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As a kid, I loved playing hide-and-seek. My favorite variation was a team-based game in which a dozen of us hid and chased each other through the streets and backyards of my densely packed neighborhood. Because we all knew the best places to hide, no one could stay in the same spot for more than a few minutes. In such an environment, the game hinged on making difficult choices such as when to sacrifice one of our slower teammates for […]

Continue Reading about Morality at Play in Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead Published on:
February 20, 2015

As a kid in the late 1970s and early 80s, glow-in-the-dark toys fascinated me. During the summer months, my friends and I would play outdoors as much as we could. Even after the sun went down, we tried to cling to every moment we had to play. Toys that “lit up” in the dark furthered our cause and glow-in-the-dark Frisbees became especially important to us during the evening hours. In the colder and darker months, we would head over to […]

Continue Reading about Glow-in-the-Dark Toys Published on:
February 19, 2015

We are excited to announce that The Strong has launched the World Video Game Hall of Fame to recognize individual electronic games of all types (arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile) that have been popular over a sustained period and influenced the video game industry or popular culture in general.

Continue Reading about The World Video Game Hall of Fame Published on:
February 17, 2015

Toys reflect the times in which they are made, and it follows, that as time passes, these toys fade away and are often replaced by newer toys. A few toys—like many in the National Toy Hall of Fame—though, remain popular for decades. Some even endure for several generations—like Tinkertoys.
The Tinkertoy chronicle began more than 100 years ago. Stone mason Charles Pajeau of Evanston, Illinois, the story goes, hated his day job. In the early 1900s, he ran his father’s monuments […]

Continue Reading about 100 Years of Tinkering Published on:
February 9, 2015

Do you keep a toy on your desk? Perhaps one of those widgets like a Newton’s Cradle with its clacking, momentum-conserving chrome spheres; the mysterious Magic 8 Ball with its looming messages; that perpetual motion drinking-bird thingamabob; or maybe the insoluble Rubik’s Cube? A recent conversation with Julie Lasky, the New York Times feature writer, started me thinking about the device she noted that Germans call a “managerspielzeug” and that in France are known as “gadgets de bureaux.” To us […]

Continue Reading about Toys for the Busy Executive Published on:
February 6, 2015

I was deeply saddened to hear that Ralph H. Baer had died on December 6, 2014, at the age of 92. As numerous other writers have noted, Ralph invented the “Brown Box” home video game console (produced as the Magnavox Odyssey) and the electronic game Simon. He donated his professional papers to The Strong, and I had the privilege of processing them in 2013. Ralph’s papers spanned more than 40 years of his lengthy career in the toy and game […]

Continue Reading about Simon Says: Thanks, Ralph Published on:
February 2, 2015

As Director of Libraries at The Strong, I acquire scholarly books on the study of play for the Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play. Although tracking down weighty academic tomes is quite fulfilling, I would be dishonest if I said that selecting children’s books for the Grada Hopeman Gelser Library didn’t liven up my job. The books available for check out in each museum exhibit are selected to complement and enhance the theme and subject matter—from Where the Sidewalk […]

Continue Reading about Four Dolls, Three Bears, Two Bunnies, and One Plastic Guy: Books about Play Pals Published on:
January 26, 2015

We think of “the vacation” as a typically American invention. The trip to the beach in summer, the fall color tour, the week at the ski resort in winter, and the excursion to the theme park during Spring break mark American calendars and give an exuberant rhythm to the year.

Continue Reading about The Vacation: Typically American? Published on:
January 23, 2015

In 1981, Atari released Centipede—a shoot ‘em up arcade game comprised of pixilated creepy-crawlies—created by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, one of the first female game designers. To play the game, a player used a trackball controller and a single firing button to shoot at a large centipede as it wound its way down the screen and through a field of mushrooms. The player also needed to steer clear of spiders, fleas and scorpions. The game quickly became one of […]

Continue Reading about From Pixel to Paper: The Centipede Board Game Published on:
January 20, 2015