Museum News
June 2019
Lual Mayen (center), South Sudanese game developer and founder of Junub Games, shares his story with The Strong's staff about of growing up in a refugee camp and self-teaching himself to make video games.
The Original Mobile Games, a free minigame collection developed jointly by The Strong museum, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and Second Avenue Learning, earns a silver medal at the International Serious Play Awards.
Eva Nwokah, recipient of the G. Rollie Adams Research Fellowship and professor at Our Lady of the Lake University, visits The Strong to examine how authors use words and images to create meaning for children.
Aria Halliday, fellowship recipient and assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire, visits The Strong to explore the contributions of black women to popular culture.
Fellowship recipient Peter Licari, PhD candidate at the University of Florida, visits The Strong to research the influence of video games on political attitudes.
May 2019
The World Video Game Hall of Fame names the inductees for 2019: Colossal Cave Adventure, Microsoft Solitaire, Mortal Kombat, and Super Mario Kart.
April 2019
Lella Gandini (center), the United States Liaison for the Dissemination of the Reggio Emilia Approach, visits the museum with her husband, Lester Little (second from left). Pictured here with The Strong’s Steve Dubnik, Debbie McCoy, Andrew Grossman, Laurie Phelps, and Lisa Feinstein.
A recent episode of Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum filmed at The Strong features Vice President for Collections Chris Bensch and the origin story of the Edison Talking Doll.
March 2019
Nancy Silberkleit (second from left), co-CEO of Archie Comic Publications, tours The Strong's collections with musem staff.
The Strong’s World Video Game Hall of Fame names the 12 finalists for 2019: Candy Crush, Centipede, Colossal Cave Adventure, Dance Dance Revolution, Half-Life, Microsoft Windows Solitaire, Mortal Kombat, Myst, NBA 2K, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Super Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
February 2019
Ed Fries (third from left), one of the creators of the Microsoft Xbox, and his son, Xander (second from right), tour The Strong's video game collections with musuem staff.
January 2019
Fellowship recipient Marina Fontolan from the University of Campinas, Brazil, visits The Strong to study the history of the United States video game industry.
Aaron Newman, a member of The Strong’s Board of Trustees, donates $100,000 to further the growth of the museum’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
December 2018
The Strong announces the 20 for 20 Book Challenge in honor of the 20th anniversary of the museum's Grada Hopeman Gelser Library.
Mommy Nearest names The Strong one of the top 20 best family museums in the United States.
Museum leaders from Slovenia visit The Strong to benchmark best practices in strategic planning, fundraising, and exhibit development.
Artemio Abrego, collector and owner of one of the largest toy collections in Latin America, visits The Strong from Monterey, Mexico. Pictured here with The Strong’s Chris Bensch (second from left), project manager Roberto Romero, and chairman Alfonso Garcia.
The Strong selects Partners + Napier as its agency of record to support the museum’s creative and strategic media planning and buying goals.
November 2018
Democrat and Chronicle readers name The Strong museum the gold standard for indoor amusement in Rochester.
The National Toy Hall of Fame names the inductees for 2018: Uno, pinball, and Magic 8 Ball.
October 2018
City Newspaper readers name The Strong museum Rochester's best local family-friendly attraction.
September 2018
Curator Shannon Symonds moderates a panel discussion with video game and musical professionals after the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert.
The Strong receives a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support the documentation, preservation, and accessibility of the museum's 30,000-volume collection of toy trade catalogs.
The Strong’s National Toy Hall of Fame names the 12 finalists for 2018: American Girl dolls, chalk, Chutes & Ladders, Fisher-Price Corn Popper, Magic 8 Ball, Masters of the Universe, pinball, sled, tic-tac-toe, Tickle Me Elmo, Tudor Electric Football, and Uno.
August 2018
M&T Charitable Foundation presents The Strong with a $250,000 donation towards the museum’s Powered by Play comprehensive campaign.
Sam Dicker, former programmer at Williams Electronics, donates a collection of archival materials related to the arcade game Defender to The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play. Pictured here with his wife, Baunnie Dicker, and The Strong’s Jeremy Saucier (right).
The Strong announces collection from video game developer Wargaming, maker of World of Tanks, and the launch of an online exhibit through Google Arts and Culture.
July 2018
Oyster names The Strong the best children's museum in the world.
Dave Long, inventor of the Scene It? DVD game series, tours The Strong’s video games collection. Pictured here with The Strong’s Jon-Paul Dyson (left).
The Association of Games and Puzzles International awards The Strong its Outstanding Achievement Award for the museum's work in game and puzzle preservation. Steve Dubnik, The Strong's president and CEO, accepts the award (center, right). Photo credit Rick Tucker.
Members of the Association of Game and Puzzle Collectors visit The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play and view the museum’s world-class game and puzzle collections.
High school students from the Rochester Institute of Technology Liberty Partnership tour The Strong’s collections to learn about the museum’s video game preservation efforts.
June 2018
KidsOutandAbout.com readers vote The Strong museum the Top Place to Take Kids in the Rochester area for the 14th year in a row.
Fellowship recipient Natalie Underberg-Goode from the University of Central Florida conducts research in The Strong's archives for her video game history textbook, The Evolution of Video Games.
Adam Smith (left), executive director of the planned Comic-Con Center for Popular Culture in San Diego, tours The Strong with Jon-Paul Dyson.
Jeremy Saucier, The Strong's assistant vice president for interpretation and electronic games, speaks as part of a panel at the New York Cultural Heritage Tourism Network's eighth annual spring conference at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
May 2018
The Strong acquires a collection of tens of thousands of pages of archival materials documenting the history of three of the most important American coin-operated game and pinball machine manufacturers of the 20th century—Bally, Williams, and Midway.
