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My two favorite childhood Christmas gifts were a red three-speed bike and a blue-boxed Basic Dungeons and Dragons set. On the bike, I rode miles from home, shifting gears to climb previously unconquered hills and discover new places around my small Connecticut town. With Dungeons and Dragons, I discovered freedom of imagination just as thrilling as the physical freedom the bike provided.
Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) cast its spell on many people during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and, like […]

Continue Reading about The Influence of Dungeons and Dragons on Video Games Published on:
May 6, 2011

Rolling my artifact cart through the exhibits at The Strong’s National Museum of Play, I often spot guests who are shoo-ins for the stage. These budding thespians linger under the colorful lights in Kid to Kid and the majestic red curtain in Reading Adventureland’s Fairy Tale Forest. There’s nothing like playing at plays—take it from me, since I spent most of my high school years performing in theatrical productions. One of the lessons I picked up through those acting experiences […]

Continue Reading about More than Words: Theater’s Unsung Heroes Published on:
May 3, 2011

Think for a moment about some great video games. Consider coin-ops such as Atari’s vector-graphic Star Wars, Bally/Midway’s James Bondesque Spy Hunter, and Cinematronics’ laserdisc Dragon’s Lair.  Search your memory and recall playing early PC games like Dan Bunten’s M.U.L.E., Bill Budge’s Pinball Construction Set, or Richard Garriott’s Ultima III: Exodus. Return for just a minute to the shag carpet in front of your family television set where The Activision Decathlon, World Series Baseball, and a port of Zaxxon sat alongside […]

Continue Reading about What Video Game Crash? Published on:
April 26, 2011

The America at Play: Play Stories Video Contest ended on Friday, April 15, and the results are in! Voters selected the first, second, and third place winners: How WE Play in Justin, TX, Dance, and My Game. All three videos prove that play doesn’t end when you become an adult; “grownups” embrace and enjoy play too! Congratulations to the prize winners and thanks to everyone who submitted a video to the contest. You’re to be commended for your dedication, creativity, […]

Continue Reading about America at Play Contest Winners! Published on:
April 25, 2011

Imagine that it’s January 1896. To your dismay, you find yourself stuck at your aunt’s house one particularly dreary winter day with absolutely nothing to do.
Your aunt’s parlor is cold, with the wind whistling in through the single-pane windows and the wood fire barely taking an edge off the chill. Even worse, there’s nothing to entertain you. You don’t play the piano and radio, television, and the Internet don’t exist—there’s not even a cat to play with. Your aunt fetches […]

Continue Reading about Playing with Living Pictures: Clockwork Tableaux Published on:
April 19, 2011

Over the past few weeks, the America at Play: Play Stories Video Contest has received dozens of fun and creative videos that illustrate the way Americans play, now and in years past. Browsing through all of them takes some time, so I wanted to share a few of my personal favorites and guide you to the ones that I think shouldn’t be missed. 
Bicycle Tag
Though it was the first submission to the contest, this video remains one of my favorites. This […]

Continue Reading about Top Video Picks Published on:
April 11, 2011

In 2010, The Strong received a sizable and generous donation from Prima Games, one of the leading strategy guide publishers in the electronic games industry. The gift consisted of more than a thousand strategy guides for both PC and console video games from 1990 to 2009. Following an eight-month cataloging project, all 1,264 game guides can now be found in the Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play’s online catalog.
Having immersed myself in Prima’s strategy guides for the better part […]

Continue Reading about A Librarian’s Top 5 Video Game Strategy Guides Published on:
April 5, 2011

My recent TV line-up includes Bored to Death and Pushing Daisies. And I just read Dashiell Hammett’s Maltese Falcon. The detectives in all call to mind a list of favorite video game sleuths:
 1. Nancy Drew, amateur sleuth from the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories
Who doesn’t find appealing a self-reliant girl solving mysteries in style? Her Interactive recently announced its first storybook app, Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch. Megan Gaiser, President and CEO of the company, said “we wanted this series […]

Continue Reading about Cracking the Case in Video Games Published on:
April 5, 2011

When you reminisce and think of your brightest, fondest memories of childhood play, what comes to mind? You might recall hours in front of a Monopoly board or days spent crafting intricate models made from LEGO bricks, but are those truly your most treasured memories? Or is it the recollection of rowdy games of freeze tag in the front yard or wrestling with your little brother in a makeshift ring that you hold closest to your heart?
Perusing the submissions for […]

Continue Reading about Outside the Box: What We Remember About Play Published on:
March 31, 2011