With free-agent superstar quarterback Peyton Manning headed to Denver and Tim Tebow to New York, I’m left wondering at the residue that fleeting celebrity leaves behind and how kids at play take in fame and make of it something of their own. And here I turn to my sister-in-law Lynn, who puts the “fanatic” in Broncos fandom. She lives in Boulder and teaches in grade school there, where she’s well-positioned to follow and observe kindergarten kids playing at recess. Last […]
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WoW Server Blade and the History of Role-Playing Video Games
With more than 10 million subscribers and a Guinness World Record for most popular MMORPG, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft (WoW) ushered in a new generation of online gaming. Last year, Blizzard auctioned approximately 2,000 original WoW server blades (stripped-down server computer) to benefit St. Jude’s Research Hospital, and ICHEG was pleased to add one to our collections. Our WoW server blade represents the North American Barthilas Realm, in use from June 9, 2006, until June 9, 2010. Although no longer […]
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Monopoly and More: How The Strong Builds Collections
Do you marvel at the toys and dolls on display at The Strong? Ever wonder how they came to the National Museum of Play? As curator of games—board games, card games, and many more—I’m responsible for acquiring historic playthings and popular new examples. But how exactly do we do it?
One way is through donation. And some of my favorite donations include stories about who played the game and what that experience involved. For example, the museum received a Monopoly game […]
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Playing with Words and Other Brain Games
Alas, the letter with the little red complimentary AARP membership card comes to us all in good time. I tore mine up because it seemed the quickest and most expressive way to deny the passage of time. But denial didn’t keep me from perusing the instructive AARP website, or from spending a half hour with the Brain Health tab and the useful games it offers.
I say “useful” because the games promised to exercise and train recall, to improve ability to […]
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The OTHER Video Games: Board Games Based on 70s and 80s Television Shows
When you live in a Little House on the Prairie, every day offers a fresh challenge. Who knows what challenges you’ll be confronted with next? Will Pa need to race against time to extinguish a blazing fire? Will Mary and Laura come face-to-face with a pack of wolves? Will Ma and Carrie find a good crop to harvest? Yes, I’m referring to the Ingalls family, who lived on the banks of Plum Creek near the small town of Walnut Grove, […]
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Video Games for Your Health
Here is a list of cliché complaints that you likely hear on a daily basis:
I was so worried about such and such, I couldn’t sleep.
I got so bored running on the treadmill, I just wanted to slide off the back of it at full speed.
I should not have ordered that ______ (fill in the blank) last night.
For most of my adult life, I have said at least one of these each week. However, I have found a few fun, innovative […]
The Icemen Swimmeth
On a sunny, stormy Sunday in late February we took ourselves and our goldendoodle, The Dood, to the broad beach at the mouth of the Genesee to watch the spindrift and to chase castaway flip flops. The Dood can run down the flotsam we toss, but being only 50% retriever, he hasn’t yet mastered the trick of bringing it back. In any case, with no bathers to bother, it’s an ideal spot for a full throttle chase. A place with […]
Playing with Advertising
A beautiful collie stands in a meadow of blue and yellow flowers. His brown and white fur blows in the wind. He looks well tempered and loyal. I affectionately call him Sammy, but when I roll him over to rub his belly, I am confronted with an advertisement for Butter-Krust Bread. What gives? Sammy’s more than just a dog; he’s an advertising toy, just one of hundreds of similar toys distributed by businesses as advertisements between 1895 and 1920.
Over […]
Play, Dreamstuff, and Film
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences found themselves in a historicizing mood this year as two films (one showily silent and in black in white, the other in lavish 3D) harked back to the early days of French filmmaking. Between them, The Artist and Hugo, walked away with 10 Oscars.
The two movies put me in mind of that furiously productive era when grown up boys tinkered the modern world into existence. Alexander Graham Bell gave us voice communication, […]