Gdansk Arcade Museum - Interactive Video Game Museum

What to expect

Gdansk Arcade Museum is a video game museum in Gdansk where you do not look at the exhibits, you play them. It stands at Al. Grunwaldzka 229, and according to the museum every machine can be played without any restriction.

The collection sets out to show how arcade games changed over time. The MapaPrzygód portal describes the place as an interactive museum of the history of arcade machines, especially those popular in the 1980s and 1990s.

The museum gives the number of machines in two ways: its Polish page speaks of over 100 classic video games and of the largest arcade collection in Poland, its English page of over 150 games. Both figures come from the museum itself.

Who it suits: families with children and teenagers, because the museum invites everyone to play “from 5 to 105 years old”. It also has reduced tickets for children and young people up to 18 and a family ticket for two adults and two children. Also adults who remember the arcade machines of the 1980s and 1990s, and students up to 26, who have their own tariff. It is a good plan for a bad-weather day: the building is heated and air-conditioned.

Who should skip it: anyone looking for a museum with display cases and a story about the history of Gdansk. Here the exhibit is the machine, and the visit consists of playing.

How long: the museum gives no visiting time. You decide how long you stay at the ticket desk, because the ticket is bought for one hour, for two hours or as an open ticket with no time limit. On its page for groups the museum promises “at least a few hours of good fun”.

Tips

• A ticket for time, not for entry. The price depends on how much time you buy: 1 h, 2 h or open. For a one-hour ticket you pay according to the price list: standard ticket 70 PLN (about 16 EUR), reduced 50 PLN (about 11 EUR); the prices of the longer tickets and the student tariff (up to 26 with a valid student ID) are in the museum’s price list.
• Open with a wristband. The open ticket has no time limit and takes the form of a wristband, so you can leave and come back during the day. It costs only a little more than the two-hour ticket, which makes it the most convenient choice for a longer visit with a break.
• Family of two plus two. The family ticket covers two adults and two children, in 1 h, 2 h and open versions. Children up to 4 come in with a paying adult on the terms in the museum’s price list.
• Offers only if you ask. From Monday to Friday each day has a different offer for individual visitors: on Mondays cheaper two-hour tickets, on Tuesdays a discount on all tickets, on Wednesdays an open ticket for adults at the one-hour price, on Thursdays the same for students, and on Fridays for each child with a paying adult. The offers are not applied automatically: you have to tell the staff about them before you buy your ticket. They cannot be combined and do not apply to groups, holiday periods or days with extended opening hours.
• A pass for regular players. The “Przyjaciel muzeum” (Friend of the Museum) pass gives 10 entries with an open ticket, in normal, student and reduced versions. In every tariff it costs half of what ten single open tickets would, so it pays off for anyone who plans to come back.
• Mornings only at the weekend. On weekdays the museum opens later than at the weekend: on Mondays 14:00-21:00, and on Saturdays 11:00-22:00. If you want to come before noon, that leaves Saturday or Sunday.
• No reservation. Individual visitors do not need to book, while groups of more than 15 people book by phone or e-mail and may ask for an earlier opening. On the spot you pay in cash or by credit card.

Getting there

• Address: Al. Grunwaldzka 229, Gdańsk.
• From Gdańsk Główny: the museum says the trip takes a ride of about 10 minutes to the Gdańsk Zaspa stop.
• Bus 199: according to the ZTM Gdańsk timetable, the stop closest to the museum is “Chopina 01” (about 102 m), followed by “Abrahama 01” (about 348 m) and “Wojska Polskiego 03” (about 383 m); all three are served by line 199.
• Tram: according to the same timetable, trams 5, 6, 9 and 12 stop at “Wojska Polskiego 01” (about 442 m). Lines 2 and 8 stop at “Wojska Polskiego 02” (about 454 m) and “Zamenhofa 02” (about 452 m).
• Other buses: lines 127, 158 and 227 stop at “Zaspa SKM 01” and “Zaspa SKM 02”, about 457 m from the museum.
• By car: the car park is behind the museum building. If you enter your registration number when buying your ticket, the first two hours of parking cost nothing, and each further hour is paid. A 2 h ticket therefore fits within the parking time at no charge, while with an open ticket expect to pay extra for parking.

Nearby

The nearest museums covered on this site lie more than 5 km from Grunwaldzka (straight-line distances), so each of them is a separate trip:

• Hevelianum, ul. Gradowa 6, 80-802 Gdańsk - about 5.1 km. It also has interactive exhibitions, and bus 199 stops both at “Chopina 01” next to the video game museum and at the “Hevelianum 01” and “Hevelianum 02” stops. On rainy days Gradowa Hill gets more visitors and tickets run out quickly; the heated and air-conditioned arcade hall is then a good plan B.
• Gdańsk Nowy Port Lighthouse, ul. Przemysłowa 6a, 80-542 Gdańsk - about 5.1 km. Tram 5 stops both at “Wojska Polskiego 01” and at the “Kasztanowa” stops by the lighthouse, whose tower gives a view of the port, Westerplatte and the Gulf of Gdańsk.
• European Solidarity Centre, Plac Solidarności 1, 80-863 Gdańsk - about 5.2 km. Trams 2 and 8 link the “Wojska Polskiego 02” stop with the “Plac Solidarności 01” and “02” stops next to the ECS. Visitors spend 2 hours on average in the permanent exhibition, so a visit to the ECS is easy to combine with an afternoon at the arcade machines.