Honoring Gaming’s Past

The National Videogame Museums Quest to Archive the Artifacts and Narratives that Shaped Videogames

Our Mission at the NVM

Our mission is fairly straightforward and simple: To preserve the history of the videogame industry by archiving physical artifacts, information, and the stories behind its creation.

Videogames have been around in one form or another since the 1950s and many of the people who first decided to combine interactive entertainment with a graphical display such as a monitor or a TV set have passed-away. In some cases, the stories these people had to tell are lost forever or only live on in second or third-hand renditions. Rescuing the physical artifacts left behind can be difficult enough – making sense of passed-on stories can be next to impossible.

The goal of the National Videogame Museum is to document, FIRST HAND, as much information about the creation and evolution of the videogame industry as possible and preserve as many physical artifacts as possible for generations to come. The vast majority of the people who created the videogame industry had no idea how enormous it would become and therefore never really saw much importance in what they were doing. The founder of Atari, Nolan Bushnell, felt he was creating something huge and saw videogames as having the potential to become a “billion dollar business”. There are individual GAMES that make that much today.

Lastly, we will present the information and as many of the physical artifacts as possible to the public in an entertaining and informative way. Videogames are meant to be played and that is the underlying thought behind each and every exhibit in the museum. This means that we will do everything in our power to allow museum patrons the opportunity to actually PLAY as many games as possible during their visit to the National Videogame Museum.

Meet the Founders

Unveiling the Minds Behind the National Videogame Museum

John Hardie

John discovered the magic of Pong like most early generation gamers and became an Atari fan, buying their various game systems and computers. Along with his quest for information about the industry, he began collecting physical artifacts and prototypes in 1986. John has written for various publications, created and organized conventions, helped create a traveling videogame museum and is co-founder and on-site Director of the National Videogame Museum. John is still the ultimate Atari Fan to this day, using their old computers almost daily in his spare time.

Sean Kelly

Merging the old with the new has always fascinated Sean Kelly and the
technology to do so has been his specialty. From designing some of the
earliest devices (ableit primitive by todays standards) to read data from
game cartridges to one of the first comprehensive scanning efforts (the
Digital Press Collector’s CD), Sean is one of pioneers in videogame archiving and preservation. That passion continues today at the NVM.

Joe Santulli

One of the first videogame collectors, Joe co-founded “Digital Press” in 1991, a publication devoted to collecting and appraising videogames. He published the first price guide for videogames and opened a brick and mortar shop of the same name in 2005. His collection includes many complete game libraries across generations, including NES, Genesis, 3DO and Saturn. As a co-founder of National Videogame Museum you can find many of his rarest pieces on display every day!

Help Us With Our Mission

We are on a mission to celebrate and preserve the rich history and cultural significance of videogames. As a non-profit organization, we rely on the generous contributions of individuals like you to continue our important work. Your donations make a direct impact on our ability to curate captivating exhibits, develop educational programs, and provide engaging experiences for visitors of all ages. By supporting us, you help us inspire the next generation of gamers, honor the pioneers of the industry, and showcase the artistic and technological advancements that shape the gaming world.