. Only later was the PC to dominate the games market. In the mid-nineties, the modern age of video games began with Sony and its PlayStation.
Although games today impress with detailed landscapes, high-resolution 3D views and digital sound, the classics of the past remain present, through new editions, through game emulators and not least because of their fans. But who still remembers the devices of the past?
A unique special exhibition in the “GC ART” area at this year’s GC reviews 35 years of video games. On an area of 200 square meters in exhibition hall 5, more than 200 consoles, handhelds, home computers, LCD games and educational computers can be experienced. They were collected by Leipzig journalist and author René Meyer, who is presenting the collection to a larger audience for the first time with the support of Leipziger Messe.
Many of the exhibits awaken memories. But alongside classics such as the Atari 2600, the Amiga 500 or the Super Nintendo, many rarities that have now been forgotten can be seen. For example, Tchibo’s Telefever or tabletop games with a built-in screen from the 1980s. Some devices never appeared in Europe, such as the Game Boy competitors Wonderswan and Neo Geo Pocket or the Playdia children’s console from Bandai.
One section is dedicated to the computer history of the GDR. Among other things, the curious Z1013 computer kit, the popular KC series, the PC 1715 office computer, the A5105 educational computer commissioned personally by Margot Honecker and the BBS 01, East Germany’s only game console, can be seen.
The exhibition is rounded out by monitors, input devices, game modules, floppy disks, manuals, specialist books and magazines, including sought-after first editions of games magazines such as Telematch, ASM, Happy Computer and PC Player.
Further links:
- Exhibition website:
