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Pinball is a game that dates back nearly a century, with many companies in the industry rising and falling and designers creating icons of the ever-evolving superstar of non-digital gaming. The Strong museum’s Pinball Playfields exhibit showcases some of the finest machines that the industry has ever seen and, while this is by no means a complete collection, there’s no doubt that these machines are icons in their own right.
Dancing Dolls
Take a step back in time to the oft romanticized […]

Continue Reading about Pinball Playfields: A Flippin’ Good Time Published on:
December 23, 2021

How did you spend the summer after your high school graduation? Though that was a few more years ago than I care to enumerate, some memories spring to the forefront of my mind: feeling anxious and excited about starting college in the fall; working long hours at a family entertainment center (where I was occasionally costumed as a giant mouse…); and spending those last, warm evenings having fun with my hometown friends. I was certainly not doing anything groundbreaking—pretty much […]

Continue Reading about The First Female Video Game Designer Published on:
December 16, 2021

One of my favorite recent museum acquisitions is a package of 1990s Pink Panther lunch bags. The infamous animated character is playing Panther, an adorable, make-believe arcade game starring himself. At The Strong, we preserve obvious commercial playthings like arcade cabinets and game cartridges, but we also acquire playful artifacts and play-related materials that can assist in contextualizing play in a specific period. As the research historian, I think the artifact helps us capture how video games permeate everyday spaces […]

Continue Reading about What’s in a Bag? Published on:
December 9, 2021

While two versions of Police Academy are known to have been created at Atari, no playable versions had yet to be found. Within the Atari Coin-Op Division Corporate Records at The Strong, more than just a single playable version was founding, giving a glimpse into the creation of a long-lost video game.
By Andrew Borman

Continue Reading about Game Saves: Police Academy for NES Published on:
December 2, 2021

We’ve recently opened Skyline Climb, a high adventure ropes course that soars high in our cathedral-like glass atrium. Physical play like this is important, not only as part of the museum experience here at The Strong but as a contributor to well-being in general, especially for children. This attraction offers guests more than just the opportunity to test their agility and balance; it also is a playground for building resolve, courage, and confidence. Asking guests to navigate narrow beams at […]

Continue Reading about The Benefits of Risky Play Published on:
November 23, 2021

On November 4, 2022, the board game Risk joined the other celebrated toys and games in the National Toy Hall of Fame. But that accolade only confirmed what someone like John Crocker knew—Risk is a great game. Crocker served in the United States Air Force during the Gulf War, from 1990–1991. His squad stumbled upon a Risk board game. He said,
“During our time in the Gulf we must have played 50 (heated) games of Risk. Fast forward to our 25 year Gulf war […]

Continue Reading about Risk: Playing War with Family and Friends Published on:
November 18, 2021

Sand may not be running through my veins, but it’s definitely been a significant part of my life for decades. One of my earliest childhood memories involves playing in the backyard sandbox that my dad built. The sandbox wasn’t huge and its wooden construction wasn’t anything fancy, but I spent hours playing in it. Being a kid who loved toy cars, my Tootsie Toy and Matchbox vehicles regularly maneuvered through that miniature sandy landscape and probably spent more than a […]

Continue Reading about True Grit Published on:
November 11, 2021

Following a visit to historic Williamsburg, Virginia, and a Christmas shopping trip for her nieces, educator and newscaster Pleasant Rowland pondered, “Here I am, in a generation of women at the forefront of redefining women’s roles, and yet our daughters are playing with dolls that celebrate being a teen queen or mommy.” Rowland spent a weekend creating a concept intended to redefine how girls interacted with their playthings, and in 1986, she launched a new line of 18-inch dolls—American Girl […]

Continue Reading about American Girl Dolls Inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame Published on:
November 4, 2021

The once pejorative term “walking simulator” was often deployed to single out video games that bucked the trend of delivering a fast-paced, action-packed, adrenaline-pumping experience with clear-cut rules and goals and instead opted for making video games organized by a thin set of rules and optional tasks in favor of open-ended wandering and exploration. These days, walking simulators show promise as they rise in popularity, signaling an important shift in interest among developers and gamers alike toward nuance, discovery, and […]

Continue Reading about Simulation, Photography, and Flâneurie In Video Games Published on:
October 28, 2021