MICROSOFT ADVENTURE

Expanded exhibition opening in 2025

It’s difficult to imagine a time when Microsoft wasn’t the dominant force in games that it is today. Even before modest beginnings advertising its games in Byte magazine, computer games have been in Microsoft’s DNA – informing Bill Gates’ earliest programming experiments and testing the limits of microcomputers.

This exhibition traces the early history of the most profitable technology company in the world, celebrating the games and systems that helped everyman embrace personal computers and the visionaries that laid a foundation for the launch of Xbox and future success of Microsoft Gaming.

Special appearance by “The Game Is Not Over” author and Xbox co-founder Ed Fries.

AVOID MISSING BALL

Genesis of gameplay from Tennis Programming to Pong

August 17 – September 28

From the first blips of phosphorescent light to the vast online worlds we play in today,
games have become both a mirror and driver of modern culture. Few videogames have had as profound an impact on technology and entertainment as the one that started it all—TV Ping-Pong. This first-of-its-kind survey will explore the early history of influence that led to the development of this iconic game, from early experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Sanders Associates to the start-ups of Silicon Valley, and celebrate the pioneers who created a new medium.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the development of Atari’s home version of Pong so it was time for a fitting tribute. Special pioneer presentation by original Pong engineer Al Alcorn.

sp[a]ce gallery

Curated by Van Burnham with additional support from Eric Ayzenberg, Bill Buckley, Apres Davtyan, Matt Downes, Georgi Dzneladze, Eric Kim, Cassandra Pineda, Josh Randall, and Chris Younger.

Presented by Microsoft