Journalists try out the original version of "Super Mario Bros." inside The Art of Video Games exhibition on March 15, 2012 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. (credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (CBS NEWS) - Video games like “Space Invaders” used to be confined to small screens at home and in video arcades. But not anymore. Now, they’re playing at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which is celebrating video games through the years. “You could say video games are a great grassroots expression of culture and in some cases art in our democracy,” said museum director Betsy Broun. “I guess what surprised me was just the sort of joyful excitement in the games.” Broun said the video game exhibit — the first ever at a major American museum — has caused so much excitement that it will travel to 10 other cities, illustrating a growing understanding of the public fascination with games.

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