The event is part exhibition and part arcade; information panels offer answers to all your questions about gaming and enlighten you on the versatile uses of computer games.

There could not be a bigger contrast between the dark and quiet setting of the Kelders and the bright and noisy objects filling them. As soon as I entered, I was welcomed by the eclectic sound of 200 switched-on electronic games. I received a little booklet to guide me through the exhibition and a quiz (that enters me into a prize drawing if I got all the answers right).

All the games in Play Belgium come with an information panel. The old arcade games look huge and charmingly dated, but a go on the first arcade game ever, Atari’s Pong (1972), is still surprisingly entertaining. It’s also hard to ignore the absolute classics like Space Invaders (1978) and the ground-breaking Pac-Man (1980), the game credited with opening up video gaming to both genders. By the time I finished a round on all of these, I realised I was in for probably my longest museum visit ever. (Growing up, I was never really allowed to play with computer games because it was ‘bad for my eyes’, so I had a lot of catching up to do.)

Two can play at that game

There is a multi-player zone for friendly competition and a wide range of educational games – from very simple games for littler kids to Monkey Labs (a mathematics game used in some schools) to socio-political games where you have to help street youth, or medical games used for training and continuing education.

The exhibition tries to shake off a few of the prejudices against video games: they do not necessarily make you anti-social, and they don’t turn you into a violent sociopath. But they don’t ignore these concerns: the 18+ section features more violent games such as Assassin’s Creed, where it’s all about power and revenge. A big display narrates the history of violence from art to computer games, backed up by a few studies at Flemish universities.

Informative as the exhibition is, it’s clearly impossible for the young people here to concentrate on most of that over the games. The impressive games collection is curated by the Barbican arts centre in London, and in case one of the consoles breaks down, a technician is present to fix it within the day.

You are the console of the future

Those who do take the time to learn, as well as play, will find an intriguing story of the development of electronic games over the last two decades and the realisation that we haven’t seen the best of it yet. Whereas some games, for instance, have been based on movies, now movies get their story ideas from computer games. When, in 1996, Tomb Raider was released, nobody expected its iconic main character, Lara Croft, to become such an adored virtual heroin. Her popularity grew by leaps and bounds when in 2001 Angelina Jolie took on the role for two Hollywood films.

The stories and images in games get more complicated and detailed, while the consoles become smaller – and sometimes even invisible. Play Belgium offers a sneak peek at the future: Sony’s Eye Pet is a cute but extremely needy pet that likes to get washed and played with; Microsoft’s Natal projects work not by holding a remote control, but by using your body as the controller itself, with the program following your every move and facial expression onscreen.

The final offer of the exhibition is how to learn more: schools teaching game programming across Belgium present their offers of study.

Until 18 April
Kelders van Cureghem (Entrance 3)
Jules Ruhlstraat, Brussels
www.playbelgium.be

Holiday tip
There's no time limit to your stay at the Play Belgium exhibition, which makes it a great idea for a weekend or holiday activity. Kelders van Cureghem has a big car park and is next to the metro
station Delacroix.