People at Play Archive

In October 2021, The Strong launched The Sid Sackson Portal, a project funded by the National Archives’ National Historical Publications and Record Commission, which holds pride of place here in the archives.. On the site, you can view full PDFs of each year’s diary or Browse the Collection to keyword search or to view individual page image files. You can also learn more about Sid and his career, view hundreds of photos of game prototypes (as well as published games), […]

Continue Reading about The Sid Sackson Portal: One Year Later Published on:
December 2, 2022

On November 10, 2022, the top was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame along with Lite-Brite and Masters of the Universe. In the runup to the induction, the primary comment I heard about the top ran along the lines of, “What?! You mean the top isn’t already in the Hall of Fame?” That reaction underscores just how universal and timeless the top feels even to people in our highly technological era. It’s definitely a toy with a lengthy […]

Continue Reading about The Top of Its Class Published on:
November 11, 2022

Your hands are shaking as you fumble with the small, plastic pieces, eyes scanning the red board for the hole that matches the shape clutched in your fingers…
The tick-tick-tick of the timer is drowned out by the pounding of your heart in your ears…
You know it’s coming but cannot stop yourself from jumping when the timer stops ticking and BOOM! The game board pops up, launching all the pieces into the air and onto the floor around you.
You breathe a […]

Continue Reading about Playing to Conquer Fears and Tame Anxiety Published on:
November 4, 2022

One Prototype to rule them all, One Prototype to backup and save.
Long before Peter Jackson brought The Lord of the Rings to life on the big screen, others tried their hands at adapting the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy classic. With the 1978 animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi just a few years prior, Parker Brothers began advertising a video game adaptation in 1982.
Scheduled for a winter 1983 release, The Lord of the Rings: Journey to Rivendell for Atari 2600 home consoles […]

Continue Reading about Game Saves: The Lord of the Rings Atari 2600 Published on:
September 30, 2022

Imagine it’s another hot summer day in 1973. However, you and your friends are planning to attend a party in the New York City borough of the Bronx. After a long subway ride and getting lost, you make it to the party just in time to hear Clive Campbell, better known by his chosen name DJ Kool Herc, start his set. He is playing the music you came to hear. However, when it gets to your favorite part of the […]

Continue Reading about The Tables Have Turned: Playing the Technics Direct Drive Player System Drive SL-1200 Published on:
September 16, 2022

I was a math kid, one who enjoyed solving simple problems of multiplication and division, arithmetic and subtraction. For many years my favorite toy was DataMan, a calculator themed as a space hero that was created in the late 1970s by Texas Instruments, the same company that introduced not only the portable calculator but also such electronic toys as the Little Professor and Speak n Spell. Still, none of these simple calculations captured my fancy the way prime numbers did.
I […]

Continue Reading about Playing with Primes Published on:
September 2, 2022

“Where there are kids, there is play.” Iona Opie
“The setting of boundaries is always a political act.” Edward J. Blakely and Mary Gail Snyder
“We begin with the child when he is three years old. As soon as he begins to think he gets a little flag put in his hand.”  Dr Robert LEY, leader of Nazi Labor Front.
As an urban game designer, and an immigrant to the US, I find it particularly interesting to understand the relationship between cultures and […]

Continue Reading about The Battle over Street Play in New York City (1910-1930) Published on:
August 11, 2022

When the film adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s hit book Crazy Rich Asians came out in 2018, I knew I’d have to watch it on the big screen. (A charming romantic comedy starring several of my favorite actors in beautiful Singapore? Yes, please!) Of course, I loved the movie, and—no spoilers—I was totally awestruck by the third act’s mahjong scene. The airy, bright mahjong parlor where the film’s protagonist, Rachel, meets her boyfriend’s imposing mother is peaceful and quiet, with only […]

Continue Reading about Chow, Pong, and Kong: Mahjong! Published on:
August 4, 2022

A less than enthusiastic student during my grade school career, there were very few days I actually looked forward to. The most anticipated being—of course—the last day of school.  But somewhere in between, there was parachute day in gym class, StarLab day (a giant inflatable planetarium that traveled to area schools, allowing students to crawl through a short, dark tunnel to reach a twinkling sky within), and the occasional field trip. But the thing I looked forward most wasn’t just […]

Continue Reading about A Pinch of Creativity Published on:
July 14, 2022