Video game lovers in Ottumwa, Iowa, are ready to see the world's gaming hall of fame on their front doorstep, MSNBC reports. Forget Silicon Valley, home to Atari. And Kyoto, Japan, where Ninentdo was born. No, the town that hosted the first world championship 26 years ago “was the beginning,” Donkey Kong champion Billy Mitchell said. “It was the birth of organized video game play.”
Ottumwa is already home to Twin Galaxies, the video game score-keeping organization. And the town dubbed itself the “Video Game Capital of the World" a generation ago. Now residents appear to support a move to make the moniker official, and the Ottumwa Daily Courier's editorial board has backed building a hall of fame—as long as private investment dollars can be secured. (More Ottumwa, Iowa stories.)