Ever since they started appearing in kids’ lives in the 1970s, video games have caused controversy. Many grownups fret that video games keep kids glued to the screen instead of setting up a board game, heading outside to play ball, or engaging in other forms of more traditional play (click here for a great demonstration of this view). It’s true that children are spending more time playing video games. A recent study from the Pew Foundation, for example, documents that both boys and girls are spending a lot of time playing video games.

While there’s been plenty written about the benefits and drawbacks of video games, what I’ve been more interested in lately is spotting continuities in how people play with non-electronic and electronic toys and games. Sometimes, such as when we play solitaire, the play is quite literally the same on a PC as it is with a deck of cards. But what I find more interesting are times when the games are not the same, but the play essentially is.

Consider doll play. Strong National Museum of Play has an amazing collection of dolls and doll houses. Victorian dollhouses are marvels of miniature elegance, decorated with wallpaper, chandeliers, furniture, and the bric-a-brac and knick-knacks so loved during that era. For much of American history, dolls and dollhouses were many girls’ favorite playthings. Yet today, far fewer girls play with dolls, or at least they stop playing with them sooner. The average age when girls stop playing with Barbie, for example, has declined from 11 to 6 according to Playthings magazine. And yet, when we look closer at how children are playing we see that despite declines in doll sales, girls are still very interested in doll play. What is the most popular computer game for girls? The Sims!  This game, the best selling PC game of all time, lets players control the lives of their characters, design their houses, and pick their clothes. Doll play hasn’t died, it’s just going digital. (Or in the case of WebKinz exists physically and digitally simultaneously.)

The same is true of other types of play. Kids love to dress up and role play. When one of my sons picks up a plastic sword, he’s transformed into a MIGHTY WARRIOR, ready to vanquish all monsters. Hmmm, sounds a lot like World of Warcraft, Runescape, Fable, or any of the other popular computer role playing games. Other types of play also carry over from the physical to the digital world. Ever played Connect 4? Then you might enjoy Bejeweled. Have a passion for setting up toy soldiers? Try Age of Empires. Like playing baseball? Take a swing at Wii Sports. 

Toy industry analysts often lament that kids are “getting older younger,” that they’re not playing with traditional toys for as long as they used to. But when we look at it from a play angle rather than a toy angle, that’s not what’s going on. In fact, it’s the exact opposite! People are playing longer into their adulthoods, often in exactly the same ways they’ve always played. Doll play, role play, ball play, puzzle play—they’re all alive and well…in digital form!  

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Feeling nostalgic for your old Barbie dolls? Well, 2009 is the year for you because Barbie is turning 50!  Barbie sure doesn’t show her age (we should all be so lucky), even though she’ll be old enough to qualify for an AARP card. And Barbie certainly hasn’t lost her taste for fun over the years. There’ll be Barbie fashions and Barbie reissues in 2009, just for a start.  And, of course, Strong National Museum of Play is planning an exhibit and celebratory programming in her honor.  After all, what’s a milestone birthday without making the occasion special?

But we need some help in setting the stage for Barbie’s party. As I was surveying the Barbie collection today in preparation for the exhibit, I noticed that the museum is lacking certain Barbie items. While we have a fantastic collection of  dolls, we’re in need of Barbie play sets and other accessories. Some of the ones we would be interested in adding to our collection include the Barbie and Ken Little Theater (1964), the Barbie Fashion Plaza (1976-1977), and the Barbie Surprise House (1974). I’m also eager to assemble examples of Barbie toys from other product lines, such as Shrinky Dinks, Colorforms, paper dolls, Barbie board games, and the Barbie Perfume maker—a personal childhood favorite of mine!

So check in the basement, look under your bed,  or dig in those closets and see if there’s Barbie gear that’s just waiting for its moment in the spotlight.  If you’re willing to donate, sell, or loan the museum your Barbie accessories for this exhibit, we’d love to hear from you.  Feel free to contact the museum by email or by phone at 585-263-2700 to tell us what you’ve got. We really want to showcase Barbie’s 50 year history in 2009, and we’d appreciate your help!

Growing up in the late ’70s and early ’80s, “visions of sugarplums” never danced in my head and my dream of the perfect holiday gift never included a Red Ryder BB gun. What I really wanted to find under the tree was the latest video game.  The eagerly anticipated holiday wish books sent by Sears and JCPenney offered page after page of electronic games for my friends and me to consider, and the ones we coveted most were the video games for the Atari 2600 and the Mattel Intellivision. We’d gather on the living room floor and carefully examine the pages as we waited patiently—or not so patiently—for our turn to play Space Invaders.

My best friend Brian had an Atari game system and a slew of games to go with it. There were the classics, games like Combat and Adventure, but our favorite had to be the copy of the side-scrolling platform game Pitfall! he received for the holidays. If only I had a dollar for every hour we spent swinging from vines, jumping over crocodiles, and exploring the virtual jungle!

A feeling of nostalgia crept in on me when the Atari 2600 was inducted into the museum’s National Toy Hall of Fame in 2007. Check out the Atari 2600 (and the other classic toys) on the National Toy Hall of Fame website and see if the same sensation strikes you.  

Unlike the majority of my friends who owned an Atari, I was lucky enough to receive a Mattel Intellivision, the video game system that topped my Christmas list in 1980. And what a system it was…

The graphics and gameplay were so much better than on the Atari—or at least I thought so—and the sports games like Major League Baseball were clearly superior. Some of my favorites were the action/adventure game Advanced Dungeons &  Dragons and the strategy game Utopia. Friends in the neighborhood and I spent hours lying on the red shag carpet in my living room slaying dragons and building the perfect pixilated society.

