The International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) collects, studies, and interprets video games, other electronic games, and related materials and the ways in which electronic games are changing how people play, learn, and connect with each other, including across boundaries of culture and geography. In particular, beyond collecting and preserving such materials, ICHEG develops exhibits, produces a blog, and encourages research and writing about the historical and cultural significance of video games and other electronic games:
Through all of these activities and more, ICHEG seeks to ensure that present and future generations can explore the history of electronic games, understand how they began and evolved, appreciate who played roles in that evolution, and grasp the impact that electronic games have on society.
The ICHEG collections
ICHEG defines electronic games broadly to include video games, computer games, console games, arcade games, handheld games, and toys that combine digital and traditional play. At more than 60,000 items and growing, the ICHEG collections constitute the largest and most comprehensive public assemblage of electronic games and game-related historical materials in the United States and one of the largest in the world. In addition to games and the platforms on which they are played, the collections include game packaging and advertising, game-related publications, game-inspired consumer products and other items that illustrate the impact of electronic games on people’s lives, and personal and business papers of key figures in the electronic games industry.
Situated at The Strong
The Strong is the only collections-based museum in the world devoted solely to play and holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of dolls, toys, games, electronic games, and other artifacts of play. The Strong explores the ways in which play encourages learning, creativity, and discovery and illuminates cultural history.