Back in 2010, The Strong opened eGameRevolution, the museum’s first permanent exhibit to focus on the history of video games. For more than a decade, that exhibit informed and delighted millions of museum guests. We recognized early on that the exhibit’s arcade was a hit with guests who loved playing and learning more about coin-operated video games. So, when the museum opened its ESL Digital Worlds: High Score and Level Up exhibits as part of its 90,000-sq. ft. expansion in […]
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The Great Old One: Call of Cthulhu’s Rise and Influence in Games.
Within the last few years, tabletop roleplay games (TTRPGS) have seen a boost in popularity. And while Dungeons & Dragons has become the name synonymous with the game genre in the United States, many other games deserve attention. One game has exerted a great deal of influence over how we play these games today, and has expanded into board games, card games, and video games over the decades. I am talking about Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu TTRPG. Using the Cthulhu […]
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Chores Are More Fun When They’re Fake
As I begin a new decade of my life, I’ve become more aware of the toys that model real-world “adulting.” Pretend play is a childhood staple, and often it involves kids performing what they see adults do. I’ve also realized, with a bit of my now developed adult cynicism, that it was a lot more fun to pretend to be an adult. The real thing doesn’t always measure up.
Take chores for example. Sweeping up with a fake broom or running […]
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Preserving the History of Volition
The Strong is honored to announce the acquisition of a collection of material from pioneering game developer Volition, the developers behind iconic titles such as Descent, Red Faction, and Saints Row. The donation includes design documentation, physical props, concept art, game builds, and some source assets, providing an in-depth look into the studio’s development process.
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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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 […]
A Dedicated Space for Video Games
The summer of 2023 brought a massive 90,000-sq.-foot expansion to The Strong National Museum of Play. This transformative space included three major exhibit spaces, an outdoor game park, as well as other new and improved programs and spaces to enhance the museum and build its capacity for the years ahead.
Among the aforementioned updates, to me, some of the most exciting changes are those that occurred strictly behind the scenes. A brand-new vault to store both archival materials and electronic games […]
Gunfighter Gaming: A History of the Video Game Western Part 2 (1984 to 1994)
My previous blog post explored the emergence of video game Westerns in the 1970s. Driven by a mixture of technological limitations and public familiarity with Westerns and electromechanical shooting games, these new video game Westerns asked players to take on the role of the gunfighter in a relatively small digital world. Set in the mythic West of films, television, and novels, these games relied heavily on visual symbols such as pixelated covered wagons, cowboy hats, and pistols in arcade games […]
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Beyond Banner Ads (My Neopet Loves McDonalds)
Having been born in the 1990s, I grew up during an era of growing availability of home computers and internet. Each new piece of technology, software, and online game was a novelty. I remember buying the Catz 5 and Dogz 5 games before we had a computer capable of running them and reading the manuals over and over until I could finally play. The advent of online gaming sites, especially those geared toward children, holds the most nostalgia for me. […]
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