The Adventures of Benjamin Franklin

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To coincide with the new special exhibition Game Masters, The Franklin Institute has launched "The Adventures of Benjamin Franklin," a custom-developed retro 8-bit-style game in which Ben Franklin races to collect lightning, climb Independence Hall, and more. The game was designed by the in-house digital team at The Franklin Institute GameMaker Studio 2. The main character of the game is 8-Bit Ben, a pixelated Benjamin Franklin who navigates various worlds, collecting keys and lightning while avoiding pitfalls like rats and spikes. 

Game Masters: The Exhibition completed its run at The Franklin Institute. Discounts to the exhibition earned through the game are no longer applicable.  

Benjamin Franklin: Scientist, Inventor, Statesman, Writer …Composer?

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Sheet music by Benjamin Franklin has been converted to MusicXML format and arranged for 8-bit style synth instruments.
Sheet music by Benjamin Franklin has been converted to MusicXML format and arranged for 8-bit style synth instruments.

In addition to a drinking song written in his youth, Franklin is believed by many to have composed a string quartet around 1778 while living in Paris. After its publication, the composition was lost to history until the 1940s, when a French musicologist discovered a manuscript of it at the Conservatoire de Paris. It had languished in a box of unrecorded documents until Guillaume de Van found it while classifying historical items.

Find out more about the the many musical talents of Benjamin Franklin

More Ben Franklin Stories:
The True Story of the Kite and Key Experiment
Benjamin Franklin, The Original Hipster
7 Things Benjamin Franklin Never Said