Transforming Lives With Videogames

Our unique museum is where anyone from every background can play, explore and create videogames.


Our Story

 

The National Videogame Museum is the UK’s only museum dedicated solely to videogames, celebrating and interrogating their history and culture over the last 50 years. The Museum features over 100 playable exhibits, from retro arcade machines to modern games consoles, alongside unique exhibitions which are carefully curated by our team of experts.

We preserve 5,000 objects of videogame heritage for future generations through our collection. The NVM is the primary focus of the British Games Institute (BGI), our governing charity, that aims to educate the public on the art, science and technology of videogames.

We moved from Nottingham to Sheffield city centre in November 2018. Since then the NVM has welcomed over 250,000 visitors and hundreds of school visits. Although the global pandemic threatened the existence of the Museum in 2020, the help of hundreds of donations from our amazing visitors, supporters, patrons and game studios enabled the NVM to continue to operate. 

Despite being closed to the public at that time, the hard work didn’t stop. The Museum launched its first online exhibition, Animal Crossing Diaries, which focused on players’ experience of the game Animal Crossing: New Horizons in the span of a year, influenced by the pandemic. The Learning Team also developed online activities where children could create their own pixel art characters and won an award for Best Website Activity from Kids In Museums.

The Museum has since gone from strength to strength, winning the Joymaker Award at the Sheffield Business Awards in 2021, and becoming a destination attraction, with 60% of our visitors coming to Sheffield specifically to visit the NVM. 

Our mission is that videogames are for everyone. Forever. This ethos is expressed through a variety of recent projects the NVM has developed. In 2022 we launched the Next Level project, a free course provided by the NVM to enable women of colour aged between 18-25 to get into creating videogames. Other ongoing projects include Play the City and Playing with Power.

The Museum continues to evolve its galleries and October 2022 saw the launch of its latest exhibition – The Art of Play. Funded by Art Fund and Arts Council England, the exhibition takes visitors ‘behind the screens’ to reveal the art, creativity and people behind five UK-made videogames.

Recently, the NVM launched the Level Up project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Through the project, the Museum is engaging with communities across the region, through pop-up exhibitions, and volunteer opportunities to help catalogue the Museum’s collection.

Throughout May and June 2023, the NVM took to the road and visited communities in Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Chesterfield discussing videogame history, culture and why videogames matter with a display of playable games, objects from our collection and hi-score competitions. Co-curated by our team of volunteer Community Champions, feedback from the community will help shape the future of the Museum.

2023 also saw a revamped Games Careers Week return for its third year, organised by the National Videogame Museum. The annual week-long event celebrates diverse pathways for young people of all backgrounds, into jobs in games.

Videogames For Everyone. Forever.

 

Celebrating our 5th birthday in November 2023, The National Videogame Museum will continue to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret videogames for everyone. Forever.

Fantastic Place! Full of fun games. I love the retro games. The staff are friendly and helpful. The environment is disabled friendly. The tickets are very reasonable. Highly Recommended to anyone who enjoys video games!

Claire – Google Reviews (May 2023)

Great afternoon with a class of Y6 children – all sorts of different games and an excellent workshop about building your own controller. Very nostalgic for the adults, too.

Luke – Google Reviews (May 2023)

My fav place in town!! You can see the history of games and play games. They have Super Mario bros, Sonic, Donkey Kong, Sailor Moon, even the old version of Just Dance!! They also have other games that are made in Sheffield. I love this place so much.

Ulka – Google Reviews (July 2023)

Get in touch

If you have any questions please get in touch. Email is best but here are all the details you need to get in touch with us.

hello@thenvm.org
National Videogame Museum,
Castle House,
Angel Street,
Sheffield,
S3 8LN

    Support Us

    We believe that videogames
    transform lives and we work with some of the poorest communities in the UK to help them play, collaborate and learn in our unique museum. Our charity relies on the support of donors, visitors, patrons, grant-giving trusts and sponsors to deliver our unique services and content to our communities.

    Find Out More

    The National Videogame Museum is run and governed by our parent charity the BGI, registered charity no. 1183530.

    The BGI