Game On: Video game exhibition touring the world switches on special memories in Doncaster

The touring Game On exhibition, which has welcomed more than four million visitors in 23 countries, is currently on show at the Doncaster Dome where it is in residence until April 16 before it moves onto Edinburgh.

Focusing on key game developments across the globe between 1962 and the present day, the exhibition curated by London’s Barbican Centre features more than 150 playable games, including Space Invaders, Mario and Rock Band, to virtual reality and Minecraft.

Leonardo Araujo de Assis, the consultant engineer for Game On, has travelled around the world with the exhibition for 12 years after first coming across it in his native Brazil.

"The nature of the exhibition requires specialised work because 98 per cent of the exhibition is played on the original hardware,” he explains.

"In the past 12 years, I haven’t lived in the same country for over six months. Wherever the exhibition goes, I go as well.

"This is the first time it has been in Yorkshire. It was conceived in London and has been in several venues around the UK but at the same time it has travelled all over – the Netherlands, Japan, South America, Canada, China, Australia.”

He says wherever the exhibition travels, the positive reaction is often the same as adults enjoy delving back into some of the games of their childhood while children see how they have developed down the years and enjoy the chance to try something different.

"No matter how big or small the town is, we always find people deeply relate to some of the games. You see people staring at the cartridges, going through their memories of how they used to play it before.

“Then they see their kids playing it. It is amazing the opportunities the exhibition allows for those special moments.”

He says while the space at the Doncaster Dome does not allow for the usual wall posters laid out in the exhibition that help tell the story of how video games have evolved down the generations, the displays are laid out in a chronological way to help visitors get a sense of how the industry has developed from basic beginnings.

It starts with the basic games developed on the historic PDP-1 computer, which was the first hardware to have game.

"The exhibition covers from the very first Spacewar! in 1962 all the way through to PlayStation 5, we try to cover as much as we can to see how games developed through the ages – not only the consoles but also how games relate to the period they were created in. For example, Space Invaders and Spacewar! have a theme happening because of the political situation. They were a lot of Cold War games like Missile Command.”

He says video games hold a great appeal to many people.

"The show really relates to fun moments of their life – for those who have stopped playing games, it is a memory they hold dear. Other people never stop playing and it is an expression of themselves.”

Tickets costing £8.50 - £14.50 (plus booking fee) are on sale now. Visit https://www.dclt.co.uk/

Two special events are planned as part of the remaining dates in Doncaster with gamers encouraged to turn up in costumes on March 10 and 24.

Steven Parker, from Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust who manage the Dome, says: “The Game On exhibition has been attracting people from across the region to Doncaster Dome. Our hall has been taken over by Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Mario, as part of the spectacular interactive exhibition full of video games.

“We’re now inviting gamers to put on their best cosplay outfits on March 10th and 24th to be in with a chance to win a best costume prize.”