The Story Museum
Published
Step into The Story Arcade this summer and embark on a pixelated adventure through the world of gaming and storytelling.
This neon-lit, 1980s-inspired gallery explores the profound impact of video games on how we tell stories. Nostalgia meets a heavy dose of fun with custom-built arcade machines, dressing up, a Side-Quest trail, board games, and pixel-themed crafts and activities — there’s plenty on offer for everyone.
From early plot-driven classics to the vast, open-world adventures of today’s gaming legends, The Story Arcade charts landmark moments in gaming history and shows how evolving storytelling techniques let players experience new emotional, social, cultural, and historical perspectives. See the world through the eyes of a cat, battle Arctic demons as an Iñupiaq girl, or navigate a post-apocalyptic flooded city with a crew in tow!
The gallery also features games created by young designers from The Story Museum’s Digital Dreamers programme. Working with industry professionals and in partnership with Mind Jam, these budding game-makers selected stories from the museum’s collection and reimagined them as video games.
Showcasing one of today’s most popular storytelling forms in a positive, family-friendly way, The Story Arcade invites children and parents to play, learn, and imagine together. It celebrates a powerful creative force that continues to reshape how we share and experience stories in the digital age.
CEO Caroline Jones says:
‘The Story Arcade is a brand-new gallery that explores another exciting realm of storytelling. Having travelled through 2,000 years of stories - from oral traditions in our Whispering Wood, through printed literature in our Enchanted Library - visitors will now step into an Arcade like no other. We’ll take them on a journey from the seventies arcade classic Space Invaders to more recent games such as ‘Never Alone’, plus a whole heap of other activities and objects to explore in true Story Museum hands-on style. Game on!’
About The Story Museum:
The Story Museum is situated in the heart of Oxford on Pembroke Street and dedicated to the celebration of stories in their myriad forms. Through immersive exhibitions, gallery spaces, and a dynamic array of events, performances and outreach initiatives, the museum explores the enduring power of stories to both teach and delight.
The Story Museum invites visitors to embark on a journey through literary wonders. Discover ancient and traditional tales in the Whispering Wood; step into Narnia and other literary worlds in The Enchanted Library; discover 'Here be Dragons – co-curated by Cressida Cowell and Toothless’ which is currently on display in the museum’s temporary exhibition space, The Treasure Chamber.
For more information about the story museum visit www.storymuseum.org.uk, sign up for their newsletter and follow @TheStoryMuseum on Instagram and Facebook.
