Museum of Soviet Video Games in Moscow

Preserved by some Russian students in the basement of a technical school, the Museum of Soviet Arcade Games consists of around 60 Soviet-era machines, including video games, pinball machines and hockey simulations.
Although only 50-55 of the games are playable, each of the machines paints a picture of life and entertainment during the "Iron Curtain" era.

By inserting 15 kopecks into the slot you can launch torpedoes from a submarine to hit enemy cruisers and battleships, drive small tanks across the battlefield, or fire a toy projectile at red and white targets.

Entering it is like time travel, with visitors using original tokens for around 60 video games that can't be found anywhere else. Located near the Bloshoi theater, the museum is in the same square as a trendy burger chain, an unlikely food for the Soviet era. Unlike many other similar places in the city, however, here you can wash down your burger with an authentic Soviet soda, straight from a gray vintage vending machine.

It all started in the mid-2000s, when the group of friends realized they shared fond childhood memories of games like Morskoi Boi, and decided to see if they could track down and fix some arcade games. Their first efforts had not exactly encouraging results; many mistakes were made and some machinery was ruined. But the three quickly realized that it was a great opportunity, there were many of those finds around the country and no one seemed to want them or understand their true value.

In a time in which the memory of the Soviet Union is increasingly mixed with nostalgia for Russia's communist past, these previously forgotten video games have experienced renewed interest in the capitalist present.