2026 Finalists2026 Finalists
Bingo
American bingo is descended from a lottery game first played in Italy around 1530. The game came to be known as lotto and was played in France and in Germany as a teaching […]
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Bop It!
Bop It! debuted in 1996 and combined electronic game processes with free play and physical elements in an innovative way. The handheld game challenges players to follow voice-recorded commands and press the large […]
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Care Bears
Soft and sweet, cute and cuddly, Care Bears have been teaching youngsters compassion, kindness, and consideration for others since the early 1980s. Stars of storybooks, television shows, movies, games, toys and home decorations, […]
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Mahjong
Mahjong (also known as Mah-Jongg) evolved from 18th and 19th-century gambling card games in China. Variations spread to Korea, Japan, and other areas of Asia before becoming popular in the United States in […]
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Monster High
Monster High hit the fashion doll scene in 2010. The first line included Frankie Stein, Clawdeen Wolf, Lagoona Blue, and Cleo de Nile. These were not just the children of vampires, mummies, werewolves, […]
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Mouse Trap
When Mouse Trap debuted in 1963, no game in the world looked quite like it. It used injection molded plastic to create a Rube Goldberg-esque contraption at the board’s center and blurred the line between […]
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Pokémon Trading Card Game
Pokémon Trading Card Game has impacted trading card games throughout the world, with billions of cards produced since it debuted in 1996. The game’s mechanics are straightforward and can be grasped within a […]
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Polly Pocket
Since 1989, Polly Pocket has proven that good things come in small packages. The first Polly Pocket playsets consisted of a pastel-colored clamshell case that opened to reveal an entire world with molded spaces […]
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Slide
While the origins of the first slide for play and recreation are debated, many scholars believe they have existed for centuries. Slides are both a means for thrill-seeking and exercise. Although the apparatus has changed over time, the […]
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Sorry!
The Sorry! board game is one of many variants descended from the ancient Indian cross and circle game pachisi, commonly known and branded as Parcheesi in the United States. Instead of traditional dice, players draw […]
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Tickle Me Elmo
Tickle Me Elmo combined the appeal of Sesame Street’s stand-out character with a novel design and became the must-have toy of the 1996 holiday season. Putting electronics into a plush-type toy had been done before […]
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Yahtzee
When playing Yahtzee, each player takes a turn rolling the dice in a cup to try to match the combination of the number values with a list of predetermined combinations to score points. […]
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Player’s Choice Ballot
Which toy do you think is most worthy of joining icons such as LEGO, Monopoly, and the Rubik’s Cube in the National Toy Hall of Fame? Vote below for the one you think best meets the criteria of icon-status, longevity, discovery, and innovation.