Video gaming at home and in the arcades was an important part of play during my childhood—not quite as important as playing baseball in my backyard—but certainly a close second. As I grew older, my parents taught me that the holidays were about reflection and giving to others. So now, as a parent, it’s my turn to look for that perfect gift for my children. And it should come as no surprise that a video game tops my daughter’s holiday wish list.

Was there an electronic game that topped your own holiday wish list? We’d love to hear your earliest video game memories—or those of your children and grandchildren.  What was your favorite video game system?  Which games captured your imagination? I don’t know about you, but around my house I’m guessing that the playlist of seasonal tunes this year might as well include “Joystick to the World” and “Wii Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Now that Election Day has come and gone, it’s time to think about the fun side of politics. Yes, there is a fun side to politics, at least when you look at the dozens of politically-themed games in the collection here at Strong National Museum of Play. Throughout American history, games of all sorts have often reflected current politics and events on the national scene.

Beginning with mass-produced games in the late 19th century, card games and board games appeared that take patriotism and the presidency as their topics. Some taught facts about history while others were merely entertaining. Others were−and still are−funny. A rare and beautiful printed cloth “pin the tail” game, dated 1890, shows the G.O.P. elephant, upon which players pin bags of peanuts instead of traditional tails. It’s “Pin the Peanuts on the Pachyderm!”

In the 20th century, games continued to be humorous. This incredibly wacky Nixon ring toss game appeared in 1968, printed on very thin plywood so it could be punched out and assembled. Think Nixon’s nose would make an easy target?

A more serious game, Glasnost, appeared in 1989 and advertised itself as “The game of Soviet-American peace and diplomacy.” More and more, contemporary games began to reflect very specific events and people in the political sphere.

The game Reaganomics of course represented President Reagan’s economic policies during the 1980s, and their impact for better or worse. And 1995’s Clintonopoly played up President Clinton’s damaging connection to the Whitewater real estate controversy.

These political games may not be as popular as SCRABBLE and Monopoly, but they offer glimpses into the political climate of their times. Do you have any games that reveal any of your personal traits, public alliances, or political passions?

What’s that scuttling across the floor? A horseshoe crab? A Roomba vacuum cleaner? No, it’s Odd Ogg, a nifty interactive toy from 1962. If you’re feeling formal, you might want to call him Mr. Ogg, since that’s how the folks at Ideal referred to him when the company introduced the rolling green plastic toy with his beady pink eyes and gaping mouth. While Odd Ogg wouldn’t win any beauty pageants, his interactive responses (powered by two D batteries) were pretty impressive for his time.  

So how does he work? Rolling one of the set’s five balls directly under Odd Ogg’s eyes trips a level that triggers him to move toward you while emitting a happy-frog croak. If your aim isn’t quite centered, he scurries away, opening his mouth to issue an indignant raspberry. If your aim is so accurate that Odd Ogg comes to you before you roll all the balls, you win! Or, you could start a competition by challenging friends to move Odd Ogg forward using the fewest number of balls.

Compared to today’s interactive toys with their giggles, songs, and eerily lifelike movements, Odd Ogg’s simple motions and sounds seem charmingly quaint. But, back in the early 1960s, Odd Ogg was appealingly new. Many adults of today remember playing with the floor figure as kids and readily recall the catchy TV jingle: “Odd Ogg, Odd Ogg, Half turtle and half frog.”

Some—including a writer for USA Today—admit that his Odd Ogg terrified him. Others remember Ogg as their all-time favorite toy. How could such a simple toy generate such strong reactions? Unlike many toys of today, Ogg had no backstory, no TV show or movie to give him recognition and personality. He just appeared in a home, usually on Christmas morning, and was ready to play. Ogg had no wind-up key, no switch to turn on. You just rolled a ball at him, and he MOVED. Because Ogg’s batteries, gears, and moving parts were hidden, he appeared to glide toward you as if by magic. And that, oddly enough, was the secret to his appeal.

If you remember Odd Ogg, or only wish you did, join our Odd Ogg blog. Add a comment and let me know if you loved Odd Ogg, found him scary, or just used him to startle the cat.

The number one question around my school as Halloween approached was always, “What are you going to be this year?” Your Halloween costume–and your one-night-only alternate identity–was something to be weighed carefully and debated seriously with your friends. But, for Halloween night itself, an equally important question to ponder was, “How are you going to collect your candy and haul it safely home?”

Through the years, trick-or-treaters have used various sorts of bags and buckets to gather their goodies door-to-door. The fabric bags from the 1950s seem suitably durable, but look on the small side to me. For my own trick-or-treating in the 1960s, I favored printed paper Halloween bags with loop handles–like a department store shopping bag and almost as spacious. However, if you let the bottom of your bag drag along the dew-covered grass or snag on a shrub, you could wind up with a tragic fallout problem as the bottom of the bag gave way.

Now, as I answer the door on Halloween, the youngest kids typically carry the smallest containers–pumpkin-shaped plastic buckets that have awkwardly tiny openings for big adult hands dispensing candy. At the other extreme are the sheepish-looking high school kids with supermarket shopping bags or pillowcases–big enough for the most ambitious route through the neighborhood.

Whatever your choice of receptacle, here’s wishing you a Happy Halloween. And, if you’re going through the closet or the basement for Halloween gear and you run into an old UNICEF collection box, I’d love to add it to the museum’s collection–my own version of a Halloween treat.

For the history of trick-or-treating for UNICEF: http://www.unicef.ca/portal/SmartDefault.aspx?at=2048

Trick-or-treat for UNICEF in 2008: http://fieldnotes.unicefusa.org/2008/10/make_halloween_count_1.html