Indie Arcade coming to Washington, DC next week

Those in the Washington, DC area may be interested to know that the Smithsonian’s annual free Indie Arcade will be taking place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on January 16 from 1 PM to 7 PM.

Attendees will be able to play tons of classic arcade and new indie games for free. Additionally, the Smithsonian will be offering free workshops on Video Game Audio Design and Making a 3D Video Game Character with Unity.

The event – which is co-presented by MAGFest and American University’s Game Lab – is just one of many ways the prestigious Smithsonian Institution has been showing recognition for the importance of video games in recent years. Hopefully this shows the beginnings of a trend of large cultural institutions showing respect and support for video game culture and history.

In addition to some classic arcade titles like Tron, Asteroids, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and others, the following games will be on display:

• Albino Lullaby
• Axle
• Beats Of Fury
• Breaker Blocks
• Burrito Galaxy 65
• Choosatron Deluxe..
• Clash Cup Turbo
• Color Thief
• Corporate Vandals
• Daydream Blue
•  Dethroned
• Dr. Spacezoo
• eBee
• Fuego!
• Haberdashery
• Heroes Guard: The Journal
• Interruption Junction
• Inversus
• Lemma
• Mondrian-Abstraction in Beauty
• Mushroom 1
• Nevermind
• Octodad: Dadliest Catch
• One Ship Two Ship Redshift Bluehift
• Pixel Galaxy
• Reflections
• SKARA, The Blade Remains
• Slam City Oracles
• Splattershmup: A Game of Art & Motion
• Town of Light
• Trackoons
• What Hath God Wrought?

Organizer Games:

• Clusterpuck 99 [PHL Collective]
• Dead Man’s Trail [Pie for Breakfast Studios]
• Lost Cave [Ganglyfish ]
• Wait [Critical Gameplay]

Games for Change Selections:

• Cloud Chasers
• Dumb Ways to Die 2
• Mindlight
• Valiant Hearts

Details about each of the games can be found here.

There is no admission fee to the Indie Arcade, and all of the games will be free to play. More information about the event, including the address, can be found here and here.

The event is also being supported by the DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia chapters of IGDA, as well as the Entertainment Software Association and the Director’s Circle Media partnership from the Washington City Paper.