The Strong hosts a Kids' Race at the professional-level Rochester Twilight Criterium cycling race.
Rae Proefrock (second from right), director of the Herschell Carousel Factory Museum, and her husband, Chuck, present The Strong with a Certificate of Appreciation for its continued care of the 100-year-old Elaine Wilson Carousel.
Nearly 50 educators attend The Strong’s “Reclaiming Joy through Song, Movement, and Stories” annual education conference, featuring authors and educators Steven Levy and Anna Rainville. Both pictured here with Debbie McCoy (center), The Strong’s assistant vice president for education.
April 2018
The World Video Game Hall of Fame names the inductees for 2018: Final Fantasy VII, John Madden Football, Spacewar!, and Tomb Raider.
Judd Ruggill and Ken McAllister (middle), directors of the Learning Games Initiative at the University of Arizona, visit The Strong to conduct research for a book about video game preservation. Pictured here with the museum's Jeremy Saucier (left) and Jon-Paul Dyson (right).
The Strong's Steve Dubnik, Chris Bensch, and Nic Ricketts accept a donation of the Lost and Found game during its launch party at Rochester Institute of Technology.
The National Endowment for the Humanities awards The Strong a $75,000 planning grant for exhibits that explore the history and importance of electronic games.
The Strong welcomes nearly 200 members of the Museum Association of New York for a "Night of Play."
Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games, speaks about the importance of video games to the community at Digital Rochester's "Level Up: Get in the Game Rochester" event.
March 2018
The Strong’s World Video Game Hall of Fame names the 12 finalists for 2018: Asteroids, Call of Duty, Dance Dance Revolution, Final Fantasy VII, Half-Life, John Madden Football, King’s Quest, Metroid, Minecraft, Ms. Pac-Man, Spacewar!, and Tomb Raider.
The Strong receives a donation of thousands of artifacts, including first-edition strategy and simulation games, wargames, and role-playing games that explore a pivotal time in game development before the computer age.
Members of The Strong's team participate in the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
February 2018
Members of The Strong staff attend the D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit in Las Vegas.
Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo announces plans for The Strong to create play zones at the Greater Rochester International Airport centered on the museum's National Toy Hall of Fame and the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
The New York State Council on the Arts awards The Strong a $141,000 grant over three years for general operating support. (The Strong's programming is made possible, in part, by NYSCA with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.)
January 2018
The Guide to Making Public History, part of Rowman & Littlefield's American Association for State and Local History book series edited by Bob Beatty, examines The Strong's transformation into the only collections-based museum in the world dedicated to the study of play.
Fellowship recipient Dany Guay-Belanger from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, visits The Strong to inform a project aimed at developing a methodology for studying older video games.
December 2017
Tim Walsh—game inventor, author, and member of the National Toy Hall of Fame’s National Selection Advisory Committee—tours The Strong’s collections and archives. Pictured here with staff from the museum’s library and some of his materials, including his book Timeless Toys.
November 2017
Democrat and Chronicle readers name The Strong museum Rochester’s Choice for best museum for the 16th consecutive year.
Prominent historian and Harvard University Professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (middle left) and Joan Rubin, professor at the University of Rochester, visit The Strong to explore the museum's collection of play-related artifacts. Pictured here with The Strong's Jeremy Saucier (left) and Jon-Paul Dyson.
The National Toy Hall of Fame names the inductees for 2017: paper airplane, Wiffle Ball, and Clue.
October 2017
City Newspaper readers again name The Strong museum Rochester's best family-friendly attraction.
Julia Novakovic, archivist for The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, speaks about the museum’s video game and board game archival holdings at the annual Rochester Archives Fair.
Fellowship recipient Danielle Almeida, professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, visits The Strong to examine the role of toys in cultural identity.
More than 650 guests, along with honorary co-chairs the Constanza Family and sponsors, raise more than $285,000 at the Play Ball fundraising gala in support of The Strong’s educational mission and outreach programs.
Students in the "History of Video Games" class at Catawba College in North Carolina visit The Strong's Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play to research topics about electronic games.
Paul Dillenberger (right), co-creator of the original 1971 version of The Oregon Trail, tours The Strong’s electronic games collections. Pictured here with Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
The Strong, in partnership with Visit Rochester and Brand USA, welcomes a delegation of German tour operators as part of a Wine, Water, and Wonders Upstate New York familiarization tour.
September 2017
Filmmaker Cailleah Scott-Grimes tours The Strong's collections and learns about the museum's Women in Games initiative before presenting her documentary "She Got Game" at Rochester Institute of Technology.
The Strong, in partnership with I Love New York, hosts travel trade buyers who bring tour groups from China to Canada and the United States.
The National Toy Hall of Fame names the 12 toy finalists for 2017: Clue, Magic 8 Ball, Matchbox Cars, My Little Pony, paper airplane, PEZ Candy Dispenser, play food, Risk, sand, Transformers, Uno, and Wiffle Ball.
The Strong's Woodbury School—now in its 12th year—welcomes students for the 2017–18 school year.
Fellowship recipient Matt Knutson, PhD candidate at the University of California-Irvine, explores the pre-history of the modern e-sports culture.
August 2017
University of Rochester students volunteer in The Strong's outdoor gardens as part of Wilson Day 2017, a day of community service.
The Strong hosts nearly 100 video game scholars from around the world for the Replaying Japan Conference in partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Alberta, and Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.
