Great War Tables
Two expansive interactive tables engage groups in diverse activities that reveal the strategic and technological aspects of the Great War as well as its cultural and political legacies.
The two 26-foot Great War Tables each feature unique content specific to where they are installed in the National World War I Museum. Each table has two modes: the standard individual mode, where the table serves 12 discreet standalone interfaces, and a group mode, where up to 24 visitors collectively and collaboratively engage in a series of interactive challenges that parallel the military, political, and civilian aspects of the global conflict.
In the standard mode visitors can learn about military technologies through 3-D reconstructions; compare the arsenals, artillery, and airplanes used by the combatant armies; watch archival video footage and browse photographic collections; and create their own propaganda posters and war memorials that they can email to themselves and others. At any time, museum staff can launch the tables into the group-based interactive experience, where up to 24 visitors are divided into six pairings of the major contestants, with allied countries positioned against central powers countries. Here visitors can experience the unique challenges of different national perspectives. Bookending and punctuating each challenge is a table-wide video presentation that summarizes the state of war from an international perspective.