Game Worlds: Whakaaturanga Pureiapo | Playable Exhibition celebrates more than 50 years of videogame culture, bringing together more than 30 iconic games and 44 playable moments from the 1970s to today. Curated and developed by ACMI, the exhibition explores the worlds games create, and the ways developers, players and technology have shaped how we play and connect.

Rather than simply charting the history of videogames, Game Worlds looks at how these digital environments are made, inhabited and shared. Visitors can go behind the scenes of influential titles, encounter original builds, rare design materials and hands-on prototypes, join a 1990s LAN party and even race a record-breaking speedrunner.

The exhibition includes international hits such as Minecraft (Mojang Studios), Final Fantasy XIV Online (Square Enix), World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment), The Sims (Electronic Arts), The Elder Scrolls Online (ZeniMax Online Studios/Bethesda Softworks), Neopets (World of Neopia), SimCity (Electronic Arts), Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe) and the Australian release of Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry).

Global indie games also feature, including Guardian Maia by Māori-led Metia Interactive, which reimagines Aotearoa New Zealand through the eyes of Maia, a forest guardian, alongside Terra Nil (Free Lives/Devolver Digital) and Celeste (Maddy Makes Games). Historical highlights include The Sentinel (Geoff Crammond/Firebird), The Hobbit (Melbourne House), DOOM (1993) (id Software/Bethesda Softworks) and Team Fortress (Valve), as well as groundbreaking 1970s titles Maze War (Greg Thompson and Dave Lebling), Colossal Cave Adventure (William Crowther) and Zork (Infocom).

Playable, immersive and intergenerational, Game Worlds offers a look at videogames not just as entertainment, but as designed spaces where technology, storytelling, creativity and social connection meet.