Video Game Museum in Karpacz — a trip from Szklarska Poręba
About 40 minutes’ drive from Szklarska Poręba, on the top floor of ul. Mickiewicza 11 in Karpacz (entrance from ul. Konstytucji 3 Maja), you will find our Video Game Museum — officially Muzeum Konsol Gier Video. Inside: 127 consoles and computers behind glass and 30 gaming stations. Doors open every day 10:00–18:00, with 1 November the only closed day.
Our Toy Exhibition in Szklarska Poręba has consoles with retro games, and grown-ups there regularly lose track of time. When they ask where to find more, we point them over the mountains to Karpacz. Since 2016 Magda and I have been running a whole console museum there, upstairs in the Brick Museum building — the first permanent one in Poland and the third in Europe.
Why is it worth the 28 km?
Because this is not a look-but-don’t-touch collection. Behind glass stand 127 machines, from a 1972 Magnavox Odyssey we brought over from the USA and Poland’s own UNITRA Tele-Set GTV 881 (1977) to a Pegasus, an Atari, a Game Boy and a Vectrex with a built-in vector display. Thirty stations let you grab a pad and play on your feet, and the cases are filled out with pads, joysticks, tapes, cartridges and odd bits of the era.
Everyone has their own moment here: someone stops in front of the hardware they played as a child and the memories come flooding back. Bartek compares it to opening a drawer of treasures you had long forgotten.
How to get there from Szklarska Poręba
- By car — about 40 minutes, about 28 km. There are no visitor parking spaces at the museum; the nearest options are on the parking page.
- By bus — seasonal line 106 or line 116; the timetables are linked on the directions page.
Planning a day with the Toy Exhibition
The Video Game Museum and the Brick Museum share one building; with the “Two Museums” ticket you start with the bricks and then go upstairs — about 1.5 hours in total. If you visit the Toy Exhibition in Szklarska first, you can buy a ticket to the Brick Museum there at a very attractive price. Video Game Museum tickets and the “Two Museums” ticket are sold at the desk in Karpacz.
Not enough time for everything in one day? The “Two Museums” ticket can be split over two different days — bricks today, consoles on your next trip from Szklarska.
When to go
- When it rains — everything is indoors, and time flies at the stations.
- In the morning — the calmest time; outside the high season it is quiet for most of the day.
- After a day in the mountains — a visit takes about 45 minutes, so it fits in even after coming down from the trail.
Who is it for?
Mums and dads finally get to show off their Tetris, Super Mario or Tekken 3 skills, and brothers and sisters settle scores in Street Fighter or Contra. Nobody guides you around and there are no quests to tick off; the only task is playing. Little ones still too small for a pad get walls covered in LEGO bricks.
Practical details
- Find us at ul. Mickiewicza 11, Karpacz — use the entrance from ul. Konstytucji 3 Maja and the door facing the Brick Museum; the games are on the top floor.
- Every day 10:00–18:00, apart from 1 November.
- Walk-in tickets, paid by card or in cash; kids under 90 cm free; groups from 16 people phone first.