Video Game Design History, an online course developed by The Strong's Jon-Paul Dyson and Rochester Institute of Technology's Steve Jacobs, was named a finalist for the 2017 edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions in Online Teaching and Learning.
Bill Cullen, product manager at Sphero, takes a turn at the Sphero Robot Park in the Have a Ball exhibit. Pictured here with The Strong’s Jeremy Saucier (left) and Elliott Drury (right).
Craig Hagen, senior director of global government affairs at Electronic Arts (second from left), and author Michael Kaufman (far right) tour the museum’s electronic games collection, research archives, and interactive exhibits. Pictured with The Strong’s Shannon Symonds, Steve Dubnik, and Jeremy Saucier.
July 2017
The Strong welcome local and state legislators for a museum tour. From right to left Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello, New York State Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and his daughter Taylor, The Strong’s President and CEO Steve Dubnik, New York State Assembly Member Harry Bronson, New York State Assembly Special Assistant Marcus Salgado and his son Jayden, Jack O’Donnell from Bolton St. Johns, and The Strong’s Vice President for Collections Chris Bensch.
Readers of the Rochester Business Journal and Daily Record name The Strong the number one cultural attraction.
Empire State Development’s Nikita Hardy, Patricia Bayley, and Yoni Bosker tour The Strong with Vice President for Exhibits and ICHEG Director Jon-Paul C. Dyson (left).
Collectors Bradley Mariska, Philip Gonzales, and Jeremy Gloff donate a rare Berenstain Bears activity book to The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives.
Nearly 50 journalists from around the country visit The Strong as part of the Macaroni Kids Silver Daisy Boondoggle tour of Rochester.
Carol Shaw, the first widely recognized female game designer and creator of the best-selling River Raid (1982), donates a collection of source code, design documents, and console games to The Strong.
Fellowship recipient James Newman from Bath Spa University in England examines the localization and international reception of 1980s and 90s console video games.
The Strong hosts the first of three statewide Erie Canal Bicentennial Forums. Pictured here are The Strong’s President and CEO Steve Dubnik (right) and New York State Canal Corporation Director Brian Stratton.
Fellowship recipient Susan Asbury, PhD candidate at Penn State University, visits The Strong to examine its early board game collections and explore the role of board games in shaping American home life.
June 2017
KidsOutandAbout.com readers vote The Strong museum the Top Place to Take Kids in the Rochester area for the 13th year in a row.
Sarah Bell, fellowship recipient and assistant professor at Michigan Technological University, visits The Strong to examine how the Texas Instruments Speak & Spell made speech synthesis a sought out feature in toys and games.
Fellowship recipient Amy Ansong, PhD candidate at George Mason University, researches The Strong’s collection of 21st-century STEM-based toys and their impact on girls’ play.
May 2017
Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games, discusses video game preservation via Skype with the attendees of the Continue: 2017 Conference at the National Videogame Arcade in Nottingham, England.
The Strong recognizes 12 volunteers for nearly 1,400 hours of dedicated service in 2016.
Staff from Michigan State University Libraries tour The Strong to learn more about the museum’s video game collecting and preservation efforts. Pictured here with The Strong’s Jeremy Saucier (left) and Shannon Symonds (right).
The Strong hosts the New York State Game Dev Challenge inaugural award ceremony.
The World Video Game Hall of Fame names the inductees for 2017: Donkey Kong, Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokémon Red and Green, and Street Fighter II.
The Rochester Regional Library Council awards The Strong’s libraries an honorable mention in its 2017 Library of the Year contest.
April 2017
The Strong’s Scott Eberle, vice president for play studies, and Jon-Paul Dyson, vice president for exhibits and director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, speak about careers in the field of history with students at the University of Buffalo.
Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games, speaks about the state of the video game industry and the importance of preserving its history at the University of Rochester’s “Breaking Boundaries with Video Games” conference.
USA Today readers name The Strong one of the top museums for families in the nation and the top museum in the northeast.
The Strong welcomes nearly 600 students from 13 area high schools to the 27th Annual Advanced Placement American History Conference
March 2017
The Strong’s World Video Game Hall of Fame names the 12 finalists for 2017: Donkey Kong, Final Fantasy VII, Halo: Combat Evolved, Microsoft Windows Solitaire, Mortal Kombat, Myst, Pokemon Red and Green, Portal, Resident Evil, Street Fighter II, Tomb Raider, and Wii Sports.
Five toy robot artifacts from The Strong’s collections, on loan to the Doheny Memorial Library at the University of Southern California, are featured in an exhibit entitled Uncanny Valleys: Thinking and Feeling in the Age of Synthetic Humans, which runs through July 28, 2017.
The 20-foot, interactive bubble tower in The Strong's Toy Halls of Fame exhibit wins gold at the 2016 New York Design Awards. The bubble tower was created by Unified Field in consultation with the museum's exhibit designers.
February 2017
The Strong launches the Women in Games initiative to document and celebrate the crucial contributions of women to the development of electronic games, past and present.
Fellowship recipient Katriina Heljakka, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turka in Finland, visits The Strong to explore how toys intrigue players in universal, historical, and sustainable terms.
The Strong renames its atrium the G. Rollie Adams Atrium in honor of its recently retired president and CEO.
The Strong names Carla Fisher, director of product innovation, kids and family, at Netflix, to its Board of Trustees.
The Strong names Martin Jarzebowski, vice president and portfolio manager at Federated Investors, to its Board of Trustees.
