On a recent Friday afternoon, 401 Seigle Hall crackled with the energy of a classic arcade.

Two WashU students hurled red shells at one another as they raced through a game of “Mario Kart 64.” Another weighed life-or-death decisions for his wagon train as he played “Oregon Trail” on an old Apple II computer.

One student, meanwhile, was trying and failing to fire up a vintage Game Boy console. James Fleury, senior lecturer in film and media studies, stepped in to assist.

Fleury removed the game cartridge from the console, blew on it and slid it back into the Game Boy. The game immediately launched without a hitch.

“That’s an old trick from back in the day,” Fleury explained to the student.

Fleury, who joined the Program in Film and Media Studies in 2023, is behind the transformation of 401 Seigle into the Interactive Archive. In spring 2026, Fleury received an Arts & Sciences Teaching Innovation Award to get the Interactive Archive off the ground, which provided $4,500 to help purchase classic hardware and games.

The goal extends beyond creating an arcade for WashU students. Fleury also wants to preserve historically significant games that are becoming increasingly difficult to experience in their original formats. 

“Students don’t have access to a lot of these games or hardware,” Fleury said. “As the number of video game studies courses in the Film and Media Studies program grows, we want to have more availability of that equipment.”

Unlike other forms of media, video games depend on interactivity. Each player approaches a particular game differently, making every playthrough unique. For video game scholars like Fleury, preserving that original interactive experience is essential to the study of the medium.

“There are so many games that are completely inaccessible,” Fleury said. “You might have a text you want to access, but the only way you can do so is through recorded gameplay online. I don't think watching someone else's experience playing a game is the same as having your own experience playing that game. It's like reading secondhand accounts of a movie if you're a film scholar.”

The process of acquiring and restoring vintage hardware for the Interactive Archive illustrates just how difficult video game preservation can be. Computers, consoles, cartridges, and discs gradually degrade over time and often require specialized expertise or parts to refurbish. 

The archive’s Apple II computer, for example, was an eBay find. Fleury said the computer itself was in excellent shape, but the real challenge was deciphering the decades-old system of cables connecting its various components.

The Interactive Archive debuted in mid-September with a library of more than 200 games, half of which were donated by WashU staff or community members. The collection spans multiple consoles, eras, and genres, showing off the diversity of the medium.

“We sometimes have such a narrow idea of what video games can do,” said Reem Hilu, an associate professor of film and media studies who teaches a course on gender and sexuality in video games. “But that’s not all they’re capable of. If we have this preservation of history like the Interactive Archive, we can see that there were all these potentials and possibilities that we’ve maybe forgotten. It’s nice to see this as a resource for how games can be better and different.”

The launch of the Interactive Archive comes as video game publishers are scaling back physical game releases in favor of digital-only downloads. This makes the availability of video games more precarious than ever, Fleury said.

“I think Sony’s recent announcement of moving away from physical discs by 2028, combined with the news that ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ won’t have any physical discs produced for it, is very concerning,” Fleury said. “Especially as games can be removed from digital storefronts, or altered from their original version.”

While physical media can be glitchy and difficult to maintain, preserving it helps document the history of an art form for future generations. Clara Erdelac, a third-year student in film and media studies, was one of the first visitors to the Interactive Archive. While many of these games are available digitally using emulation software, Erdelac said there’s no substitute for the real thing.

“There’s something very special about having that original connection,” Erdelac said. “Having those original controllers, those original hard pieces that make the experience that much closer to the original intended one is really important and something that is very hard to experience. It's something you don't realize you're missing until you get to see it in a space like this.”

For the Fall 2026 semester, the Interactive Archive is open to students enrolled in Film and Media Studies-based video game courses. Starting in the Spring 2027 semester, an online reservation system will allow all WashU students to book the space for gaming time.