Curious coincidences catch the eye, and one unusual historical pattern got my attention while editing labels for the 2025 inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame. I learned that Scott Abbott was the co-creator of Trivial Pursuit, and it struck me as interesting because it seems that people named Abbott have been surprisingly important as creators of card and board games.
Anne Abbott
I first began thinking about Abbotts and game making many years ago when I learned that Anne Abbott […]
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Visiting the Magic Kingdom on my Family’s Computer—Lines Included
It’s always interesting to tumble down a rabbit hole while learning the history of a video game you enjoyed growing up. I did this previously with Myst, so this time I wanted to investigate another game that brings me great nostalgia: Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK). This video game was a browser-based Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) that existed for only three years. Yet while searching through articles, podcasts, and fan recreations, I learned that the history of VMK stretches […]
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Celebrating 50 Years: “Let’s Play the Feud”
By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
Fifty years ago this month, in July 1976, one of the most successful game shows in America made its debut. Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, the ABC television network, and host Richard Dawson all declared, “Let’s play the Feud!”
Family Feud came to life thanks to the success of another game show. Goodson-Todman’s Match Game on CBS was the most popular show on daytime TV in the mid-1970s. One round of […]
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Designing for Productive Failure: What Play Materials Reveal about How Children Persist
By: Joshita Manohar, 2026 Strong Research Fellow
A child picks up a puzzle piece, turns it once, then twice, and presses it into place. It does not fit. They pause. Try again. This time, they push a little harder, then pull it back out. For a moment, nothing happens. The piece stays where it is, slightly misaligned, waiting. On a tablet, the same moment might unfold differently. The piece snaps into place or it refuses to move at all.
These small differences […]
I Hate Mondays: Exploring the Garfield Franchise
It’s 1995. I’m 4 years old, in my pajamas, planted in front of my television. In the VCR is a VHS tape with a recording of the 1987 A Garfield Christmas special. A Garfield stuffed animal (also in his pajamas) is within reach. Cut to a Sunday morning with my grandmother. At the kitchen table, she sits with her instant coffee reading the “funnies.” Populating the newspaper page are the likes of Cathy, Dilbert, Peanuts and, of course, Garfield. It’s […]
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Tabletop Role-playing Games as Identity Creation Tools
By: Johnathen Rockwell, 2026 Valentine-Cosman Research Fellow
For more than 50 years, players young and old have experienced tabletop role-playing games: rolling dice, eating snacks, and creating stories. Despite their longevity and contemporary boom in popularity, tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) possess little associated scholarship, especially scholarship that addresses their unique culture and material legacies. By examining the interplay and correspondence between players and designers, and the game systems themselves, my work asks the question: Do tabletop role-playing games serve as a […]
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What’s in a Conservator’s Toolkit?
I’m always surprised that more people don’t ask “What’s in a Conservator’s Toolkit?” because we usually have some rare and very cool favorite tools at our disposal for various tasks. Not your typical screwdriver, hammer, tape measurer stuff, I’m talking about tools you really wouldn’t find universally or at your local hardware store. What’s even more interesting is that each conservator’s favorites will be vastly different depending on the individual. So, I’m lifting the veil on my top five favorite […]
Collecting “Peanuts” Playthings
In the fall of 1950, Charles Schultz’s first Peanuts comic strip ran in the daily newspapers. The comic centered on the disenchanted figure of Charlie Brown and a cast of characters with realistic faults and deep observations about daily life. Schultz introduced Charlie Brown’s dog, Snoopy, in the third comic strip. Snoopy first won my heart during a meet and greet at Knott’s Berry Farm in California. I was four years old. Now, a few decades later, I understand how […]
Let’s Play Museum: Museums in Video Games
A museum about play tends to attract employees who love to play, and that leads to office conversations about toys we’ve seen recently, how our new hobbies are going and, of course, what video games we’re playing. Recently, some colleagues and I were chatting about what we would be playing when we got home and I, realizing how I was about to sound, answered Two Point Museum. I could see in their eyes a lack of recognition and dug my […]
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