Brookhaven National Laboratory loans a re-creation of Tennis for Two—created in 1958 by William Higinbotham and one of the first video games the general public could play—to The Strong for display in its eGameRevolution exhibit.
January 2017
The Strong establishes the G. Rollie Adams Research Fellowships in honor of its former president and CEO and editor-in-chief of its American Journal of Play, who retired from the museum in December.
The Strong welcomes Steve Dubnik, entrepreneur and 16-year veteran of its Board of Trustees, as its new president and CEO.
December 2016
G. Rollie Adams retires as president and CEO of The Strong after nearly 30 years of service that oversaw sustained and exponential growth of the museum's programs, attendance, and physical footprint.
Representatives from LCL Travel Pack of Boston tour The Strong with Chinese journalists in an effort to generate more leisure travel to Western New York from China.
A recent episode of Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum filmed at The Strong features Vice President for Collections Chris Bensch and the origin story of the Pet Rock.
November 2016
Democrat and Chronicle readers name The Strong museum Rochester’s Choice for best museum for the 15th consecutive year.
Museum guests create and color more than 100 postcards in support of The Strong’s Thank-a-Donor Day. Postcards will be mailed to The Strong’s donors to acknowledge their generous support of the museum.
The National Toy Hall of Fame names the inductees for 2016: swing, Dungeons & Dragons, and Fisher-Price Little People.
The Strong names Erika Duthiers, assistant vice president for compliance and ethics and deputy general counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs at Rochester Institute of Technology, to its Board of Trustees.
The Handbook of the Study of Play, co-published by The Strong and co-edited by the museum’s Scott Eberle, is extolled in the latest International Journal of Play.
October 2016
City Newspaper readers again name The Strong museum Rochester’s best family-friendly attraction.
The Strong loans a selection of 19th- and 20th-century dollhouses to the Concord Museum in Massachusetts for display in its The Art and Mystery of the Dollhouse exhibition.
Rochester & Genesee Valley Parent magazine readers name The Strong their "Family Favorite Local Area Museum" and top "Place to go on a Play Date."
September 2016
The Strong receives a Museums of America grant of nearly $150,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support the creation of an exhibit titled Pretend Playscape: Building Strong Minds.
The National Toy Hall of Fame names the 12 toy finalists for 2016: bubble wrap, Care Bears, Clue, coloring books, Dungeons & Dragons, Fisher-Price Little People, Nerf, pinball, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, swing, Transformers, and Uno.
Fellowship Elizabeth Badger, PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota, visits The Strong to research the origins of the “male-dominated” video game industry and culture.
Lauren DeLaCruz, fellowship recipient and PhD candidate at Northwestern University, explores The Strong’s archives to examine the ways that children’s toys share cultural ideas, values, and beliefs about gender.
August 2016
Fellowship recipient Angela Cope from York University in Toronto visits The Strong to examine the rise of plastics use in children’s toys from 1945 to 1970.
Rochester Arc & Flame Center donates to The Strong a sculpture of play blocks created during a summer program aimed at teaching Rochester City School District students welding and life skills.
Fellowship recipient James Fleury from the University of California at Los Angeles explores The Strong’s electronic games archives to examine the history of video game licensing and development.
Carla Fisher, director of product innovation, kids and family, at Netflix, tours The Strong’s electronic games collections and archives with the museum’s Jon-Paul Dyson (right) and Jeremy Saucier.
Fellowship recipient Chris Hanson, assistant professor at Syracuse University, explores The Strong’s collection of materials from game designer Roberta Williams to understand her influence on video game technology and the game-play experience.
July 2016
Fellowship recipient Siobhan Carroll, assistant professor at the University of Delaware, explores how 19th-century playthings shaped Victorian novels.
Fellowship recipient Benjamin Hoy, assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan, investigates the depiction of Native Americans and their indigenous identity over time in board games.
The Strong welcomes teachers from across the country as part of The Rochester Reform Trail, a two-week-long National Endowment for the Humanities workshop.
Lizzy Martin (right), director of exhibit development and museum planning, and Leslie Bushara (second from left), deputy director of education and guest services, from the Children’s Museum of Manhattan tour The Strong to benchmark its exhibits, public programs, and education programs.
The Strong's Jeremy Saucier discusses the museum's pinball preservation efforts at Pintastic New England in Sturbridge, Massachusetts—one of the largest pinball and game room expos in the United States.
The Strong and Rochester Institute of Technology form a partnership to formally collaborate on exhibits, projects, workshops, and presentations aimed at enhancing knowledge and understanding of the history and impact of video games and ways to preserve them.
June 2016
The Strong, in partnership with the New York State Division of Tourism and Visit Rochester, welcomes a Chinese delegation of tour operators and airline executives as part of an upstate New York familiarization tour.
The Strong’s Scott Eberle talks about why play is important for adults in the article “Think Like a Kid” published this month in Parents magazine.
The producer of the iconic game The Oregon Trail donates a collection of materials to The Strong that documents the history of the pioneering company and illuminates the ways that it integrated its educational products into school curricula around the nation.
KidsOutandAbout.com readers vote The Strong museum the Top Place to Take Kids in the Rochester area for the 12th year in a row.
The Strong displays the Florida work desk of inventor Ralph Baer, video game pioneer and inventor of the memory game Simon and other toys, in its eGameRevolution exhibit. Baer’s son, Mark, friend and co-worker Bob Pelovitz, and the museum’s Jon-Paul Dyson pictured at the unveiling ceremony.
Veronika Bulowski, the German representative for the Wine, Waters and Wonders overseas tourism program, joins The Strong’s Karen Dodson for a tour. Pictured with Visit Rochester’s Diana Rapp and Sonia Ascensio.
