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As a teenager, I spent so many late nights at a local pizza shop playing The Addams Family that the owner affectionately called me “Pugsley,” after the Addams’ son. The Pat Lawlor-designed machine is more than a personal favorite; it shook the pinball world during the early 1990s, at once symbolizing the industry’s resurgence, and perhaps, its last gasp of life.
Although pinball traces its roots back to the 18th—century parlor game bagatelle, modern coin-operated pinball originated in the […]

Continue Reading about The Addams Family and Pinball in the Age of Video Games Published on:
January 11, 2013

The importance of memory and its preservation comes to mind every time I see The Big Broadcast of 1938 or its sister film of the following year, Thanks for the Memory. It was then that Bob Hope first encountered the song that would stick with him for the remainder of his long life in show business.
The first movie, which also starred W. C. Fields, introduced the song “Thanks for the Memory,” sung by Hope’s character, Buzz Fielding, and by Cleo, […]

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January 8, 2013

Her Interactive, creator of the popular Nancy Drew games, has donated a large collection of games, design drafts, memoranda, press materials, focus group studies, player correspondence, and other materials that document the company’s history, the development of their Nancy Drew games, and the attitudes of girls towards gaming over the past 20 years.
Nancy Drew has captured the imagination of girls since her fictional debut in 1930. Originally created by Edward Stratemeyer—whose Stratemeyer Syndicate also produced the Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, […]

Continue Reading about Her Interactive Collections at ICHEG Published on:
January 7, 2013

Happy New Year fellow gamers! As we ring in the New Year, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate all the innovations the industry underwent throughout the last 12 months.
At the beginning of the year, Sony released the handheld PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) to North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Russia.  Several months earlier, the PS Vita made a successful debut in Japan. Sony marketed the PS Vita as a portable PlayStation 3 and players enjoyed graphics as […]

Continue Reading about Gaming in 2012 Published on:
January 4, 2013

Allow me to introduce you to an elite group of which I am not a member: serious gamers. Yes, I’ve been known to play the occasional game of Scrabble, and in my youth I devoted a week one summer to playing Monopoly with a cousin. Add in a few random games of Checkers, Parcheesi, and Go Fish, and that about covers it. So when I say “serious gamer,” I’m referring to someone like the extraordinary Sid Sackson.

Continue Reading about Fantastic Fun: Sid Sackson, Gary Gygax, and the World of Wargaming Published on:
January 2, 2013

If you’re a member or fan of the National Museum of Play at The Strong, you probably know that the museum will open another major exhibit on the second floor in April 2013. Game Time! will illuminate the exciting history of board games, card games, puzzles, electromechanical coin-operated games, pinball machines, and other forms of home entertainment such as foosball and air hockey. As part of a comprehensive exhibit called America at Play, Game Time! marks the next phase in […]

Continue Reading about All in a Day’s Work: Preparing for Game Time! at The Strong Published on:
December 26, 2012

In the past, many considered mind-wandering a tool used to procrastinate; however, psychologists and neuroscientists today agree it is a vital cognitive tool. Psychologist Jonathan Schooler explained that allowing the mind to wander provides opportunities to explore additional possibilities and often leads to “bursts of creative insight.” This caused me to think about how daydreaming impacts both the process of creating video games and the way individuals experience game play.
Many video games provide windows into other people’s imaginations. Concept […]

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December 21, 2012

I’ve always been curious about how things work. I’ve been known to take things apart and put them back together, just to see if I can. Sometimes tools are involved, sometimes not. Over the years, my scientific explorations have taken me inside the workings of telephones, electronics, vacuum cleaners, and toys—especially toys. Looking back, it seems that I spent more time as a child examining how toys were manufactured and how they functioned than I did playing with them.
One of […]

Continue Reading about Magic Slate, Stretch Armstrong, and Toys that Make You Go Hmmm… Published on:
December 18, 2012

Make-believe makes a big difference. Children’s pretend play equips them for real life, write Julie A. Fiorelli and Sandra W. Russ in their 2012 article for the American Journal of Play. Fantasy play is essential to children’s health and welfare, affirms Vivian Gussin Paley in another Journal issue. Traveling through time and space, assuming imaginary identities, transforming real objects into dramatic props, and developing rules to govern these activities is not just a frivolous pastime. And kids will do it […]

Continue Reading about Free Play among the Furniture Published on:
December 11, 2012