A state-of-the-art video games lounge opens at the National Media Museum tomorrow.

Visitors will be able to plug into the history of video-gaming and play classic games such as Asteroids, Frogger and Street Fighter II.

It is part of the museum’s £390,000 redevelopment of the ground floor and foyer, which includes a new box office, electronic information points, fast-ticketing machines and a new shop.

Gallery development manager Joe Stocks-Brook said: “The games lounge will be an informal, enjoyable space for people to meet and experience a taste of gaming heritage.”

The games on offer are: Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Defender, Space Invaders, Frogger, Centipede, Street Fighter II, Gauntlet, Galaxian, Pong, Super Mario Kart, Manic Miner, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, GoldenEye 007.

Some of the games are coin-operated, some are free to play. A free simulator is available for wheelchair-users.

Early computers and games consoles and a timeline charting the history of video games will be on display.

Curator of new media Tom Woolley said: “We’ve chosen seminal games that are easy to pick up and play, either for a five-minute blast or a few hours.

“We’re hoping the games will ignite feelings of nostalgia in visitors who remember them when they were first released, and give young people the chance to play them for the first time.

“It would be great to see kids beating their parents at Super Mario Kart or Street Fighter II. There is still a stigma attached to these games, but some are amazingly sophisticated.”

The lounge draws on the collection of the National Videogame Archive, a partnership launched in 2008 between the museum and Nottingham Trent University.