May 2016
Micha Kapetanovic and Philippe Op de Beeck from the Brussels Conventions and Visitors Bureau take a benchmarking tour of The Strong to inspire new visitor experiences in Belgium. Pictured here with the museum’s Vice President for Exhibits Jon-Paul Dyson (middle).
The Strong launches an online timeline through Google Cultural Institute showcasing the most popular games in American history.
Nearly 150 attend The Strong’s first-ever “Playful Encounters with the Reggio Emilia Approach” conference, featuring prominent early childhood educators Ben Mardell and Lella Gandini. Pictured with Debbie McCoy, The Strong’s assistant vice president for education (right to left).
Cheryl Henson, president of The Jim Henson Foundation and daughter of the legendary puppeteer, and Karen Falk, archives director for The Jim Henson Company, tour The Strong’s collection of Henson-related artifacts with the museum’s Christopher Bensch. Pictured here with a rare, 30th anniversary Kermit the Frog, one of many objects donated by the family.
The Association of Game and Puzzle Collectors names The Strong’s Nic Ricketts to its board of directors.
The Strong’s World Video Game Hall of Fame names the inductees for 2016: Grand Theft Auto III, The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Space Invaders.
Computer scientists from Malmo University in Sweden tour The Strong’s electronic games collections with Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of the museum’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
April 2016
Fellowship recipient Nancy Callahan, emeritus art professor at the State University of New York at Oneonta, explores The Strong’s collection of educational toys from the late 1800s to inspire a forthcoming sculpture related to the history of toymakers.
M&T Bank renews its commitment to The Strong with a $25,000 grant in support of the museum’s 2016–2017 education programs. Sharing the good news is M&T’s Sara Jane Deisinger and Curt Provenzo, pictured here with The Strong’s Rollie Adams and Lisa Feinstein (right to left).
Debbie McCoy, The Strong’s assistant vice president for education, speaks to Empire State College students about the use of block play in early childhood classrooms.
The Strong’s World Video Game Hall of Fame names the 15 finalists for 2016: Elite, Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto III, John Madden Football, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, Nürburgring, The Oregon Trail, Pokémon Red and Green, Sid Meier’s Civilization, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Invaders, Street Fighter II, and Tomb Raider.
The Strong welcomes nearly 1,000 students from 17 area high schools to the 26th Annual Advanced Placement American History Conference.
March 2016
Debbie McCoy, The Strong’s assistant vice president for education, discusses the importance of play in education during a Kindergarten Play Date at The Strong for Gates Chili School District families, teachers, and administrators.
Greg Toppo (left), author of The Game Believes in You, tours The Strong’s library and archive with Jon-Paul Dyson, director of the museum's International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
Fodor's Travel names The Strong one of the top 10 family-friendly museums in the United States.
Readers of FamilyFun magazine name The Strong the number one “Family Travel Destination” in the United States and top family museum in the northeast.
The family of legendary puppeteer and Hollywood icon Jim Henson donates more than 600 licensed products to The Strong that chronicle Henson’s illustrious 30-plus-year career.
The Strong installs a plaque featuring Robert A. Iger, chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, in its Toy Halls of Fame exhibit. The plaque honors Iger's induction into the Toy Industry Association's Toy Industry Hall of Fame.
Susan Bennett, the original voice of Apple's Siri, tours the museum with Shane Rhinewald, The Strong's senior director of public relations.
February 2016
Fellowship recipient Aria Halliday from Purdue University explores The Strong's library and archives to help inform her dissertation about the ways that pop culture icons use "girl play" to popularize their brands.
The Tetris Company loans artifacts related to 2015 World Video Game Hall of Fame inductee Tetris—including materials from game creator Alexey Pajitnov—to The Strong for display.
Registration now open for the “Playful Encounters with the Reggio Emilia Approach” conference on May 20 and 21—featuring renowned early childhood educators Lella Gandini and Ben Mardell. Early bird discount rate ends February 29.
Leading travel publication Lonely Planet names The Strong’s Toy Halls of Fame exhibit one of 31 of the “World’s Hottest New Experiences for 2016.” The list also includes sites such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi and National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
A recent episode of Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum filmed at The Strong features Vice President for Collections Chris Bensch and 1998 National Toy Hall of Fame inductee Monopoly.
January 2016
Video game historian Jimmy Maher from Denmark, author of The Digital Antiquarian blog, visits The Strong to research computer game history in the museum's extensive archives.
Robbie Brunner of Schenectedy, New York—who recently donated hundreds of PEZ-inspired artifacts to the museum—visits the new Perfectly PEZ display. Pictured with The Strong’s Chris Bensch (right).
December 2015
Fellowship recipient Molly Duggins, lecturer at the National Art School in Sydney, Australia, explores The Strong’s assemblage of Victorian shell artifacts to study Victorian-era romance with the sea and its influence on the 19th-century marketplace.
More than 1,900 runners participated in the fourth annual Reindeer Run, a unique, family-friendly foot race with proceeds to benefit The Strong, on Saturday, December 19.
Fellowship recipient Mattia Thibault from the University of Turin in Turin, Italy, visits The Strong to investigate how toys reflect and represent cultural values.
Local toy store My Favorite Toy Box donates two of the first copies of their new Roc-opoly board game—a unique, hometown-themed Monopoly-style game—to The Strong museum. The games will sit among the world’s most comprehensive collection of Monopoly artifacts.
Democrat and Chronicle readers name The Strong museum Rochester’s Choice for best museum for the 14th consecutive year.
