Guest Blogger Archive

In August and September 2024, I had the chance to work in the exhibits and archives of The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. Coming from Switzerland, a country in which the historical study and preservation of video games is still in its early stages, I was impressed by the wealth and the diversity of objects held by this institution.
As part of my doctoral research, I’m working mainly on video games designed for the domestic space, i.e. […]

Continue Reading about Game Instructions: How Do You Learn to Play in an Arcade Room? Published on:
January 17, 2025

From Dungeons & Dragons (1974) to Elden Ring (2023), modern games have asked us time and again to crack our knuckles, dust off our wizard cloaks, and test our magical mettle against fantasy’s most fearsome foes. But for all the magic our in-game spellbooks may contain, it was the pages of video game magazines that had the power to skyrocket an obscure game to national acclaim—or rain financial ruin upon a decorated studio for its latest flop. But how did […]

Continue Reading about Let’s Talk About Something Fun—How About Magic? Published on:
January 10, 2025

By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
“We surveyed 100 people. The top six answers are on the board…”
You probably easily guessed those iconic lines come from Family Feud. But have you ever wondered who those 100 people are?
Writing material and building each episode is plenty of work for any game show. When Family Feud started production in 1976, the staff took on an even bigger challenge. Not only would they write the material (the […]

Continue Reading about Survey Says: How Family Feud Gets Its Answers Published on:
December 9, 2024

When does play become personal? When does a person’s exploration of a dungeon or fantasy world turn into an exploration of themselves? For some, certainly the answer is “never.” The distance between the game world and the real world is enough to bar any introspection. Or perhaps their playstyle simply does not warrant it. Certainly, one would assume this was true for the fantasy tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) in the 1970s when the wargame and simulation aspects of the hobby […]

Continue Reading about Playing with Sex and Gender in Fantasy Tabletop Games Published on:
November 1, 2024

I came to The Strong Museum to study Carmen Sandiego, the shadowy villain who stars in one of the most successful educational game series in video game history, but I left knowing a lot more about the early days of the educational game industry.
I am a Latinx literature scholar and lifelong gamer, whose research has been focused primarily on AfroLatinx literature and culture (my first book came out in June 2024). My research on Miles Morales and the Latino legacy of […]

Continue Reading about Driven by Play: A Reflection on Carmen Sandiego, Freedom!, and Games between 1980 and 2000 Published on:
October 4, 2024

A crack of thunder. The rattling of chains. Roars of monsters in the depths. A song to guide your way. These words stoke our imaginations and illustrate how stories are told via the evocation of sound. When people imagine playing a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) such as Dungeons & Dragons, they envision people in costume rolling dice, moving small, hand-painted figurines, and navigating sprawling maps of the dungeons that are being delved.
In addition to these material components, however, at the […]

Continue Reading about Role-Playing with Sound: A Sonic History of Tabletop Role-Playing Games Published on:
September 23, 2024

Why pinball? This is the question that people repeatedly ask me when I state that my dissertation investigates pinball’s history. When I explain that I am a PhD candidate in NYU’s Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies, people become even more confused. What does pinball have to do with cinema? And is it worthy of a book length treatment? I answer those questions by replying that pinball is one of the most controversial American games, hence my title for my […]

Continue Reading about Pinball at The Strong Museum Published on:
September 11, 2024

On a snowy winter day in January 2024 at The Strong National Museum of Play, I read about the far-off land of Hyrule, inhabited by fiery dragons, rock-monster-people, and evil twin-sister witches. I pored over issues of Weekly Famitsu, the most popular Japanese gaming magazine, looking at their coverage of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. On page 89 of issue no. 507, I see the heading 謎の少年の正体が明らかにされる? (roughly: “Will the identity of the mysterious boy be revealed?”), with […]

Continue Reading about Contact Moments with Japanese Game Magazines at The Strong Museum Published on:
August 1, 2024

By Bob Boden, co-founder of the National Archives of Game Show History
On September 4, 1998, ITV network in the United Kingdom premiered a one-hour primetime game show called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It featured one contestant, sitting across from host Chris Tarrant, answering up to 15 multiple choice general knowledge questions of increasing values, from £100 to a top prize of £1 million. As long as the player answered questions correctly, they could remain in the “hot […]

Continue Reading about Birth of the Modern Game Show Published on:
July 30, 2024