Is the Computerspielemuseum in Berlin worth it and can you actually play the games?
The Computerspielemuseum sits on the ground floor of a Stalinist block on Karl-Marx-Allee in Friedrichshain, two minutes from Weberwiese station. It is one room, around 300 exhibits, and roughly 70 years of gaming from a 1951 valve machine to the present, with a large share of the hardware switched on and playable. It also opens until 20:00 every day of the year, which makes it the rare Berlin museum you can visit after everything else has shut. This guide covers the prices, what you can put your hands on, and who leaves disappointed.
About This Experience
Karl-Marx-Allee 93a, Friedrichshain, 10243 Berlin, on the ground floor of one of the boulevard's 1950s blocks.
U5 to Weberwiese, then two to three minutes along Karl-Marx-Allee, direct from Alexanderplatz, Hauptbahnhof or Frankfurter Allee. Ostbahnhof on the S5, S7 and S75 is about 12 minutes on foot, and bus 347 runs from there. Bike racks outside and a nextbike station nearby. The City Circle and Berlin City Tour hop-on buses stop on the boulevard.
Daily 10:00 to 20:00. There is no weekly closing day; the museum states it opens 365 days a year, including public holidays, which makes it one of the few options in Berlin on a Monday.
Adults pay 12 euros at the door. Concession is 8 euros, covering ages 6 to 17, students, apprentices, volunteers, seniors, people on unemployment benefit and people with a disability rating of 50 percent or more. The small family ticket is 20 euros for up to 3 people with a maximum of 1 adult, the large family ticket 32 euros for up to 6 people with a maximum of 2 adults. Under 5s go free. Groups of 7 or more get one free ticket. Berlin WelcomeCard, City Tour Card and the Berlin Family Pass all bring discounts.
Karl-Marx-Allee is the monumental 1950s socialist boulevard and Europe's longest listed architectural monument. The museum moved into ground floor space here in 2011 after years spent as a travelling exhibition.
The 1951 Nimrod reconstruction, the PainStation, the GDR-built Poly-Play arcade machine, an original Pong cabinet, the Giant Joystick and a wall of playable 1980s and 1990s arcade hardware.
Check Live Availability & Prices
Weekend afternoons and rainy school holiday days bring queues at the popular cabinets, while weekday evenings stay calm. Live dates and prices are below.
Which Computer Games Museum Ticket to Pick
There is a single product, the entrance ticket at $22, and it covers the whole museum: the exhibition, the video wall of more than 150 short films, and every machine that is switched on, which is most of them. It shows 4.5 from 386 reviews. Play is included in the price rather than sold by the token, so once you are in you are not feeding coins into anything.
It suits children from roughly 8 up, teenagers, and adults over about 35 who will recognise half the hardware on sight, which is the group that consistently rates it highest. Under 6s will struggle, because a lot of the museum is reading. Be clear on the price though: walk-up admission at the door is 12 euros for an adult and 8 euros concession, and the small family ticket is 20 euros for one adult with two children.
The online ticket is the convenient option, not the cheap one, and a family paying at the counter will spend considerably less.
What it does not include is size. This is one room, not a campus, and no ticket changes that. Ninety minutes to two hours is the normal visit and three if you play everything; the reviews that call it overpriced are almost all from people who arrived expecting a giant free-play arcade.
There is no full restaurant on site either, though Karl-Marx-Allee and Frankfurter Tor are full of cafes. Treat it as a sharp two-hour stop between other things, and see the rest of Berlin's museums for what to put around it.
Computerspielemuseum Berlin Tickets
The entrance ticket, covering the exhibition and every playable machine, with live pricing.
from $22 Computer Games Museum Tickets
- Pong to the present
- Playable arcade wall
- The PainStation
What You'll See
The oldest thing in the room is Nimrod, a 1951 machine built to play the game Nim with 480 vacuum tubes, reconstructed here and among the earliest computer games devices ever made. From there the museum runs forward through around 300 exhibits and roughly 70 years, with home computers and consoles from the Magnavox Odyssey through Atari, Commodore and the NES. Two objects are worth knowing about in advance.
Poly-Play, built in 1986, is the only arcade machine ever produced in the GDR and it is playable. PainStation is the notorious art piece Pong cabinet that answers a missed ball with heat, an electric shock and a small whip, and you can play that too if you sign up for it.
The rest is hands-on by design. An original Pong cabinet stands beside a wall of playable 1980s and 1990s arcade machines, and the Giant Joystick takes several people working together to steer, next to a set of dance and movement games. A video wall carries more than 150 short films on gaming culture in German and English.
The building outside matters as well: Karl-Marx-Allee is a listed monument, and a walk along it before or after costs nothing and explains the neighbourhood better than any label inside does.
