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As the college bowl season draws to a close and the NFL playoffs begin, I’ve noticed myself playing more simulated football. From classic paper football with my son to Madden NFL 10 with friends, I just can’t seem to get enough lately. Controlling the action in these games seems to help counter the sense of helplessness that goes along with watching the sport this time of year. During a recent session of Madden with a friend and fellow gamer, we […]

Continue Reading about Are You Ready For Some (Electronic) Football? Published on:
January 7, 2011

Time travel doesn’t require a magic potion or a Back to the Future DeLorean. Sometimes all it takes is a familiar scent, sound, or taste. For me, it might be smelling popcorn, hearing a favorite Christmas carol, or seeing the cover of a once beloved but forgotten book that sends me back in time. I had a vivid time travel reaction recently when the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at the Strong acquired an extensive collection of Golden […]

Continue Reading about Golden Memories Published on:
January 4, 2011

The next time someone criticizes video games for their impact on moral values, here’s some historical perspective to offer them.
More than 200 years ago, commentators expressed concern that the newly popularized novels distracted readers from their work and harmed their morals. Critics worried especially about young women who became some of the most avid fans of novels. In an 1802 broadside, “Novel Reading, a Cause of Female Depravity,” one critic wrote, “Without the poison instilled [by novels] into the blood, […]

Continue Reading about Criticism of Video Games is Déjà Vu Published on:
December 30, 2010

My grandmother loved to play all kinds of games. In fact, I probably inherited my love for games from her. When my sister and I would show up on Nana’s doorstep and ask her to play a game with us, she would stop whatever she was doing and say, “Go pick out a game from the closet.” The closet’s trove of options included games such as Trouble, Sorry!, Po-Ke-No, and Don’t Spill the Beans. But our number one pick was […]

Continue Reading about Rolling through Life with Kismet Published on:
December 28, 2010

Winter brings romantic holidays and parties with mistletoe and Dean Martin singing “Baby’ It’s Cold Outside.” When the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, we pucker up. And then a month later, we send sappy confessions of love and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate.  Love is a beautiful thing, but I despise all this commercialization. Mistletoe is an overrated garnish. And I can’t justify spending four bucks on a Hallmark greeting (no matter who the recipient is) that reads “I […]

Continue Reading about Romance in Video Games Published on:
December 22, 2010

Kids often use play to explore adult roles, and toy and game makers are only too glad to produce playthings that tap into that behavior. The museum’s collection includes a group of games that provide revealing illustrations of adult perspectives on how kids can or should envision their roles as adults.

In the late 1960s, Selchow & Righter, most famous for Parcheesi and Scrabble, produced board games titled What Shall I Be? in variations tailored to boys and girls. A competitor […]

Continue Reading about What’s a Girl to Do? Published on:
December 21, 2010

Recently, my husband and I made our way through the crowded hallways of the Sony Center in Toronto to hear Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy. As we took our seats in the mezzanine, musicians on the stage below tuned instruments and briefly practiced music. I sat back in my seat and watched the crowd stream in—women in evening gowns, men in suits, teenage girls in elaborate Gothic Lolita dresses, and others in full video-game-character cosplay outfits. My crowd-watching ceased […]

Continue Reading about Final Fantasy Video Game Concert Series Published on:
December 15, 2010

I miss my favorite vampire. No, not Edward Cullen or Bill Compton—I’m in Count Chocula withdrawal. Ever since this chocolaty breakfast cereal became a seasonal specialty at my local supermarket, I’ve spent 11 months per year convincing myself not to purchase a 12-pack online. It’s a somewhat irrational love, isn’t it? Count Chocula has never had a TV series of his own. He exists solely to advertise a product in animated commercials. Somehow, though, he enticed me into his dark, […]

Continue Reading about Monsters and Marshmallows: The Allure of Breakfast Cereal Characters Published on:
December 14, 2010

Some 135 years ago, four squirrels romping merrily through the woods met an unfortunate end. But, fortunately for us, those squirrels found a place in a playful diorama in the museum’s collections. Situated in a well-decorated parlor, the four squirrels are now posed in an eternal game of cards. That made them a perfect illustration for the induction of playing cards into the National Toy Hall of Fame a month ago. But before the diorama could go out on exhibit, […]

Continue Reading about The Squirrel Says “Go Fish” Published on:
December 7, 2010