Heritage Arcade

Heritage Arcade

At the Estonian National Museum's Heritage Arcade, visitors can discover how objects, patterns and stories from museum collections inspire new video games.

The Heritage Arcade invites visitors to play games created using digital cultural heritage. The University of Tartu and the Estonian National Museum jointly organised the first games during the Pro Game Jam in January 2026. Over 48 hours, game developers created 22 games, creatively reinterpreting patterns found on ethnographic objects and other cultural heritage materials from the museum's collections.

The Heritage Arcade demonstrates how digital museum collections can inspire new stories, game worlds and experiences. Here, cultural heritage is not only something to observe and study, but also something to explore and experience through play.

The Heritage Arcade was developed as part of the international i-Game project and the research project “Digital Cultural Heritage as a Societal Resource”, supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture.