Austin's Fantastic Arcade, an indie games festival, collected games for 14 years before dissolving into a smaller format in 2024. That means its game collection needed a new home, and now the collection is making a big trip up north to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

The Strong Museum is adopting the collection as part of its Indie Games Initiative. A press release from the festival's Austin-based former steward, The Museum of Human Achievement, says the initiative is "a commitment to preserving video games built by small, independent creative teams."

There are five games in the archive, all contained in custom-made arcade cabinets. Those are also accompanied by photo and video documentation, relics from the festival's past, and other historically relevant things that the release does not detail.

The five indie games are:

• Alphabet, by Keita Takahashi and Adam Saltsman: A silly side scroller for one to 26 players (one letter each) to race across obstacle courses.
• Nium, by Moppin and Nemk: A serene exploration game with post-apocalyptic nature vibes and muted colors. Even the enemies have cute animations.
• Wheels of Aurelia, by Santa Ragione: A narrative driving game set in Italy in 1978, with a bright, expressive art style and lots of dialog.
• The Stakes Are Too High, by Fernando Ramallo: A surreal journey featuring a crude parody of Mario the Plumber navigating the U.S. health care system.
• Grass Stains, by Nina Freeman: A local multiplayer game in a sketchy style that pits two kids against each other in a match of soccer.

“For more than a decade, Fantastic Arcade was a new games happening that straddled the spectrum between pop genre and the unclassifiable,” said Fantastic Arcade creative director Wiley Wiggins in the release. “This dependably included bizarro experiments and unforgettable talks that broke all known molds.”

Andrew Borman, the director of digital preservation at the Strong Museum, said preserving the collection will help researchers and and "help us tell the broader story of indie gaming." The museum studies how electronic games impact people's lives, with more than 60,000 artifacts and even more archival materials; it claims to have "the world’s most comprehensive collection dedicated to the history of video games.

“Fantastic Arcade is a landmark in independent game history and a celebration of the creativity of developers around the world,” said Borman. “This collection of one-of-a-kind games—made to be played over just a few days—will now live on forever at The Strong."

Visitors to the Strong Museum will also see exhibits related to toys, physical play, and game shows. There's also a library containing books, magazines, and dissertations on topics related to game and other creative pursuits.

Although these games are leaving the Museum of Human Achievement, the nonprofit will still host events for indie gamers and developers. Its monthly meetup Games Y’all shows off games and digital art, and next meets October 17 for a special slideshow presentation night. Then on November 15, there's the Games Y’all Roundup at Kick Butt Coffee, a "celebration of indie games" echoing the original festival.