Museum of the Game

Museum of the Game is a website that incorporates the International Arcade Museum, Museum of the Video Game, The Killer List of Videogames, Arcadia, Video Arcade Preservation Society / Classic Arcade Preservation Society, and the International Arcade Museum Library:

International Arcade Museum
The International Arcade Museum (IAM) of the Museum of the Game is the world's largest museum of the art, inventions, and history of the video game, amusement and coin-operated machine industries. Its coverage includes video games, pinball, mechanical and electro-mechanical arcade games, slot machines, vending machines, trade stimulators and all other coin-operated devices.

The IAM is focused on providing content and community services relating to these machines, as well as protecting, researching, and disseminating related knowledge and cutting edge educational research. To that end, it has assembled one of the world's leading archives covering the art, entrepreneurs, inventions, and history of the amusement and coin-operated machine industries.

An extensive and growing physical library is one of the key offerings of the IAM. Additionally, over 120,000 pages of educational, research, and entertainment content are available on its web site, including over 100,000 pages of reference content in Acrobat .pdf format, and over 13,000 encyclopedia entries covering coin-operated arcade and amusement machines.

The Killer List of Video games and Museum of the Video Game, its video-game divisions, have created the authoritative database on coin-operated video-games with over 4,000 entries containing game descriptions, machine photos, trivia, technical data and related information.

The IAM also sponsors the Video Arcade Preservation Society, the leading collectors association of coin-op video games with over 5,000 Members in 70 Countries who own over 50,000 coin-operated video games (over 3400 different titles).

The IAM's web site also features a "Machine of the Moment", and hosts message boards where collectors and fans can ask questions and get answers from experts, or buy and sell games, machines and parts.

A key goal of the IAM is to establish a definitive collection of mechanical amusement devices, coin-operated machines and videogames for the enjoyment and education of society as a whole.

One major exhibition of these machines has been held recently, and the IAM is currently looking for a new permanent exhibition facility.

The Killer List of Videogames
The Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) features an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. The KLOV is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum.

The KLOV's online encyclopedia has extensive entries for more than 4,400 machines made from 1971 through the present. Newsweek Magazine called "klov.com, the IMDb [leading database] for players, with titles, photos and dates."

The KLOV's encyclopedia has cabinet, control panel and marquee images, screenshots and even 3D models of the machine in some cases. Entries have machine technical information, a game description, cabinet information, lists cheats, tricks and bugs, discusses conversions and gameplay, lists trivia and fix information and discusses the game's legacy (such as sequels or similar games it inspired). Nearly 1000 entries even have the complete technical manual and schematics available for download.

Entries in the encyclopedia are heavily weighted for classic arcade games: that is, games released during the Golden Age of Arcade Games. But most arcade games have an entry, though entries for newer games tend to be spotty. The more popular a game was, the more extensive the entry is likely to be.

The encyclopedia database is actually a subset of that on the International Arcade Museum's web site, which expands on the video game entries with an additional 9,000 entries on other types of coin-operated machines such as pinball machines, slot machines, vending, trade stimulators, and scales.

Key features of the KLOV's web site includes a video game "Machine of the Moment" and a "The Top 100 Videogames" list. The site also hosts message boards where collectors and fans can ask questions and get answers from experts, or buy and sell arcade games and parts. It also publishes news related to arcade games.

Arcadia
Arcadia (including Penny Arcadia, Video Arcadia and Pinball Arcadia) has produced exhibitions, museum exhibits, and special events since 1982. A limited permanent exhibit is also available for viewing in Pasadena, California. Please see the Penny Arcadia Page for more information.

Video Arcade Preservation Society / Classic Arcade Preservation Society

The Video Arcade Preservation Society (VAPS, a.k.a. CAPS) is a collector organization and census project for all types of coin-operated entertainment, founded in the 1980's.

The International Arcade Museum Library, Inc.
The International Arcade Museum Library, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation located in 🇺🇸 United States Pasadena, California, which makes available physical (non-electronic) reference items for in-person review. It also works to scan and provide reference material online. As member of both the American Library Association and the OCLC, the International Arcade Museum Library, Inc. is currently working to catalog its holdings and to provide access to same online. Furthermore, it manages a small exhibit that is rotated on a regular basis, usually with a selection of machines made between 1880 and 2009. The International Arcade Museum Library, Inc. name is used under license from The International Arcade Museum.

The International Arcade Museum Library ("IAML") is separate from the International Arcade Museum ("IAM"), and operates under a trademark license donated by the IAM. It is dedicated to making available reference material to hobbyists, searchers, and the general public. Resources are extremely limited at this time so currently the library is only able to assist with research requests made in-person.

The International Arcade Museum Library has access to everything in the McLemore Coin-Operated Machine Library, as well as to thousands of other holdings of interest. Additionally, the library has access to electronic research material provided by the International Arcade Museum, as well as to some of its own electronic holdings. Most of these electronic holdings are available here online.

Please see the Library page for more information about our online resources as well as our physical reference library and archive in Pasadena, California.