Gamers in Scotland are in for a treat as an exhibition charting 40 years of gaming history heads across the border.

The Game On exhibition is moving to the Royal Museum, Edinburgh, from 18 October, following a successful four-month run at London's Barbican Gallery.

Nearly 50,000 people have visited the London show, attracted by the dozens of playable games on offer.

"We're very pleased overall," said Game On curator Conrad Bodman. "It was the first time such a show had been attempted and we didn't know how it was going to go."

Fun and games

Classic games on show

The show looks at the history of video games from 1962, when the first computer game was developed, to the modern day rivalry between the PlayStation 2, the Xbox and the GameCube.

Visitors will be able to relive a misspent youth playing Asteroids or Space Invaders, as there are 35 games to be played.

They will be able to try out a range of consoles from the ZX Spectrum to the Commodore 64 to remember what gaming used to be like.

"Some of the older exhibits were difficult to track down and rely on increasingly rare parts," said Mr Bodman.

"So it is going to be hard to recreate our arcade section in the future."

One of the new highlights to the Scottish edition of the show will be a demo of the highly anticipated new Tomb Raider game, Angel of Darkness.

Lasting legacy

Chance to play with Lara

But the exhibition is not just about fun and games.

It also explores the social impact of gaming, as well as looking at some of the ways games may change in the future.

"We've now had three generations of people playing games," said Mr Bodman, "so it is impossible to ignore that games have had an impact on our culture."

Game On comes to end in London on 15 September. It runs at the Royal Museum, Edinburgh from 18 October to 2 February 2003.