Game Masters: The Exhibition was an exhibition curated by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).[1] The exhibition was designed to highlight the key designers who have had a large influence on video games and video game culture. Following the showing at ACMI, the exhibition began to tour internationally. Conrad Bodman, who also curated Game On, is the curator of the exhibition.[2]
The exhibition included over 125 playable games from over 30 different designers as well as concept and development artwork. Interview events with game designers have been hosted on location by ABC's Stephanie 'Hex' Bendixsen.[3]
| Australian Centre for the Moving Image | Melbourne | Australia | 28 June 2012 | 28 October 2012 | |
| Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa | Wellington | New Zealand | 15 December 2012 | 28 April 2013[4] | |
| Powerhouse Museum | Sydney | Australia | 13 December 2013 | 25 May 2014 | |
| National Museum of Scotland | Edinburgh | Scotland | 5 December 2014 | 20 April 2015 | |
| Halmstad Arena | Halmstad | Sweden | 28 May 2015 | 31 August 2015 | |
| Oregon Museum of Science and Industry | Portland | USA | 13 February 2016 | 8 May 2016 | |
| COSI | Columbus | USA | 11 June 2016 | 5 September 2016 | |
| Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg | Hamburg | Germany | 14 November 2016 | 23 April 2017 | |
| Fleet Science Center | San Diego | USA | 1 July 2017 | 18 January 2018 | |
| The Franklin Institute | Philadelphia | USA | 31 March 2018 | 3 September 2018 | |
| Science Museum of Minnesota | St Paul | USA | 15 February 2019 | 5 May 2019 | |
| National Film and Sound Archive | Canberra | Australia | 27 September 2019 | 9 March 2020 |
The exhibition showcased the work of over 30 notable video game designers, and featured over 125 playable games,[5] including original arcade games that are hard to find in working condition. Also displayed were concept and development artwork, and interview events with the game designers. The exhibition was divided into three sections: "Arcade Heroes" (highlighting games from the golden age of arcade video games), "Game Changers" (highlighting the works of paradigm-shifting game designers that greatly influenced later designers), and "Indies" (featuring indie games).
| Dave Theurer | Tempest, and Missile Command | |
| Ed Logg | Asteroids, and Centipede | |
| Eugene Jarvis | Defender, and | |
| Masanobu Endo | Xevious, and Tower of Druaga | |
| Shigeru Miyamoto | Donkey Kong | |
| Tim Skelly | Reactor, and Rip-Off | |
| Tomohiro Nishikado | Space Invaders, and Gun Fight | |
| Toru Iwatani | Pac-Man, and GeeBee | |
| Konami | Scramble | |
| Taito | Elevator Action |
| Alex Rigopulos & Eran Egozy | Dance Central 3, Frequency, Amplitude, and Rock Band | |
| Blizzard Entertainment | Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, and | |
| Fumito Ueda | Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus | |
| TT Games | , , , | |
| Paulina Bozek | SingStar Vol. 2 (PS3) | |
| Peter Molyneux | Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, and Fable III | |
| SEGA | Columns, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Streets of Rage 2, , Altered Beast, and Golden Axe | |
| Sonic Team | Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Adventure, Nights into Dreams, and Sonic Forces | |
| Tetsuya Mizuguchi | Sega Rally Championship, Space Channel 5, Rez, Lumines, and Child of Eden (2D) | |
| Tim Schafer | , , Broken Age, Psychonauts, and Brütal Legend | |
| Warren Spector | System Shock, Deus Ex, Disney Epic Mickey, and Ultima Underworld | |
| Will Wright | SimCity, SimCity 2000, The Sims 3, and Spore | |
| Yu Suzuki | Hang-On, OutRun, Virtua Fighter, and Shenmue |
| Capybara Games | Critter Crunch, and | |
| Chocolate Liberation Front | Game Masters: The Game | |
| The Behemoth | Alien Hominid, and Castle Crashers | |
| Bennett Foddy | QWOP, and Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy | |
| Eric Chahi | Another World, Heart of Darkness, and From Dust | |
| Halfbrick | Fruit Ninja, and Jetpack Joyride | |
| Introversion Software | Darwinia, and Defcon | |
| Jakub Dvorsky | Samorost 2, Machinarium, and Botanicula | |
| Jonathan Blow | Braid | |
| Markus 'Notch' Persson | Minecraft | |
| Masaya Matsuura | Vib-Ribbon and Parappa the Rapper | |
| Mountain | Florence (video game) | |
| Rovio | Angry Birds | |
| State of Play Games | Lumino City | |
| thatgamecompany | flOw, Flower, and Journey | |
| Ustwo Games | Monument Valley (video game) |