The museum is housed in the former 'Café Warschau', an architectural landmark of the GDR's socialist classicism style.
The collection includes the legendary 'Poly-Play', the only arcade cabinet system ever produced in the former East Germany.
Visitors can play on a custom-built, functional joystick that is roughly the size of a human adult.
The museum archives document the evolution of gaming hardware from the 1970s mainframe computers to modern virtual reality systems.
The institution serves as an active research center and digital preservation archive for interactive entertainment.
The Computer Games Museum in Berlin is the first permanent exhibition in Europe dedicated to the cultural history and evolution of digital games. Located in a former Soviet-era cafe building on the historic Karl-Marx-Allee, the museum houses over 300 curated exhibits spanning decades of hardware and software. Visitors interact with playable vintage consoles, rare prototypes, and custom-built arcade cabinets. The permanent exhibition, 'Computer Games: Evolution of a Medium', tracks the transition of gaming from niche scientific experiments to a global mass-media phenomenon. A dedicated section highlights the development of the gaming industry in the former East Germany. Large-scale installations include a massive, playable 2-meter-tall joystick. The venue frequently hosts temporary exhibitions focusing on specific genres, technologies, or societal impacts of gaming.
Standing next to the massive, oversized joystick near the entrance.
Prioritize playing the rare arcade machines, as some have limited functionality due to their age.
Visit the interactive 'Wall of Hardware' to see the physical evolution of controllers and consoles.
Check the temporary exhibition space at the back of the museum for current niche-topic displays.
Do not treat the interactive displays as standard arcade machines; handle the vintage controllers with extra care to ensure their preservation.
