By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
This month’s column isn’t so much for game show lovers as it is for the people who shop for them. Because of their love of game shows, fans of the genre have impossibly high expectations when it comes to “fabulous merchandise,” and that makes holiday shopping difficult. So, for those of you who have a game show fan on your gift-buying list, here’s a handy little guide to […]
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Family Ties: A Short Story of Brøderbund
By Justin Schofield, Valentine-Cosman Research Fellow at The Strong National Museum of Play
Growing up, my brother and I played a computer game called Just Grandma and Me, a virtual book that reads to you and allows you to interact with the illustrations. I used to scramble off the bus to boot it up after school, and my brother and I listened to it together countless times.
At the time, I didn’t think of Just Grandma and Me as educational nor did […]
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Just Like a Nudge: My Hands-On Experience
By: Yan Liu, Collections and Conservation Intern at The Strong National Museum of Play
What does it feel like to intern with the Collections and Conservation Teams at The Strong Museum? For me, it feels like learning how to nudge a pinball machine. In pinball, nudge refers to the subtle bump you give the table to influence the ball’s movement. Before I ever played on a real machine, nudge, in my hazy childhood memories of 3D Pinball Space Cadet, meant tapping […]
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Growing Up with The Strong: Revisiting Childhood Play
By Génia Abbey, 2025 Collections and Conservation Intern
How many people can say they’ve had the opportunity to work somewhere they used to love as a child? This summer, I have been lucky enough to return to a place that holds cherished childhood memories for me, The Strong National Museum of Play. Over the course of my summer internship, I have not only had the chance to discover what happens behind the scenes at a large museum and to learn more […]
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Game Changers: Women Who Built Community Through Play
By: Kristin Fitzsimmons, 2025 Valentine-Cosman Research Fellow at The Strong National Museum of Play
In her 2011 book Alone Together, Sherry Turkle wrote that “in the half-light of virtual community, we may feel utterly alone. As we distribute ourselves, we may abandon ourselves.” Turkle’s concern 14 years ago that anthropomorphized machines and digital networks might counterintuitively alienate us from each other now seems almost quaint post-Covid 19 as many of us grapple with the impact of generative AI. I came to […]
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Robert Redford…and Quiz Show
By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History, and Howard Blumenthal, co-founder of the National Archives of Game Show History
On September 16, film lovers mourned the loss Robert Redford, star of The Sting, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, and many other popular movies. For game show fans, the name Robert Redford is connected with one film where he never stepped in front of the camera: he directed 1994’s Quiz Show, […]
Why I Donated My Blankie to The Strong Museum of Play: From a Childhood Cape to a Legacy of Imagination
By Dovi Kutoff, Guest Blogger
As CEO of OrangeOnions, I’ve built my career as part of a team designing toys that bring comfort, creativity, and connection across generations. But long before patents, plush characters, and partnerships, it all began with one beloved object: My blankie.
For nearly 50 years, my blankie traveled with me—from childhood bedrooms to red-eye flights, through family milestones and global meetings. It wasn’t just my comfort—it was my cape, my tent, my magic carpet. And recently, I made […]
Next Game Show Creators
By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
It’s back-to-school time, so this is a reminder to the parents and guardians out there to make sure your students are all stocked up on class supplies—pencils, notebooks, folders, buzzers, and bells. Wait, buzzers and bells?
That’s right. Game shows have gone back to school. In 2024, National Archives of Game Show History co-founder Bob Boden and longtime Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! executive producer Harry Friedman established a curriculum […]
From Girl Talk to Girl Games: The Analog History of Games for Girls
Opening the 1989 Sears Christmas catalog and perusing the fifteen-odd pages of video game advertisements, filled with pictures of boys and accented with blue, reveals what many women have felt for decades: games just aren’t made for us. Until the 1990s, video games were almost exclusively marketed to boys and men. Women, of course, can and did still play video games; but playing them meant wading through a swamp of sexist portrayals, if we were even lucky enough to encounter […]
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