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Plug in to video game history at N.Y. museum

An army of crazed gorillas, deadly space aliens and doomsday missiles has just invaded The Strong museum in Rochester, N.Y.

EGameRevolution is the world’s first permanent exhibit to explore the colorful history of video games. It features 30 vintage games — all restored to playing condition — and scores of rare video artifacts.

Strong is hitching its own fortunes to this boom industry. Last year it launched the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, offering nearly 25,000 games and related materials for research purposes.

In contrast, eGameRevolution is intended both for families and visiting scholars. And recent statistics from the Entertainment Software Association in Washington, D.C., suggest that this arena is not jammed exclusively with teenage boys.

In fact, boys age 17 or younger make up only 20 percent of the video game market. The average player is 34 and has been a game enthusiast for 12 years. Forty percent of players are women. Twenty-six percent of Americans over the age of 50 play the games.

The exhibit’s centerpiece is an arcade with machines from the 1970s and ’80s. Baby boomers can revisit games they last played at an institution of higher learning.

But they might not recognize an early version of “Donkey Kong” with a construction-worker hero named Jumpman. In time, he became Mario the plumber — a video superstar who outsmarts mean-tempered gorillas.

Air guitar aces can try “Guitar Hero,” but the prize for full-body gameplay goes to “Lightspace Play Floor.” You can play dodgeball or tennis on a giant checkerboard with darting lights under foot. Wear sensible shoes.

Video games began when American inventor Ralph Baer was waiting impatiently for a bus. Suddenly, he envisioned two bright squares chasing one another across a TV screen. You can play his pingpong-style game here, along with others he pioneered in 1966.

The most riveting displays show how video games closely mirror American values and trends.

“Missile Command” (1980) evokes Cold War paranoia as players defend six cities from ballistic-missile attacks, while “Lunar Lander” (1979) recreates the Apollo missions’ risky high-tech maneuvers.

“Ms. Pac-Man” (1981) boasts pastel colors and a female hero. Like the original “Pac-Man,” she races through a maze trying to avoid amoeba-like ghosts.

Strong won’t rule the world of electronic play forever. Next year, Berlin’s Computerspiele Museum (Computer Games Museum) will open its own permanent exhibit of electronic games.

--- Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle