By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
After its founding on April 1, 1976, Apple Computer Company had one of the fastest rises ever for an upstart company. Their first computer was named, simply, Apple I, but in June 1977, the company changed the world with the Apple II. With an external shell for containing the components, a built-in keyboard, game paddles, cassettes for saving data, and glorious full-color graphics, the Apple II was credited […]
Losing at Checkers: A Learning Experience
How to Win at Checkers, How to Beat Grandad at Checkers, Play Winning Checkers. These are the titles of just a few of the books from Alfred C. Darrow’s checkers library, which recently found a new home at The Strong Museum. The literature covers every aspect of playing a winning game, even How to Lose at Checkers, as it turned out. In my survey of Mr. Darrow’s vast collection, I discovered that I knew nothing about how to win—or lose—at […]
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Pee-Wee Herman…the Game Show Star?
By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
The two-part documentary Pee-Wee as Himself, now available for streaming on HBO Max, chronicles actor Paul Reubens’ unexpected rise to fame as the character Pee-Wee Herman. As the documentary explains, game shows had a small role in the rise of Reubens and his bizarre alter ego.
Reubens’ earliest shots at the big time came from The Gong Show. He and actress Charlotte McGinnis appeared on the daytime show as […]
Chasing Brian Sutton-Smith and Gregory Bateson: Retracing Metaplay
I had the amazing opportunity through a G. Rollie Adams Research Fellowship to visit The Strong National Museum of Play in order to conduct research for my project on metaplay.
The purpose of this fellowship was to build on my dissertation research, specifically delving further into the theory of metaplay. In my review of the literature, metaplay was poorly defined and inconsistent in its (under)utilization in scholarship since eminent anthropologist Gregory Bateson loosely introduced the idea in a conference paper in […]
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A Research Library atop The Strong Museum—Powered by Donations
The Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play sits quietly on the third floor of The Strong above the excitement and joy of our museum guests. Most guests don’t realize that this library even exists or that it is one of the largest study collections on play in the world. The library collection is one central element to the museum’s mission to share the history and many meanings of play. The library helps the staff as they consider new exhibitions, […]
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From Space Invaders to Fortnite: A Look Back at the Evolution of Video Gaming
In 1980, American youth raced to their television sets on Saturday mornings, not for cartoons, but to play Space Invaders on their Atari 2600s. Fast forward to today, where players worldwide coordinate across time zones to join massive multiplayer matches in Fortnite’s shared virtual world, using devices ranging from smartphones to gaming consoles. The contrast is staggering in comparison to a mere 44 years ago. This then begs the question: how did what began as a hobbyist pursuit in the […]
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Remembering Wink Martindale
By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
Legendary game show host and producer Wink Martindale passed away on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at the age of 91. The team at the National Archives of Game Show History looks back at his life and amazing career. (Martindale completed an oral history with the Archives in 2023.)
A NAME THAT YOU’D BAT AN EYE AT
When James & Frances Martindale brought a baby boy into the world on December 4, […]
Relational Play
Contemporary travel is a special kind of pandemonium, an admixture of excitement, fear, consumerism, and intense security measures. It can be a rather playful experience too, particularly in the U.S. The stops that took me from Pullman, Washington, where currently I live and work, to The Strong National Museum of Play are a case in point. First it was Pullman to Spokane, then it was Spokane to Las Vegas, where I transferred to a flight to Rochester, New York. To […]
“Luckiest” Man in Game Shows
By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
A new movie coming out on April 4, The Luckiest Man in America, chronicles one of the most famous (some would say infamous) moments in game show history. Paul Walter Hauser stars as Michael Larson, an ice cream truck driver who made history in the strangest of ways as a contestant on Press Your Luck in 1984. If you want to be surprised by what happened, stop reading now, […]