I'm really into history, both World and American history but also in my favorite hobbies, arcades and pinball. As I mentioned here a couple of months ago, I'm even reading a relatively new book called "From Pinballs to Pixels: An Arcade History of Williams-Bally-Midway." A new exhibition at a Chicago museum on this subject opened this past weekend.
On Saturday an exhibit called “INSERT COIN: Inside Midway’s Arcade Revolution” opened at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art in Chicago. Scheduled to run through mid-February, the exhibition tells the history of the iconic arcade manufacturer Midway Games. It includes not only information and memorabilia from the Company, but also fifteen playable arcade machines.
The exhibit was created in partnership with a video game museum called Chicago Gamespace and filmmaker Joshua Tsui. Joshua's great documentary called "Insert Coin" on the history of Bally Midway is now available to watch for free on Tubi, via its website or on your smart TV using the Tubi app:
The museum is located on the campus of the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. The show is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon through 6:00 PM. Admission costs $12.50, $10.00 for Students, Seniors and members of the Military. If I lived in the Chicago area I absolutely would check it out.
Below is a description of the show from the Cleve Carney website:
"Insert Coin features 15 playable arcade games that help tell the story of Midway allowing visitors to learn about this iconic company while enjoying some of their most celebrated creations.
In 1983, the video game market crashed and the first era of meteoric video game arcade popularity, defined by Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Defender, was over. The Chicago-based manufacturers of coin-operated entertainment that had packed arcades with hits during the 1970s and 1980s, would also usher in the arcade’s renaissance in the 1990s. Known for innovative hits like Defender, Joust, and Robotron, Williams Electronics purchased the maker of Ms. Pac-Man, Tron, and Rampage – Bally Midway – in 1988 renamed its video game division Midway Manufacturing after their more recognizable former competitor. An arcade renaissance ensued. Midway became the architect of the arcade’s resurrection after the crash with a golden string of game releases such as NARC, Smash TV, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam., Terminator 2, and Cruis’N USA.
This exhibition chronicles the stories behind these games and features behind-the-scenes video, art and ephemera from the making of these games, interviews with former Midway game designers, and the playable games themselves. Notable Williams, Bally Midway, and Midway artists and developers whose work is featured in the exhibition includes Bill Adams, Ed Boon, Brian Colin, Warren Davis, Larry DeMar, Sal Divita, George Gomez, Eugene Jarvis, Jack Haeger, George Petro, Jeff Nauman, John Newcomer, John Tobias, and Mark Turmell. Insert Coin is named after the acclaimed eponymous 2020 documentary by filmmaker and Director of Innovation at DePaul University Joshua Tsui. This project is organized by Jonathan Kinkley, Owner and Curator, Chicago Gamespace, and Joshua Tsui in partnership with The Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the College of DuPage, with curatorial assistance by Ethan Johnson."
Here's a link to and pictures from an article on the exhibit from Friday's Chicago Daily Herald:
Level up: New exhibition highlights Chicago arcade game company’s legacy
And a link to the book that I mentioned earlier:
"From Pinballs to Pixels: An Arcade History of Williams-Bally-Midway"
My review of the Horowitz book can be found in this presentation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WkjLkzk1Lw
between 11:00 and 14:50.
Williams is my all-time fav in arcade and pinball. 'Insert Coin' was great! Thanks for the link to the book. I need to pick that up.