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By Adam Nedeff, researchers for the National Archives of Game Show History
Barely five years removed from the quiz show scandals of the 1950s, NBC surprised viewers by touting an exciting new quiz show in which the contestants would be told all the answers…the catch was, they had to provide the questions. Sixty years ago this month, America was introduced to Jeopardy! in March of 1964.
Merv Griffin had lamented to his wife, Julann, about the absence of Q&A shows […]

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February 26, 2024

A proverb in the Bible states, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” 
There’s sound wisdom in this, as anyone knows who has felt better after laughing uproariously at a silly pet video. Play is not necessarily a panacea, but it is good medicine, a way of introducing fun into life and making it a little more bearable along the way. Because of these beneficial qualities of play, it is not surprising that over […]

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February 23, 2024

When I say “tarot cards” you probably conjure up an image of fortune tellers in your mind. Or you might picture the hundreds of decks of the famed 78 cards available in stores. The images on tarot cards always vary, but the structure remains the same: the Major Arcana [also known as the trump cards], and the Minor Arcana, made up of four suits. But did you know, these cards were not used for divination until the 18th century? And […]

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February 16, 2024

Nature always strives for balance. While at times it may be fragile, there are ecosystems all around us that are evidence of this fact. Even in our own lives, we naturally strive for a state of equilibrium. We’re tired, so we sleep. We’re hungry, so we eat. We’re stressed . . . so we play.
The past few years have certainly had their share of stresses, from civil unrest to economic woes and, oh yeah, a global pandemic. It’s more important […]

Continue Reading about The More Things Change. . . Published on:
February 8, 2024

By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
Game shows are not just television programs. They are brands unto themselves, and some of them are represented by graphic icons—the blobby red Whammys of Press Your Luck; the merry joker of The Joker’s Wild; the distinctive dollar sign in The Price Is Right’s logo. These elements are calling cards for classic game shows. The best ones stand on their own as representatives of their show.
One of these classic […]

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January 30, 2024

Doris Bergen, the esteemed educational psychologist whose work enhanced our understandings of play in child development, pretend play, technology play, and humor development died on July 5, 2023. She was a charter member of the editorial advisory board of the American Journal of Play, and a collection of her professional papers lies in the care of The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1932, Bergen grew up in Bucyrus, Ohio. She attended Heidelberg […]

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January 29, 2024

NPCs are having a moment. That raises, of course, an existential question: can an NPC have a moment?
For those not familiar with the term, NPC stands for Non-Player Character. It refers to some living, sentient being in a game that players interact with in a way that’s not purely hostile. A monster you encounter and fight in a game, with little or no conversation outside the moment of combat, could perhaps be considered an NPC, but in practice monsters seem […]

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January 19, 2024

My current research project dives into the play histories of Rochester’s former Manhattan St.-Savannah St. neighborhood where The Strong National Museum of Play is now located. Part of what was called the Southeast Loop area, the neighborhood housed residents and businesses since around the Civil War period. It was one of the oldest residential areas in downtown Rochester well into the 1960s and 1970s, until an urban renewal project largely displaced the lower income community in favor of skyrises and […]

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January 5, 2024

 By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
Thirty years ago this month, a sad bit of game show history was made, but nobody recognized it at the time. On January 14, 1994, NBC aired Caesar’s Challenge for the last time. The following Monday, the network’s schedule was a wall of talk shows and soap operas. With no fanfare at all, viewers witnessed the end of the last original game show format to air on network […]

Continue Reading about The End of the Original, Daytime Game Show Format Published on:
December 27, 2023