Say “hello” once again to the return of scrunchies, shoulder pads, and several shows that will take you through a throwback or flashback of the 1980s. There’s now such a location in which people are able to relive the 1980s and experience a total ‘80s rewind. Living Computer: Museum + Labs, an exhibition located in Seattle, allows its visitors to step into the ‘80s world and experience what this magnificent decade had to offer.

Aaron Alcorn, the curator of the exhibition, claims that he wanted to created a real-life experience in which people could come in, sit down, and enjoy the 1980s and its marvelous context and history. One can expect this exhibition to follow the day of a typical 1980s teen, from hanging out in a computer lab at school, to playing retro video games in a local arcade, and finally to playing video games in the basement of a house.

The museum or exhibition was opened to the public in 2012. Overall, the idea of this unique exhibition is based on the philosophy that one should use computers and computing history if they are able to understand such things. Although the exhibition displays modern technology and incorporates virtual reality, its focus is to still preserve the vintage technology found in the 1980s such as microcomputers, mini computers, and mainframe. Everything is displayed in great detail.

For instance, the typical 1980s classroom on display includes a retro linoleum floor, and gum can even be found under the desks of the classroom. To continue, the video games and all its machines found in the exhibition’s arcade are free of charge. Visitors are even able to drop coin-like tokens into the slot of each video game machine for the full experience. In addition to this, visitors are able to play with the original Nintendo and Atari consoles in the basement display. Visitors are also given the opportunity to listen to records of music from the era. In general, the basement of a friend’s house was ideally the location in which a teenager or family in the 1980s would hang out and spend time.

With this being said, the 1980s theme featured in this exhibition is still a timely matter. In the presence of the moment, this exhibition serves as a cultural moment in which one can develop an appreciation, admiration, and deep-felt nostalgia for everything that was once featured in the 1980s.