November 2015
Don James, executive vice president for operations at Nintendo of America, visits The Strong for the opening of the Playing with Power: Celebrating 30 Years of the Nintendo Entertainment exhibit.
Shannon Symonds, associate curator for The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games, leads a post-concert discussion after the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's performance of "Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy."
October 2015
City Newspaper readers again name The Strong museum Rochester's best family-friendly attraction.
A delegation from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan—including Masayuki Uemura (center), the hardware designer of the Nintendo Entertainment System—visits The Strong’s Playing with Power: Celebrating 30 Years of the Nintendo Entertainment System exhibit.
Jeremy Saucier, assistant director of The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games, speaks about preserving the history of pinball at the 31st Annual Pinball Expo in Wheeling, Illinois.
Fifteen delegates from Caltanisetta, Rochester’s Sister City in Italy, tour The Strong with the museum’s Director of Public Relations Shane Rhinewald.
Fellowship recipient Riccardo Fassone, adjunct professor at the University of Turin in Torino, Italy, visits The Strong to research the history of early film-to-video game adaptations.
September 2015
The National Toy Hall of Fame names the 12 toy finalists for 2015: American Girl dolls, Battleship, coloring book, Jenga, PLAYMOBIL, puppet, scooter, Super Soaker, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, top, Twister, and the Wiffle Ball.
The Strong’s President and CEO Rollie Adams, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, and Toy Industry Association President and CEO Steve Pasierb unveil The Strong’s Toy Halls of Fame exhibit.
The online site Yelp.com, which helps connect consumers with great local businesses, has awarded The Strong the "People Love Us on Yelp" designation based on numerous top-scoring reviews.
A textile and toy design class from Rochester Institute of Technology researches toy company history in The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play.
Fellowship recipient Benjamin Lindquist, PhD candidate from Princeton University, examines various toy and game collections at The Strong to investigate the growing importance of “fun” in contemporary religion.
Fellowship recipient Koral LaVorgna, PhD candidate from the University of New Brunswick, explores the material culture of post-World War II childhood through examination of cereal box prizes from The Strong’s collections.
Fellowship recipient Emily Aguilo-Perez, PhD candidate from Pennsylvania State University, studies museum collections and archival materials to inform a project titled “Remembering Barbie: A Study of Interactions with Barbie among Puerto Rican Females.”
August 2015
University of Rochester students volunteer in The Strong's outdoor gardens as part of Wilson Day 2015, a day of community service.
Terry Marks-Tarlow, prominent psychotherapist and contributor to The Strong's American Journal of Play, tours the museum’s library and archives with Jeremy Saucier, assistant director for the International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
Sarah Kemp (third from right), Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, tours The Strong during a recent visit to Rochester. Pictured with I Love New York's Gavin Landry, U.S. Department of Commerce's Rosanna Masucci and Tim McCall, and The Strong's Suzanne Seldes and Rollie Adams.
GUND, a subsidiary of Enesco and preeminent maker of plush toys, donates a comprehensive collection of plush figures and soft toys to The Strong.
Ward Stare (left), music director for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, examines The Strong’s sheet music collection with Curator Nic Ricketts.
The Strong's Scott Eberle, vice president for play studies, speaks to students about the history of play at the IB World Student Conference at the University of Rochester.
July 2015
Fellowship recipient Andrea Braithwaite from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology examines The Strong's Her Interactive Collection to explore how girls and women understand themselves as gamers.
The Strong is featured in a chapter of Case Studies in Cultural Entrepreneurship: How to Create Relevant and Sustainable Institutions, from the American Association for State and Local History book series.
Fellowship recipient Alexander Bevier from New York University visits The Strong to study the personal papers of Sid Sackson, a pioneering board game designer.
Fellowship recipient Anastasia Salter, assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, conducts research at The Strong to inform a book about video game designer Jane Jensen.
Scott Adams (second from right), creator of the first personal computer adventure game (Adventureland) and founder of Adventure International, tours The Strong’s collections with his wife, Roxanne.
June 2015
Nominate your favorite classic toy for induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame by July 31.
The nationally syndicated Celebrity Name Game features The Strong's National Toy Hall of Fame as a clue in a question about Mr. Potato Head (inducted in 2000).
KidsOutandAbout.com readers vote The Strong museum the Top Place to Take Kids in the Rochester area for the 11th year in a row.
The Strong earns an Award of Excellence from the Rochester Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America for its Play Time newsletter.
Fellowship recipient Michelle Beissel Heath, associate professor at the University of Nebraska, visits The Strong to study the ways in which 19th-century game creators drew upon literary foundations for inspiration and may have used games to bolster patriotic allegiance.
May 2015
The journal Reference Reviews publishes an assessment of The Strong’s scholarly resources that states, “…there is nothing that compares to The Strong’s breadth and scope of historical materials and collections related to play.”
The Strong's Nicolas Ricketts joins the board of directors for the Association of Game and Puzzle Collectors.
The Strong earns top honors for website design and online advertising, and honorable mention for direct mail, at the Rochester Chapter of the American Marketing Association’s Pinnacle Awards.
The Strong and the Center for Games and Art Research at the Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, form a partnership to collaborate on the study of video game history and on efforts to preserve video games.
TripAdvisor awards The Strong a Certificate of Excellence in recognition of the museum’s top ratings from travelers.
In its First Annual Summer Road Trips issue, the Toronto-based Ignition Luxury & Performance Magazine names The Strong as one of its “Top Ten Family Attractions.” (The Strong is the only non-Canadian destination on the list.)
