Video games have been available commercially since 1971—almost 46 years—which would seemingly leave very little time for them to become cultural artifacts entombed in derelict buildings and abandoned places.
But decay and entropy work their magic quickly upon our forgotten structures. After just a few years of being abandoned, a building can be quickly overrun with dust, corrosion, and invasive natural forces such as weeds, rats, roaches, and birds that churn through manmade objects and slowly turn them to rubble and detritus.
Over the past decade, daring hobbyists called urban explorers have documented the world of abandoned buildings, often sharing photos of their journeys online. What they find strikes a powerful chord in us—especially if it involves technology. Their photos vividly illustrate the juxtaposition between what was once considered clean, futuristic, and high-tech and what is now pure dirty chaos.
So in the slideshow ahead, we'll take a look at the visual works of seven explorers who braved man's neglected structures to bring us thought-provoking beauty in the midst of decay. We'll also see how video games can serve as cultural clues, showing how people of a certain era lived. So pay attention to what you leave behind—one day it will become a big part of how the future judges us as a civilization.
(For more, check out this collection of abandoned arcade games. )
1. Atari 2600 Games
While exploring an abandoned electronics factory in Chicago, photographer Neil Harris discovered these three neglected Atari 2600 game cartridges moldering on the floor: Ice Hockey, Donkey Kong, and Asteroids. They once no doubt brought joy to someone, but they have since been forgotten and left to rot as artifacts of our not-too-distant cultural past.
(Photo: Neil Harris)
2. NES Action Set
Somewhere in Cope, Colorado, sits the abandoned Triple L Motel (seen here with a cool abandoned car parked outside). In 2013, an urban explorer who goes by the name Withered Perception spotted this boxed NES Action Set—and some extra controllers—in one of the rooms. Despite a strong urge to rescue the unit from oblivion, he kept to the urban explorer's code: "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints."
(Photos: Withered Perception)
3. Atari 5200
Released in 1982, the Atari 5200 SuperSystem was Atari's long-awaited follow-up to its legendary Atari 2600 console. Finicky controllers and a game library of barely warmed-over arcade rehashes failed to excite consumers, and the North American video game crash hit in 1983. Put together, that spelled doom for the console.
Fast forward to 2011, when a curious explorer named Dominick DePaolo found a 5200 console sitting among leaves in the ruins of the Old Mohawk Tannery in Nashua, New Hampshire. Many abandoned places are used as dumping sites for trash, which is likely how it got there.
(Photo: Dominick DePaolo)
4. PlayStation Insulation
Somewhere in the UK there sits a burned-out house that has been abandoned and never cleaned up. In 2009, an urban explorer named Thirtyfootscrew found this PlayStation 1 controller sitting among some fiberglass insulation. "It was actually on the ground floor," he writes. "But the ceiling/attic had collapsed in when the building had burnt down." Even among scenes of tragedy, video game artifacts serve as lifestyle clues of those who once inhabited those spaces.
5. A Real Pitfall
In March 2015, photographer Steven Bley was exploring an abandoned mansion somewhere in New York state when he came upon a room with a collapsed floor—a literal pit in the middle of the house. In another room, he found an Activision Pitfall cartridge for the Atari 2600. Putting two and two together, Bley assembled this unforgettable shot that brings a visual pun to life.
(Photo: Steven Bley)
6. Controllers Among the Refuse
In the 1960s, the Royal Hawaiian Motel in Baker, California, was a vibrant place. Over time, traffic to the desert town declined, and the motel fell into disrepair. Even in this state, it remained open for business at least until 2006, when photographer Jared Eberhardt stumbled upon this abandoned room full of tech trash. Among what looks like the worst party ever thrown, one can see a tangle of five Atari 2600 joysticks covered in mold—and yes, that's an Apple II monitor off to the right.
(Photo: Jared Eberhardt)
7. Asylum Game Stop
Letchworth Village is well known among urban explorers in Rockland County, New York, as a haunting abandoned compound that once housed the mentally ill. While exploring the site in 2006, photographer Peter of AllAbandoned.com encountered this scene in one of the abandoned hospital buildings. He thought he had struck video game gold, but it turned out the boxes were empty. Years before, someone who ran a store called "Game Stop" used one of the buildings for storage and left little of value behind. Who knows—maybe it's still there today, feeling nature's churn and becoming the dust of tomorrow.
Get Our Best Stories!
Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning.