The best nerdy things to do in Boston are the Museum of Science, with its indoor lightning show and the Charles Hayden Planetarium; the Phineas Gage skull at Harvard Medical School's Warren Anatomical Museum gallery; the walk-in Mapparium globe; the rare-book floor of the Brattle Book Shop; Comicopia in Kenmore Square; and an evening at Tavern of Tales, a board game cafe in Mission Hill. All of those are inside the City of Boston.
Several of the area's best-known geek stops, including the MIT Museum and Pandemonium Books & Games, are across the river in Cambridge, and a few more are in Somerville and Brookline. They are worth the T ride, so they are here too, in their own clearly labeled section. Everything was checked against official sites on October 1, 2026.
Nerdy Boston at a glance
| Place | Where | For |
|---|---|---|
| Museum of Science | West End, Boston | Planetarium, lightning show, dinosaurs |
| Warren Anatomical Museum gallery | Longwood, Boston | Medical history, Phineas Gage |
| Mapparium | Back Bay, Boston | Walk-in 1935 glass globe |
| Boston Public Library, Central Library | Back Bay, Boston | Maps, architecture, free |
| Brattle Book Shop | Downtown Crossing, Boston | Rare and used books |
| Comicopia | Kenmore Square, Boston | Comics and graphic novels |
| Newbury Comics | Back Bay and Faneuil Hall, Boston | Vinyl, manga, collectibles |
| Tavern of Tales | Mission Hill, Boston | Board game cafe |
| Museum of Illusions Boston | Downtown, Boston | Optical illusions |
| MIT Museum | Kendall Square, Cambridge (nearby) | Robots, AI, MIT history |
| Pandemonium Books & Games | Central Square, Cambridge (nearby) | Tabletop and RPGs |
| Knight Moves | Coolidge Corner, Brookline (nearby) | Board game cafe |
Science: the Museum of Science and its planetarium
The Museum of Science sits on the Charles River Dam at Science Park, across O'Brien Highway from the Green Line's Science Park station. The headline is the Theater of Electricity, where educators run the world's largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator and a pair of Tesla coils in the 20-minute Lightning! show, included with admission. Downstairs, Cliff is a 65-million-year-old Triceratops skeleton, one of the most complete of its kind.
The Charles Hayden Planetarium runs astronomy shows built with the museum's Center for Space Sciences, and on Friday and Saturday the planetarium and the Mugar Omni Theater run until 10 p.m., which makes them an adults' night out. Exhibit halls are $33 for adults; a planetarium show adds $6, or costs $10 on its own.
Oddities: Phineas Gage and the Mapparium
On the fifth floor of Harvard Medical School's Countway Library, at 10 Shattuck Street in the Longwood Medical Area, the Center for the History of Medicine gallery shows highlights from the Warren Anatomical Museum, including the skull of Phineas Gage and the iron rod that passed through it. Admission is free, but the public can visit only on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., and you need a government-issued photo ID at the security desk at the 695 Huntington Avenue entrance.
The Mapparium is a three-story stained-glass globe of the world as it was in 1935, seen from the inside, and it doubles as a whispering gallery: a whisper at one end carries to the other. It is part of the How Do You See the World? experience at 210 Massachusetts Avenue, with timed tickets at $6 for adults and free under 18.
Books and maps
The Boston Public Library's Central Library in Copley Square is free, and its Leventhal Map & Education Center gallery is the place for anyone who reads maps for fun; Bates Hall upstairs is the reading room people photograph. Downtown, the Brattle Book Shop traces its roots to 1825 and fills three floors on West Street with more than 250,000 books, maps and prints; the third floor is the rare book room, and the outdoor lot beside it is lined with shelves for open-air browsing.
Comics, records and collectibles
Comicopia in Kenmore Square, near Fenway Park, has sold comics in Boston since 1989, from superhero titles to manga and young-adult graphic novels, and is open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Newbury Comics on Newbury Street draws record collectors with exclusive color vinyl, but it keeps comics, manga and pop-culture collectibles on its shelves too, and has a second Boston store at Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
Games and interactive exhibits
Tavern of Tales at 1478 Tremont Street in Mission Hill is a board game cafe and bar with a free shelf of curated games, open from 3 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends; from Friday to Sunday, and whenever it is near capacity, tables have a 90-minute limit. Downtown, the Museum of Illusions Boston at 200 State Street is a short stop of perspective rooms and optical tricks, with a Halloween program running from October 2 to 31, 2026.
Conventions: PAX East and Fan Expo
Boston's big fan conventions use the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center at 415 Summer Street in the Seaport. PAX East, the gaming expo, returns April 22 to 25, 2027. Fan Expo Boston, the comics and pop-culture show, was held there August 7 to 9 in 2026.
Nearby, but not in Boston
These are outside the city limits, a short T ride away, and are labeled with their real towns.
- MIT Museum, Cambridge. Robotics, AI and MIT's own inventions at 314 Main Street, next to Kendall/MIT on the Red Line. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; adults $20.
- Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge. The Glass Flowers gallery and the natural history halls at 26 Oxford Street, near Harvard Square; adults $20 since July 1, 2026, and the ticket also admits you to the connected Peabody Museum.
- Pandemonium Books & Games, Cambridge. Board games, role-playing games, miniatures and a deep sci-fi and fantasy book section at 4 Pleasant Street in Central Square, with weekly game events.
- Roxy's Arcade, Cambridge. A retro arcade bar behind Roxy's Grilled Cheese at 292 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. Its old Allston location closed in 2024.
- Hub Comics, Somerville. At 19 Bow Street in Union Square, which is in Somerville, not Boston.
- Knight Moves, Brookline. A board game cafe at 1402 Beacon Street in Coolidge Corner, with hundreds of games and a game fee of $10 per person on weekdays and $15 on weekends.
Planning a Cambridge afternoon around the MIT Museum? Our Cambridge day trip guide covers the Red Line route and Harvard Square. For more offbeat stops in the city itself, see unique things to do in Boston, and for history buffs, our guide to historical things to do in Boston starts with the 2.5-mile Freedom Trail.