A proverb in the Bible states, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
There’s sound wisdom in this, as anyone knows who has felt better after laughing uproariously at a silly pet video. Play is not necessarily a panacea, but it is good medicine, a way of introducing fun into life and making it a little more bearable along the way. Because of these beneficial qualities of play, it is not surprising that over […]
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From Playing Cards to Divination
When I say “tarot cards” you probably conjure up an image of fortune tellers in your mind. Or you might picture the hundreds of decks of the famed 78 cards available in stores. The images on tarot cards always vary, but the structure remains the same: the Major Arcana [also known as the trump cards], and the Minor Arcana, made up of four suits. But did you know, these cards were not used for divination until the 18th century? And […]
The More Things Change. . .
Nature always strives for balance. While at times it may be fragile, there are ecosystems all around us that are evidence of this fact. Even in our own lives, we naturally strive for a state of equilibrium. We’re tired, so we sleep. We’re hungry, so we eat. We’re stressed . . . so we play.
The past few years have certainly had their share of stresses, from civil unrest to economic woes and, oh yeah, a global pandemic. It’s more important […]
The Man Behind Memorable Game Show Graphics
By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
Game shows are not just television programs. They are brands unto themselves, and some of them are represented by graphic icons—the blobby red Whammys of Press Your Luck; the merry joker of The Joker’s Wild; the distinctive dollar sign in The Price Is Right’s logo. These elements are calling cards for classic game shows. The best ones stand on their own as representatives of their show.
One of these classic […]
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Remembering Play Scholar and Educational Psychologist Doris Bergen
Doris Bergen, the esteemed educational psychologist whose work enhanced our understandings of play in child development, pretend play, technology play, and humor development died on July 5, 2023. She was a charter member of the editorial advisory board of the American Journal of Play, and a collection of her professional papers lies in the care of The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1932, Bergen grew up in Bucyrus, Ohio. She attended Heidelberg […]
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The History of NPCs
NPCs are having a moment. That raises, of course, an existential question: can an NPC have a moment?
For those not familiar with the term, NPC stands for Non-Player Character. It refers to some living, sentient being in a game that players interact with in a way that’s not purely hostile. A monster you encounter and fight in a game, with little or no conversation outside the moment of combat, could perhaps be considered an NPC, but in practice monsters seem […]
Exploring Neighborhood Play: Revisiting Chop Suey
My current research project dives into the play histories of Rochester’s former Manhattan St.-Savannah St. neighborhood where The Strong National Museum of Play is now located. Part of what was called the Southeast Loop area, the neighborhood housed residents and businesses since around the Civil War period. It was one of the oldest residential areas in downtown Rochester well into the 1960s and 1970s, until an urban renewal project largely displaced the lower income community in favor of skyrises and […]
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The End of the Original, Daytime Game Show Format
By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
Thirty years ago this month, a sad bit of game show history was made, but nobody recognized it at the time. On January 14, 1994, NBC aired Caesar’s Challenge for the last time. The following Monday, the network’s schedule was a wall of talk shows and soap operas. With no fanfare at all, viewers witnessed the end of the last original game show format to air on network […]
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Why Stop at Potatoes?
I was walking through the museum recently and passed the table of Mr. Potato Head toys, an area that has always been popular with guests. It was then that I unexpectedly heard a young child exclaim, “Mr. Tomato Head!” At first, I couldn’t stop laughing. I’m not sure if it’s my strange sense of humor, the idea of a dollar store knock-off called “Mr. Tomato Head,” or the image that formed of a family of vegetables with faces à la […]