German Games Archive in Nuremberg

Germany - Country of Players: Nuremberg - City of Games

Germany is the country of players. Every year, about 700 new games are published at the internationally renowned trade fairs in Nuremberg and Essen. No other country has such a lively games scene. The boom in parlour games since the 1970s has resulted in increased production, but also in more differentiation in the games landscape. The German Games Archive is a key institution in this games movement: founded in Marburg in 1985, today it comprises about 30,000 games, documenting German-speaking games production since 1945.

Since 2010, the City of Nuremberg, with its unique history of toy and games production, and as the location of the world's most important Toy Fair, has provided an ideal environment for the Archive to continue its valuable work.

The German Games Archive actively continues to fulfil the core tasks of any archive: collecting, categorising and preserving. In addition, it has developed into a national contact point for all questions concerning games, and offers numerous services for experts, the media and interested members of the public. With a wealth of game playing activities, the Archive will in the future attract greater public attention and finally develop from an Archive into an active games and playing centre.

Currently the Archive's games collection is not accessible to the public. The games are still stored in a museum depot in over 2000 removal boxes. From spring 2011, the reference library will be open. An appointment to use the library may be made by phone.