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Following a visit to historic Williamsburg, Virginia, and a Christmas shopping trip for her nieces, educator and newscaster Pleasant Rowland pondered, “Here I am, in a generation of women at the forefront of redefining women’s roles, and yet our daughters are playing with dolls that celebrate being a teen queen or mommy.” Rowland spent a weekend creating a concept intended to redefine how girls interacted with their playthings, and in 1986, she launched a new line of 18-inch dolls—American Girl […]

Continue Reading about American Girl Dolls Inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame Published on:
November 4, 2021

The once pejorative term “walking simulator” was often deployed to single out video games that bucked the trend of delivering a fast-paced, action-packed, adrenaline-pumping experience with clear-cut rules and goals and instead opted for making video games organized by a thin set of rules and optional tasks in favor of open-ended wandering and exploration. These days, walking simulators show promise as they rise in popularity, signaling an important shift in interest among developers and gamers alike toward nuance, discovery, and […]

Continue Reading about Simulation, Photography, and Flâneurie In Video Games Published on:
October 28, 2021

Ralphie: “No, no! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!”
Santa Claus: “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.”
This iconic scene from A Christmas Story—Ralphie blurting out to the department store Santa that what he really, really wanted for Christmas was a BB gun—maintains icon status because it is universally relatable. There are toys that kids wish for with such passion that they can think of nothing else and cannot be dissuaded from with logic or reason. […]

Continue Reading about Elevators and Electricity: The Toys I Always Wanted Published on:
October 21, 2021

Have you ever wondered how some of your favorite board games were developed? Did the idea spring, fully formed, out of the head of a publishing executive? Or was the game carefully shaped by an independent designer and perfected over years of play-testing, rule changes, and feedback? At The Strong, we’re able to glimpse behind the scenes through the lens of one of the most prolific American game inventors of the 20th century: Sid Sackson.  Perhaps best known for Acquire, […]

Continue Reading about A Gamut of Games: The Sid Sackson Portal Published on:
October 11, 2021

“I love a parade.”
Or at least that’s what the rousing chorus of Harry Richman’s 1932 song proudly boasts.
Barbara Streisand shares similar enthusiasm in the popular 1964 musical (and 1968 film adaptation) Funny Girl while belting out the now iconic song “Don’t Rain on My Parade”. The song has continued to experience popularity in the zeitgeist in the decades since, with a particularly memorable (albeit brief) rendition by Robin Williams in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire.
So, what makes parades so popular? […]

Continue Reading about Parading Through History Published on:
October 7, 2021

We receive lots of donations every year at The Strong, from single items to accumulations numbering in the hundreds or even thousands. One of the largest collections ever gifted to the museum has been the game collection we received from the founder of Mayfair Games. This collection includes not only thousands of games, but important archives related to a game manufacturer and to game design and marketing. And the collection holds game prototypes which I find fascinating artifacts.
Most of the […]

Continue Reading about Board Game Prototypes and a Gift of Clank! Published on:
September 23, 2021

“To err is human, to forgive divine” — Alexander Pope  
Somebody had blundered. It’s a truism of most organizations and most human initiatives. It’s especially true in wartime. Alfred Lord Tennyson stamped the phrase indelibly into the English language in his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade”: Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew Someone had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and […]

Continue Reading about Can a Computer Blunder? Published on:
September 16, 2021

Often written off as charming novelties of childhood, paper dolls can serve as powerful indicators of the drastic sociopolitical changes occurring in the early 20th century. Like many toys, they reflect the cultural values of their creators and their consumers, providing insight into the lives of women and children during a tumultuous political era. During my time at The Strong National Museum of Play, I was able to examine a wide variety of paper dolls created between 1900 and 1940 […]

Continue Reading about Dolly Dingle Visits the Museum: Early 20th-Century Paper Dolls as Socially Active Objects Published on:
September 9, 2021

In a recent American Journal of Play article, psychologist Peter Gray draws on surveys with U.S. children and parents to suggest that in the earliest months of the pandemic lockdown, many children who had increased time to play, more time with their families, and opportunities to contribute constructively to family life, showed improved mental well-being. This research got me thinking about my own children’s play experiences during the pandemic. I thought about how their play endured under difficult circumstances and […]

Continue Reading about The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Persistence of Children’s Play Published on:
September 8, 2021