Popular Culture Archive

The video game company Her Interactive adopted the slogan “For Girls Who Aren’t Afraid of a Mouse.” The firm’s fan letters and focus group collections informed my research on how video games are a technological construction of human expression. Her Interactive was a company focused on creating games based on the reception they received from their audience—girl gamers. They wanted to make video games based on the Nancy Drew series of novels more story driven so that girls would be […]

Continue Reading about Heroines Just as Interesting as Heroes Published on:
May 19, 2022

As a child, I used to frequent The Strong museum and its many exhibits. I recall having no small amount of fun. Since then, the museum has changed quite a bit. The most iconic exhibits like Sesame Street and Reading Adventureland are still here, but some that I remember have been replaced over the years with other exhibits. However, there’s still a lot to love about the museum and everything therein. 
A favorite part of The Strong from my childhood was […]

Continue Reading about The Strong Museum: Past & Present Published on:
May 12, 2022

We welcomed four new inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame class of 2022: Ms. Pac-Man, Dance Dance Revolution, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Sid Meier’s Civilization. They span almost a 20-year period in game history, with Ms. Pac-Man coming out in 1981, Civilization released ten years later, and DDR and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time debuting in 1998. Interestingly, that seventeen-year time span actually marks the most time-compressed period for any of our World […]

Continue Reading about How Does a Game Get into the World Video Game Hall of Fame? Published on:
May 5, 2022

Joe L. Frost, the renowned scholar and educator who advocated for the importance of free outdoor play, playgrounds, and recess, died on February 17, 2020. Frost was a charter member of the editorial advisory board of the American Journal of Play. In his more than 50 years of research, including writing 20 books and multitudes of articles and reports, teaching, consulting, and service, he became one of play’s greatest champions.
Born in Parks, Arkansas, on March 25, 1933, Frost grew up […]

Continue Reading about Remembering Play Scholar and Advocate Joe L. Frost Published on:
April 28, 2022

Back in earliest months of the U.S. COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, you may have missed the flurry of board game articles all recommending the same game: Pandemic, the 2008 cooperative game where players race around a world map to cure four simultaneous infectious epidemics before the world is lost. Great minds think alike; The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Mashable, NPR, and more outlets raced to publish articles on the resonance of playing Pandemic in an actual pandemic. Most of […]

Continue Reading about Replaying Pandemic in a Pandemic Published on:
April 21, 2022

In 1976, scholar Barbara Bader defined a picture book as “text, illustrations, total design; an item of manufacture and a commercial product; a social, cultural, historic document; and foremost, an experience for a [reader/beholder]. As an art form it hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning page.” I am fascinated by these works of art. Picture books serve as visual and tactile experiences. Many […]

Continue Reading about From the Page to the Playroom Published on:
April 15, 2022

This month we opened our new maker space, Play Lab. It’s a bright, busy place, filled with equipment for assembling, building, crafting, cutting, designing, fashioning, gluing, hammering, programing, soldering, and weaving. Our public programming team and guest services staff will hold facilitated sessions where kids (and adults) can create. It’s hands-on fun!
For kids, making things is an essential type of play, one that teaches as it engages. Scholars note the benefits of construction play. Construction play trains spatial skills. It […]

Continue Reading about Making Space for Play Published on:
April 7, 2022

For as long as play has existed, humans have been making dolls in some form or another. The ancient Egyptians carved figures of their deities, Roman children had dolls of famous gladiators, and as time progressed, these artificial chums became more intricate and advanced. Even Thomas Edison would throw his hat into the ring of manufacturing dolls, though he’d have little success with that venture. Nevertheless, the industry of dolls and action figures would be significant for much of human […]

Continue Reading about Play Pals: Dolls, Action Figures, and More Published on:
March 31, 2022

In a 2020 blog, I discussed how during the pandemic many players of Tabletop Roleplay Games (TTRPGs) turned to platforms online to continue their adventures. I wasn’t alone in turning to TTRPGs for entertainment while stuck at home because that year, National Toy Hall of Fame inductee Dungeons & Dragons saw sales jump 33%! That jump doesn’t even touch on the hundreds of indie TTRPGs that have been released through various crowdfunding sites in the last few years. With more […]

Continue Reading about Keeping the Adventure Fun for Everyone: Safety tools for Tabletop Roleplay Games Published on:
March 28, 2022