About This Project – The Video Game Soda Machine Project

What is the Video Game Soda Machine Project?

The Video Game Soda Machine Project is my attempt to catalog screenshots of every soda vending machine that has ever appeared in a video game. Rock, Paper, Shotgun called it “vital work” — but I’m pretty sure they were being sarcastic.

Why soda machines?

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Seriously, how did this project get started?

The year was 2016. I was playing Batman: Arkham Knight when I turned a corner and saw a brightly lit Sprinkle Fizz soda machine in a dark, gloomy corner of Gotham. It was such a striking departure from the game’s usual tone that I posted a screenshot on Twitter and joked that someone should start a website cataloging other video game soda machines. That someone turned out to be me.

Who are you?

Jess Morrissette. I’m a Professor of Political Science at Marshall University, where I study the politics of popular culture. My writing has appeared in Game Studies, Games: Research and Practice, PC Gamer, Waypoint, and elsewhere, often on subjects that have nothing to do with soda machines.

When I’m not documenting virtual vending machines, I teach, write, co-host a podcast, stream retro games on Twitch, and occasionally make games of my own.

In case you’re curious, none of my games feature soda machines.

How many soda machines are cataloged at the Video Game Soda Machine Project?

There were 3,605 soda machines in the collection as of October 24, 2026. They appear across more than 2,200 games, spanning from circa 1977 through 2026.

Want a quick tour of the archive? I’ve put together a list of featured entries that should give you a better idea of what the Video Game Soda Machine Project is all about.

What counts as a soda machine?

For the purposes of this project, if a machine sells soft drinks, energy drinks, juice, or some other variety of sugary water (alongside whatever else it might dispense), it’s a soda machine. That includes futuristic replicators, pirate-era grog machines, and other functional equivalents of modern vending machines.

Soda fountains and drink coolers don’t count. Machines that vend potions do count, because potions are just fantasy soda.

Where do you get your screenshots?

Some are from my personal collection, some are submitted by fellow video game soda machine aficionados, and others are sourced from public archives or screengrabbed from Let’s Play videos. If you’d like to learn more about the process, I go “behind the soda machine” in this entry on Gore: Ultimate Soldier.

How can I submit my own video game soda machine?

You can post it on Bluesky and tag me or send it via email.

Where can I find out more about the Video Game Soda Machine Project?

NPR’s All Tech Considered has an excellent write-up on the project, and I’ve done interviews with CBC Radio’s Spark, the Future Tense blog on Slate, Waypoint, and Game Informer.

You can also check out coverage of the site at Kotaku, The A.V. Club, RPS, Boing Boing, and (strangely) Food & Wine.

I wrote about the project in a feature for Wireframe magazine titled “The Pause That Refreshes: How Virtual Vending Machines Make Us Feel at Home in Video Games.” I also covered the video game vending machines that defined a decade for VICE Games.

But I only care about peer-reviewed academic research on soda machines!

I’ve got you covered, pal. Check out my March 2020 article in Game Studies, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Nuka-Cola: The Purposes and Meanings of Video Game Soda Machines.”

I prefer my video game archival projects to be sorted thematically. Can you help with that?

You bet! From time to time, I dedicate an entire week to cataloging soda machines from video games that share a common theme. Check ’em out below…

I’m interested in your project, but I don’t like websites. Is there somewhere I can see these soda machines in person?

Surprisingly, yes! The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, debuted an exhibit showcasing screenshots from the Video Game Soda Machine Project in June 2019. The display is located, appropriately enough, next to the museum’s own collection of vending machines.

If a soda machine appeared in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, what brand of soda would it sell?

Thanks, Chris!

Do you own an actual real-life video game soda machine?

Yes, I do! Thanks for asking.

Are there other projects like this?

Weird collections of video game minutiae? Absolutely!

What if there was a video game about video game soda machines that also had soda machines in it?

There is! My awesome step-cousin-in-law Steve created Pop Quiz, a daily guessing game built around images from the VGSM Project archive. Each day’s image starts out heavily pixelated and becomes a little clearer with every guess. Your job is to figure out which game it came from.