The Strong recognizes volunteers for nearly 2,000 hours of dedicated service in 2014.
Fellowship recipient Robyn Holmes, professor of psychology at Monmouth University in New Jersey, and her husband, Rich, visit The Strong to explore the connection between board games and cultural, social, moral, and religious messages.
April 2015
MVP Healthcare staff members help in The Strong’s outdoor gardens as part of an employee volunteer program.
Paul Hildebrandt (middle), senior software engineer at Walt Disney Animation Studios, tours The Strong with his son, Josh (left), and Jon-Paul Dyson, The Strong’s vice president for exhibits.
The Strong names Kevin McDonald, EdD, vice president and associate provost for diversity and inclusion at Rochester Institute of Technology, to its Board of Trustees.
March 2015
The Strong welcomes more than 900 students from 21 area high schools to the 25th Annual Advanced Placement American History Conference.
Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games, speaks about preserving video game history at the 2015 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
February 2015
The Rochester Business Journal names The Strong a finalist in its 2015 Best of the Web Awards competition.
Carolyn Bloore, the formal learning officer at Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood in London, visits The Strong to benchmark its educational programs. Pictured here with Debbie McCoy, The Strong's director of education.
January 2015
Fellowship recipient Devin Monnens, an independent games historian, visits The Strong to research the North American video game industry crash of 1983.
Fellowship recipient Laine Nooney, a postdoctoral associate at New York University, visits The Strong to research the cultural history of computer game company Sierra On-Line and its co-founders, Ken and Roberta Williams.
December 2014
The Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council awards The Strong $420,000 in Empire State Development funding for the museum’s Toy Halls of Fame project.
Spin Master’s Anton Rabie, Krista DiBerardino, and Susie Adelson (left to right) visit The Strong with consultant Nick Pagee. Pictured here in the museum’s library and archives with examples of historic Spin Master toy catalogs.
Democrat and Chronicle readers name The Strong museum Rochester’s Choice for best museum for the 13th consecutive year.
November 2014
The Strong achieves reaccreditation by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the highest achievement for excellence in the museum community.
The Strong loans Barbie dolls and G.I. Joe action figures to the Newseum in Washington, D.C. for display in the exhibit The Boomer Lists: Photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. (Courtesy Newseum)
Musicians and staff from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra tour The Strong’s electronic games collection in preparation for the RPO’s presentation of Video Games Live on November 21.
Noted video game writers Richard Dansky (middle) and Lee Sheldon (left) tour The Strong’s video game collections with Jon-Paul Dyson, director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
October 2014
City Newspaper readers have named The Strong museum Rochester's best family-friendly attraction.
Jon-Paul C. Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games, speaks about video game preservation at a conference in Philadelphia hosted by the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts.
The online site Yelp.com, which helps connect consumers with great local businesses, has again named The Strong museum one of the “Best Spots in Town” based on numerous top-scoring reviews.
The Strong welcomes Gavin Landry, Executive Director of Tourism, Empire State Development Corp., for a tour of the museum. Pictured here with The Strong’s Suzanne Seldes (left) and Shane Rhinewald (right).
Fellowship recipient Emily Flynn-Jones, a postdoctoral research fellow at York University in Toronto, visits The Strong to research how women and girls at play have been represented throughout history.
Museum and library professionals from Würzburg, Rochester's Sister City in Germany, tour The Strong with Director of Libraries Beth Lathrop (far left) and Director of Public Relations Shane Rhinewald (far right).
The Strong welcomes Spin Master’s Susie Adelson and Nick Pagee for a tour of the museum and its library and archives. Pictured in Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden with The Strong’s Rollie Adams (far left) and Chris Bensch (far right).
September 2014
HearthSong® donates a fairy-tale-inspired furniture set for The Strong’s outdoor Discovery Garden.
George Gomez, legendary game designer and executive vice president for game development at Stern Pinball, pictured with machines and schematics of his design during a recent visit to The Strong.
Fellowship recipient Jason Corace, chair of the Interactive Arts Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art, examines The Strong’s collections and archives to inform an online timeline of hybrid games.
Chris Bensch, The Strong’s vice president for collections, presents “Inside the Toy Box: Evolution or Revolution?” at the World Congress of Play in San Francisco.
The Strong loans a 1949 version of Candy Land to the New York University Langone Medical Center for a display called Polio: Confronting an Epidemic.
August 2014
University of Rochester students volunteer in The Strong’s outdoor gardens as part of Wilson Day 2014, a day of community service.
Sensenig’s Landscape Supply donates a stone hopscotch game (now open) for The Strong’s outdoor Discovery Garden.
The Strong loans toys and games representing 1950s Western popular culture to the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee for its The American Road exhibit.
Linda Lovejoy, Wegmans community relations manager, and Krystal Register, Wegmans division nutritionist for Virginia and Maryland, tour The Strong’s Wegmans Super Kids Market exhibit with the museum’s Lisa Feinstein and Debbie McCoy. (Pictured from right to left.)
Fellowship recipient Reem Hilu from Northwestern University visits The Strong to examine video games that focus on domestic settings and themes.
Fellowship recipient Evan Lauteria from the University of Calfornia at Davis visits The Strong to research the influence of Japanese culture on the global video game market in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Natasha Crookes (second from left) and Roland Earl (second from right) of the British Toy and Hobby Association visit The Strong. Pictured here with The Strong’s Rollie Adams, Christopher Bensch, Lisa Feinstein, and Suzanne Seldes (from left to right).