How a Visit Flows
-
17:00
Arrive from Weberwiese
The U5 station is two to three minutes away along the boulevard. A late afternoon arrival is deliberate: the museum runs until 20:00 and the last stretch of the day is the quietest it gets.
-
17:10
Start at the beginning, briefly
Nimrod and the early hardware set up everything that follows and take ten minutes. Do them while you still have the patience for reading, because you will not come back to them later.
-
17:30
PainStation while your nerve holds
It genuinely hurts and it is the thing people talk about afterwards. Sign up early rather than working up to it, and let anyone who is not interested watch.
-
17:50
The arcade wall and Poly-Play
This is where the time goes. By early evening the cabinets are free and you can play a machine through instead of waiting behind a teenager for a turn.
-
18:45
The Giant Joystick and the video wall
The oversized controller needs several people, so it works best with a group. The film wall is a good place to sit down when legs have had enough.
-
19:15
Out onto Karl-Marx-Allee
Two hours is a full visit. Walk the boulevard toward Frankfurter Tor for the architecture and the cafes, since there is no full restaurant inside the museum.
Know Before You Go
Not suitable for
- Children under about 6, since much of the museum is reading rather than playing
- Anyone expecting a large free-play arcade, which is the single most common complaint in the reviews
- Visitors who want a half-day indoors, because one room and two hours is the whole offer
What to bring
- Your Berlin WelcomeCard or City Tour Card if you hold one, both of which cut the price
- ID for a concession, family or group claim at the counter
- Patience for a wait at the popular cabinets on a wet weekend afternoon
- An adult who remembers the 1980s, which reviewers say is what makes the ticket land
Not allowed
- Playing PainStation without signing up for it first
- Unaccompanied small children, given the machines and the crowding at busy times
- Arrival after 20:00, since the museum closes on the hour every day
Insider Tips
Six things regular visitors do differently from first timers.
- Come after 17:00 on a weekday, when the museum still has three hours to run and the cabinets are finally free
- Do PainStation early while your nerve is intact, because it is the story everyone tells afterwards
- Set your expectations at one room and a couple of hours, which is where almost every bad review comes from
- Bring someone who grew up with the hardware, since the nostalgia carries the ticket further than the technology history does
- Check your Berlin WelcomeCard or City Tour Card before paying, as both bring the price down here
- Walk Karl-Marx-Allee itself while you are out there; the listed boulevard is a free architecture tour in its own right
Where You're Headed
Computerspielemuseum Berlin FAQ
How much are Computerspielemuseum Berlin tickets?
The museum charges 12 euros for an adult at the door and 8 euros concession, which covers ages 6 to 17, students, apprentices, seniors and people on unemployment benefit. Family tickets are 20 euros for up to 3 people with one adult and 32 euros for up to 6 with two adults. The bookable online entrance ticket is $22.
Can you play the games at the Computer Games Museum in Berlin?
Yes, and that is the point of going. A large share of the roughly 300 exhibits are switched on and playable, including a wall of 1980s and 1990s arcade cabinets, an original Pong machine, the GDR-built Poly-Play, the Giant Joystick and PainStation. Play is included in the admission price rather than charged by the game.
How long does it take to visit the Computerspielemuseum?
Most visitors spend 90 minutes to two hours. If you play everything properly you can fill three. It is one room, so nobody needs a full day here.
What are the opening hours of the computer game museum in Berlin?
Daily from 10:00 to 20:00. There is no weekly closing day and the museum states it opens 365 days a year, including public holidays, which makes it useful on a Monday when most Berlin museums are shut.
Is the Computerspielemuseum good for kids and what age?
It works well from roughly 8 upwards and very well for teenagers, because so much of it is playable. Under 6s will find it text heavy. Children under 5 enter free, and the concession rate covers ages 6 to 17.
Which U-Bahn goes to the Computerspielemuseum?
The U5 to Weberwiese, two to three minutes along Karl-Marx-Allee, running direct from Alexanderplatz, Hauptbahnhof and Frankfurter Allee. Ostbahnhof on the S5, S7 and S75 is about 12 minutes on foot, with bus 347 covering the gap.
Is the Computer Games Museum Berlin in English?
Yes. All the labelling is in German and English, and the more than 150 short films on the video wall run in both languages.
Do you need to book Computerspielemuseum tickets in advance?
It is not essential, since there are no timed slots and the museum runs a twelve hour day. Booking makes most sense for a weekend afternoon or a wet school holiday day, when queues build at the popular cabinets. Note that the counter price of 12 euros is lower than the online ticket, so book for convenience rather than savings.
What Visitors Say
Went at six on a Tuesday and had the arcade wall almost to myself. Played Poly-Play twice because I had never seen an East German cabinet before.
PainStation is not a joke, it really does shock you. My brother lasted about forty seconds and we have not stopped talking about it since.
Smaller than we pictured. Our nine year old loved it, our five year old was bored in twenty minutes. Two hours and we had seen everything.