Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment facts for kids
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A Saturday morning class at the MADE where students get free admission to the playable exhibit floor after class.
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| Established | 2010 |
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| Location | Oakland, California, US |
| Collections | video games, digital media concept art, and gaming systems to teach the public about digital art, and the process of gaming creation |
| Collection size | 15,000+ artifacts |
| Founder | Alex Handy |
| Historian | Rob Curl |
| Public transit access | 12th Street Station |
The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (called The MADE) is a museum in Oakland, California. It focuses on digital art and video games. What makes it special is that it has many games you can actually play!
The MADE's main goal is to inspire young people to become the next generation of digital creators. They do this by saving and showing old video games and digital art in a fun, playable way.
Many people who work at The MADE, including its leaders and advisors, are experts in the gaming world. This includes game creators, journalists, and historians. The museum was started by Alex Handy, a technology journalist. Dr. Henry Lowood, a curator from Stanford University, also helps guide the museum.
In September 2015, The MADE tried to raise money through Kickstarter to open a new location in San Francisco, California. After being closed for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum reopened in June 2022. It moved to a new spot in downtown Oakland. Shem Nguyen became the new Executive Director at that time. In July 2024, Mason Young was hired as the museum's first full-time Executive Director.
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The MADE Classroom: Learn to Create Digital Worlds
The MADE offers free workshops every Saturday morning. These classes use the museum's collection and a programming tool called Scratch. Students can learn about designing and making video games.
You can choose to take a class on video game programming, computer art, or both. You don't need any programming experience to join. New students can start at any time. To join these workshops, students must be at least 9 years old.
History of The MADE
How The MADE Started
In July 2008, Alex Handy found some special computer chips for old Atari and ColecoVision games. These chips showed different versions of games as they were being made. This was important because it showed how games changed during development.
Alex Handy realized how valuable these items were. He gathered volunteers to show off these early game pieces at a big event called GDC 2011. This helped them get attention for their first Kickstarter campaign. They even displayed a large poster showing the history of video game companies. Game professionals signed next to the companies where they had worked.
After a successful Kickstarter, the volunteers first looked for a space in San Francisco. In August 2011, The MADE talked to Libby Schaaf, who was a City Council member at the time and later became mayor. She helped them find a location at 610 16th Street in Oakland. The museum rented the second floor of this building. They shared the floor with other groups.
When GamePro magazine closed after more than 20 years, its entire collection was given to The MADE. This collection now forms the main part of the museum's exhibits.
Early Days and Preservation Efforts
In November 2011, The MADE officially opened. It featured a 3D exhibit and talks by game creators like RJ Mical. They also started offering free Scratch programming classes for kids. Will Wright, who created the famous game Sim City, donated to the museum. His wife, Anya Wright, joined the museum's board. The MADE's oldest group, the Interactive Fiction Club, also held its first meeting.
In 2013, The MADE began its first big project to save digital history. They worked with experts like Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer, and the company Fujitsu. Their goal was to preserve Habitat, which was the world's first graphical online game. Habitat was first released in 1986 for the Commodore 64 computer.
This led to a major effort in January 2015. The museum partnered with groups like the EFF, Stanford, MIT, and Archive.org. They worked with many game developers to change copyright law. This change made it legal for players to keep playing old online games even after the companies that made them shut down their servers. This was important because it allowed a playable version of Habitat to be shared with the public.
Moving and Reopening
In June 2015, the ceiling in The MADE's classroom collapsed. This meant the museum had to move. They launched a second Kickstarter to find a new, larger space on the ground floor. They successfully raised $50,000 and moved to 3400 Broadway in downtown Oakland.
The museum reopened its doors to the public at its new location in February 2016. All their events, exhibits, and classes started up again. The project to digitally save Habitat, called Neohabitat, was released to the public. All the computer code for it was made open source, meaning anyone could use and change it.
In March 2020, The MADE had to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They followed orders from the government to stay closed.
After some issues with their new landlords, The MADE started moving its collection into a temporary storage spot. A video game documentary channel called NoClip featured the museum in one of their videos. This helped raise awareness and money for the museum to keep its collection safe, especially since they had lost income from being closed.
Museum volunteers also started the MADECast, a podcast. It featured talks about video game creation, playing games, and saving game history. Guests included famous game creators like Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert.
In the fall of 2021, Shem Nguyen became the Executive Director of The MADE. Alex Handy took on the role of Board President. The MADE brought its collection out for the first time since the pandemic began. They showed it at a summer festival in East Oakland's Little Saigon district.
In May 2022, The MADE signed a new lease agreement to reopen at 921 Washington Street. In June 2022, The MADE held its reopening party. Matt Householder, who produced the game Diablo II, attended and signed a copy of Diablo. Over a hundred visitors came to celebrate.
In July 2024, Alex Handy stepped down as Board President but stayed on as an advisor. Shem Nguyen also resigned as executive director and was voted in as the new Board President. The board then successfully hired Mason Young as the museum's first full-time executive director. In February 2025, NHK World broadcast a show about the history of gaming that featured The MADE's historian, Rob Curl.
NeoHabitat: Bringing Back an Old Game
NeoHabitat is an open-source project led by The MADE. Its goal is to bring back and restore the classic game Habitat to how it was in 1986. The project is hosted on GitHub, and they are always looking for volunteers to help.
Events at The MADE
The MADE regularly hosts fun events. These include Game jams, where people create games together. They also have speaker series, where experts talk about gaming. Plus, they hold exciting Super Smash Bros tournaments!
Images for kids
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A Saturday morning class at The MADE where students get free admission to the playable exhibit floor after class.
