The Strong—in partnership with Google Arts & Culture—explores hip-hop as a site of play and examines its cultural impact on playthings.
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Japanese Home Video Games Before Nintendo’s Famicom
Expertise in electronics helped Japanese toy manufacturers create many digital games in the years before the Nintendo’s Famicom (1983). This exhibit showcases these playthings.
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Women in Games Artifact Tour
For decades, women have created video games and shaped our play, but their contributions have often been overlooked or obscured. Explore the work of 12 female game industry innovators and trailblazers through artifacts in The Strong’s High Score exhibit.
Troubles, Triumphs, and Trivia: 13 Games about Black History
Discover these 13 games that taught Black history through play.
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“We Are You”: How Yla Eason’s Olmec Toys Reshaped the Multicultural Toy Market
Explore how Yla Eason, a Black mother and Harvard-trained businesswoman, built a company that challenged the toy industry’s standards for multicultural representation.
That’s Just How We Roll: A History of the International Gay Bowling Organization
Gay and lesbian bowlers seeking fellowship and fun formed the International Gay Bowling Organization in 1980. Decades later, it is the largest LGBTQ+ sports association anywhere.
Jerry Lawson: The Black Engineer and Entrepreneur Who Changed Video Games
Gerald “Jerry” Lawson changed the way we play by leading the creation of the video game cartridge and founding game developer company Video Soft.
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Is that a Jumeau?
A century before Mattel’s Barbie graced miniature runways, the dollmaker Jumeau provided girls with stylish play companions that showcased French couture and innovation.
Video Game History Timeline
Explore the history of video games, understand how the industry began and evolved, and discover the impact that electronic games have had on how people play, learn, and connect with each other. See the video game timeline.
Ten Sports Video Games that Changed the Digital Playing Field
Sports video games empower us to play as our favorite athletes, compete against our friends, and defeat our opponents with gravity-defying dunks, 90-yard touchdown sprints, and other fantastic feats most of us can only dream of.
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Five Board Games that Changed Play
Over the last 200 years, board games have brought us together with delightful new forms of play that entertain, educate, and (occasionally) exasperate us.
Beyond the Oregon Trail: Six PC Franchises that Helped Us Learn
Whether blasting through math equations or enabling a hunt for crooks across the globe, these six game franchises combined education and entertainment to make learning subjects like algebra and geography fun.
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