Museum Exhibits an Arcade Tribute to the Documentary “Insert Coin: Inside Midway’s Arcade Revolution”

The Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the Chicago-area College of DuPage is hosting an exhibition of classic arcade games and artwork that are showcased in the 2020 documentary, Insert Coin: Inside Midway’s Arcade Revolution, which can be watched for free on YouTube.

The exhibit includes 15 hit arcade games to play, including Mortal Kombat 2, NBA Jam, Cruis’N USA, and more for the $12 admission. Because there are no quarters to stack atop the machines for players to claim “next,” the museum enforces etiquette to let new players try games during busy times so everyone gets a turn.

Chicago was a hotbed of innovation during the arcade era, owing to its roots in the pinball industry with manufacturers Williams and Bally/Midway, and the film is a love letter to that history. The exhibition, which runs through Feb. 16, 2025, was coordinated with the film’s director Joshua Tsui, detailing the creation and impact of the most popular games in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The documentary tells the story of how a small, tight-knit team managed controversies, next-level success, and the ups and downs of the industry, the exhibition will bring this exciting period of gaming history to life, drawing on the larger societal aspects of the gaming world during this time.

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The exhibit was organized by Chicago Gamespace owner and curator Jonathan Kinkley and director Joshua Tsui, Director with curatorial assistance by video game historian Ethan Johnson. Chicago Gamespace is a video game museum that features a permanent collection, special exhibitions, a library, and a shop of video game art prints. It includes early games such as Pong, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man as well as memorable computer and console titles such as Super Mario Bros and Tetris.

For the CCMA exhibit, organizers created a series of rooms, each displaying the influential periods within the gaming world and Midway Games’ role. The displays feature behind-the-scenes video, art, and ephemera from the making of these games, scenes from the Insert Coin documentary, interviews with former Midway game developers, and the classic arcade games themselves for exhibition visitors to play.

 “It is impossible to ignore the visual and cultural influence of video games on our society,” said CCMA Curator Justin Witte. “The graphics and narratives created in iconic games of the 1980s and 90s have shaped how generations interact with the world around them. No company has been more instrumental in this shift than Midway Games. We are excited to share the history of this dynamic part of our shared visual heritage.”

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Williams Electronics was noted during the 1970s and 1980s for its arcade hits Defender, Joust, and Robotron. Cross-town rival Bally Midway was the US distributor for Space Invaders and Pac-Man and developed Tron internally.

The Mortal Kombat game digitized actual martial artists to depict in the game. INSERT COIN TEAM

But like an ‘80s action buddy movie, these rivals teamed up in 1988 following the video game industry crash of ’83 left the companies weakened. Together, the merged Bally Midway company led the resurgence of the arcade industry with new titles such as NARC, Smash TV, Terminator 2, Cruis’N USA, Mortal Kombat, and NBA Jam in the 1990s.

“[Ready Player One author] Ernest Cline described Midway in the ‘90s as “punk rock” in Joshua Tsui’s magnetic ‘Insert Coin’ documentary," said Gamespace owner and curator Kinkley. “No better term describes the irreverent and brilliant artists and misfits who broke technological and artistic barriers, as well as more than a few cultural norms.”

The exhibition reflects work by notable Williams Electronics, Bally Midway, and Midway Games’ artists and developers, with many from the Chicagoland area, whose work is featured in the exhibition including: George Petro (Glen Ellyn), Eugene Jarvis (Glenview), Bill Adams, Ed Boon, Brian Colin, Warren Davis, Larry DeMar, Sal Divita, George Gomez (Chicago), Jack Haeger, Jeff Nauman, John Newcomer, John Tobias, and Mark Turmell.

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Click through the photo gallery to get a taste of the exhibit.