New College of DuPage exhibit highlights Chicago’s Midway Games legacy

It isn’t quite like stepping inside Aladdin’s Castle in the mall with a pocketful of quarters in the 1980s, but walking into the Cleve Carney Museum of Art will bring back a lot of memories for people of a certain age when the “INSERT COIN: Inside Midway’s Arcade Revolution” exhibition opened Saturday.

“If you’re used to coming to museums and seeing fine art, this might not be what you would expect,” curator Justin Witte said.

The show tells the story of Chicago’s Midway Games as it made the jump from pinball, ultimately making some of the most influential arcade cabinet games ever created. Think classics like “Mortal Kombat,” which spawned sequels and films, and “NBA Jam,” which made more than $1 billion.

“They were everywhere — the bowling alley, the movie theaters,” Witte said. “Midway is responsible for creating some of the most iconic arcade cabinet games and home entertainment games that continue to have a legacy today.”

The museum, located on the campus of the College of DuPage at 425 Fawell Blvd. in Glen Ellyn, will host the exhibition through Feb. 16.

Eleven playable cabinet arcade games are scattered around the display, all set to free play. So you don’t need to go to the change machine for quarters. Visitors can test their muscle memory on classics, including “Ms. Pac-Man,” “Defender,” “Joust,” “NBA Jam,” “Mortal Kombat 2,” “Tron,” “Rampage,” “Cruis’n USA,” “Terminator 2,” “Narc” and “Robotron.”

In addition, the exhibition includes video installations, home console games and memorabilia like concept art and photos from the sets during Midway’s heyday. A series of spaces in the museum display the influential periods within the gaming world and Midway Games’ role in them.

The exhibition was created in partnership with Chicago Gamespace, a video game museum, and filmmaker Joshua Tsui, director of the 2020 documentary “Insert Coin,” which can be viewed at tubitv.com/movies/100004650/insert-coin.

Witte said you need to look no further than the games on your phone to see the company’s influence today.

“Puzzle games, sports, shooters, all those categories were developed in these early arcade games,” he said. “Even though the graphics are different, you feel that same part of your brain activating, the same problem solving, the same getting sucked into the story.”

Even if games aren’t your thing, Witte said there’s a compelling theme for people who grew up in the area in the 80s and 90s.

“It’s really a fascinating human story about these young, creative game designers and artists who got together and through a period of about 20 years made hit after hit after hit in this unique moment in Chicago’s history,” he said. “With the Bulls and the Bears, we were kind of the epicenter of popular culture in a lot of ways and they were creating games for that culture.”

Tickets to the exhibition are $12 and don’t have to be paid for with quarters. They’re available online at their website, in person or by phone at (630) 942-2321. Online purchases have an added service fee.

As he’s worked on the installation, Witte has plugged in and tested the games and said it brought back many memories from his time as a teen playing games at the movie theater.

“There’s something about standing in front of that cabinet, that mechanical feeling of the controls, the buttons, the whole sensory aspect of it,” he said. “It’s a completely different experience than distracting yourself on your phone while you’re waiting for the bus or something.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241025/news/level-up-new-exhibition-highlights-chicago-arcade-game-companys-legacy/