Bruce Raiffe (right), president of Gund, Inc. at Enesco, tours The Strong with President and CEO Rollie Adams.
Jennifer deWinter from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts visits The Strong to research Shigeru Miyamoto, the prominent Japanese video game designer.
July 2014
John Gessert (left), president and chief executive officer of American Plastic Toys and current chairman of the Toy Industry Association Inc.’s board of directors, tours The Strong with Vice President for Collections Chris Bensch.
Fellowship recipient Marc-Niclas Heckner, doctoral student at the University of Michigan, visits The Strong to study the impact first-person-shooter video games about World War II have on perceptions of history.
John Romero—prominent game designer and developer best known as the co-creator of Doom—unveils a display in The Strong’s eGameRevolution exhibit which contains his original Apple II+ computer (used to design his first published game) and a design notebook.
Fellowship recipient Carly Kocurek, assistant professor of digital humanities and media studies at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, visits The Strong to conduct research for her book about the history of the video arcade.
June 2014
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences President Martin Rae (second from left) visits The Strong to explore its exhibits and extensive collections. Pictured here in the ICHEG lab with The Strong's Rollie Adams (far left) and ICHEG's Don Daglow, Jon-Paul Dyson, and Jeremy Saucier.
Nazareth College graduate students share research on play therapy theory with museum guests and staff.
KidsOutandAbout.com readers vote The Strong museum the Top Place to Take Kids in the Rochester area for the 10th year in a row.
Victoria de Rijke, associate professor at Middlsex University in London, visits The Strong to research the role of play in an artist’s creative process.
The Strong joins Bivona Child Advocacy Center’s Greater Rochester Darkness to Light Collaborative as a “Partner in Prevention.”
TripAdvisor awards The Strong a Certificate of Excellence in recognition of the museum’s top ratings from travelers.
May 2014
The Rochester Regional Library Council awards The Strong’s libraries an honorable mention its 2014 Library of the Year contest.
The Strong welcomes more than 70 game and puzzle collectors, historians, and industry leaders as part of the Association of Game and Puzzle Collectors (AGPC) 30th Annual Convention.
Northwood Elementary School students present more than 1,000 National Toy Hall of Fame nominations for the Rubik’s Cube to The Strong’s Chris Bensch and Patricia Hogan.
The Strong exhibits historically significant Parker Brothers games—including Rook (1906) and Derby Day (1959)—in a new display on the museum’s second floor.
The Strong recognizes 16 volunteers for more than 2,100 hours of dedicated service in 2013.
April 2014
Fellowship recipient Marilyn C. Solvay, adjunct professor of cultural anthropology at Husson University in Maine, visits The Strong to inform development of a popular history book on the subject of Old Maid and a new version of the card game.
The Strong hosts The Association for the Study of Play’s 40th Annual Conference, titled “Play: Connecting the Past, Present & Future.”
The Strong acquires a massive collection of original artwork, design notes, schematics, game source code, corporate records, and one-of-a-kind artifacts that document the history of Atari’s coin-operated video game and pinball divisions from 1972 to 1999.
The Strong hosts the Monroe County 2014 State of the County address.
March 2014
Lella Gandini, Italian-born author and early childhood educator best known in the United States as the leading advocate for the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, donates papers and research materials to The Strong.
The Strong welcomes nearly 1,100 students from more than 20 area high schools to the 24th Annual Advanced Placement American History Conference.
Game After: A Cultural Study of Video Game Afterlife by Raiford Guins (MIT Press) features The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) extensively, including game preservation insights from ICHEG director Jon-Paul Dyson.
Jon-Paul Dyson and Jeremy Saucier, director and assistant director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG), attend the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco.
The Strong announces the Mary Valentine and Andrew Cosman Research Fellowships to provide financial support for scholarly play research about games and related topics of play.
FamilyFun magazine names The Strong the number one “Family Museum in the Country” and the nation’s number four overall “Favorite Family Destination.”
Fellowship recipient Robert Guyker from Pacifica Graduate Institute in California visits The Strong to research the convergence of myth, play, and video games.
Dr. William Dietz, a physician who works with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation on issues related to physical activity and health, tours The Strong during a recent visit to Rochester. Pictured here (right) with museum President and CEO G. Rollie Adams.
Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games, speaks in Kyoto, Japan on video game preservation at Ritsumeikan University and at the International Game Studies Conference.
The Strong acquires the Brøderbund Software, Inc. Collection, an assemblage of nearly 1,500 of the company’s games, consumer software, corporate records, and related materials donated by company founder Doug Carlston.
February 2014
Gwen Gordon, producer and director of Seriously!, a creative documentary about the power of play, tours The Strong and its library and archives. Pictured here (right) with Scott Eberle, The Strong’s vice president for play studies.
USA Today readers name The Strong one of the 10 best museums for families in the United States
Video game designer and producer Warren Spector (left) tours museum’s collections and archives with Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
January 2014
Beth Lathrop joins The Strong as its new director of libraries. Lathrop is responsible for advancing the libraries’ collections, services, and visibility.
The Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens initiative, launched by First Lady Michelle Obama and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, highlights The Strong’s commitment to promoting a healthy lifestyle in its national blog.
Fellowship recipient Douglas Guerra, assistant professor of literature and technology at the State University of New York at Oswego, visits The Strong to research 19th-century games.
Fellowship recipient Rebecca Hernandez-Gerber from New York University visits The Strong to research video game collecting methods and preservation.
The Strong displays plans for its future Toy Halls of Fame gallery—a key Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council tourism project—in Albany during concourse activities leading up to Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address.
