When’s the last time you waited in line for an hour to get into a fine art museum? That’s how I, John, and a couple hundred other geeks spent Saturday morning. This weekend was the opening of The Art of Video Games, an exhibit which showcased everything from Pac-Man to Mass Effect.

The last time I’d visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum had been for a dressy Online News Association cocktail party. Several miles from the better known Smithsonian museums on the National Mall, it’s a place you expect to see fewer tourists and more established patrons of the arts. Its classical paintings, puzzling modern art, and live jazz performances in the orchid-filled courtyard feel highbrow to me.

However, this exhibit showed me that I was wrong to assume there was anything snobby about this open-minded museum. The organizers arranged The Art of Video Games with the same reverence for the subject as any fine art display. I particularly appreciated their regard for video game fans—since early 2011, I’ve been voting along with 19,000 other people to choose which games would be exhibited.

In fact, I think other art museums can learn something from the Smithsonian. Rather than seeking to please a few wealthy patrons, the Art of Video Games looked to the crowd for its funding. Here’s my name in the scrolling list of donors to the exhibit. It took around ten minutes for this video to cycle through, which gave me plenty to look at for the thirty minutes I stood in line trying to get in.

However, before I could get inside to even wait in line to see the exhibit, I waited outside for an hour before the museum opened to see Hideo Kojima. A couple weeks ago, the organizers gave a few of us the chance to see Mr. Kojima in person—if we could click fast enough. The free Eventbrite tickets sold out in less than two minutes! You can bet I had set an alarm in order to snag those. Kojima stepped outside for a photo-op with Pac-Man while we were still in line.

At the conversation, Kojima still seemed to be surprised to have his games exhibited at a fine art museum.

“My games are displayed around the world, but to have them at the Smithsonian is truly an honor,” he said through a translator.

In 2006, Kojima once insisted during an interview that “games aren’t art.” During this interview, he conceded that while he still does not think his games are art (at least in the traditional sense), the fact that the Smithsonian thinks otherwise has caused him to rethink a bit.

“I’m not going to come to the Smithsonian [where my games are being displayed as art] and say they’re not art,” he said, prompting appreciative laughter from the audience.

Kojima said he’s been busy working on a project he can’t say anything about. Could it be the previously alluded Metal Gear Solid 5?

Outside of the exhibit, most of the activities taking place were in the courtyard. Visitors could listen to chiptunes, have their photo taken in a video game setting, craft “pixel art” or take part in a live action game with Spontaneous Art. And of course, there were plenty of screens for actual gaming, both in the courtyard and in the exhibit itself. Plus, Pac-Man cookies.

For a complete set of the photos I took, check out my Flickr photostream. They’re mixed in with photos of the cherry blossoms, since during these unseasonably warm times we’re nearly at peak season. (Last year, the blossoms weren’t in full bloom until mid-April.)

Since the exhibit was so crowded, I’m planning to make a trip back after the hype dies down. Until then, I’ll be paging through companion book John picked up, also titled The Art of Video Games. If you can’t make the real thing, it’s a complete round-up of every game featured in the exhibit.