As a child, I always enjoyed playing video games, but I never paid too much attention to the musical accompaniment in the background. It wasn’t until college that I first heard gaming music on its own. Prior to that, I simply enjoyed the music as background noise for games, or as musical cues that prompted me to “jump” or dodge an enemy. But then I met the man who eventually became my husband, and while we were dating, we burned […]

Continue Reading about ICHEG, the RPO, and Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Published on:
October 21, 2015

“Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human.”                
~ Admiral James T. Kirk

Continue Reading about Beam Him Up, Scotty: Remembering Leonard Nimoy Published on:
March 3, 2015

In 1981, Atari released Centipede—a shoot ‘em up arcade game comprised of pixilated creepy-crawlies—created by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, one of the first female game designers. To play the game, a player used a trackball controller and a single firing button to shoot at a large centipede as it wound its way down the screen and through a field of mushrooms. The player also needed to steer clear of spiders, fleas and scorpions. The game quickly became one of […]

Continue Reading about From Pixel to Paper: The Centipede Board Game Published on:
January 20, 2015

When Danish carpenter Ole Christiansen sensed a demand for inexpensive, quality playthings in the 1930s, he crafted wooden blocks and other toys and soon founded LEGO. In 1949, the company produced a set of red and white interlocking plastic bricks entitled “Automatic Building Blocks.” For decades, LEGO sets have provided children and adults with hours of creative play. In 1997, electronic game developer and publisher Mindscape introduced the construction toy to virtual play with LEGO Island.

Continue Reading about The Virtual World of LEGOs Published on:
November 12, 2014

I recently read Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One. The story captivated me and likely appeals to other gaming fans, especially those who—like me—happen to love 1980s pop-culture. Although the book takes place in the future, the plot encouraged me to think more about games from the past.
In Ready Player One, America becomes a wasteland. To escape the onset of depression, the vast majority of citizens flee into Oasis, a virtual video game world. When the creator (James Halliday) of […]

Continue Reading about Hunting for Easter Eggs Published on:
August 15, 2014

Some video games make us want to throw our controllers against the wall and swear never to play again. But somehow we always seem to find ourselves plopped back on the couch, controller clutched tightly in our hands, determined that this time will be different.
Frustration and challenge are part of the appeal of a good game and that fits with much of what we know about what makes good play. More than 50 years ago, Benjamin Spock (the pediatrician, not […]

Continue Reading about Difficulty in Video Gaming Published on:
June 27, 2014

“For me, the Cube is a piece of art. It is more than an object with the shapes of a cube made of plastic, more than many colored stickers, more than a puzzle, and it is much more than a gimmick. Like other pieces of art, the Cube is more than itself. Though it may look ever simple at first, it is in fact rather complicated and complex at the same time.” -Ernő Rubik, 2008

Continue Reading about Evolution of the Rubik’s Cube Published on:
May 29, 2014

Three times a year The Strong accepts research fellowship applications from academic scholars, independent researchers, and students at the Masters or PhD level interested in conducting research at The Strong.

Continue Reading about Strong Fellowships Promote Play Scholarship Published on:
March 25, 2014

As Acquisitions Cataloger, I get to see every object ICHEG acquires. The CHEGheads have already written about some of our most influential new items of 2013, such as our collection of nearly 7,000 Japanese video games; a Fix-It Felix, Jr. arcade machine commissioned directly from Disney to promote their animated feature film Wreck-It Ralph; and Hercules Pinball, the largest commercial pinball machine ever created. Here are some of my other favorite acquisitions of this year. 5. Jet Force Gemini Signed […]

Continue Reading about Five ICHEG Acquisitions of 2013 Published on:
December 19, 2013