The Strong is an interactive, collections-based educational institution in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, United States, devoted to the study and exploration of play. It carries out this mission through six programmatic arms called "Play Partners": *

National Toy Hall of Fame The National Toy Hall of Fame is a U.S. hall of fame that recognizes the contributions of toys and games that have sustained their popularity for many years. Criteria for induction include: icon status (the toy is widely recognized, respected, an ...

World Video Game Hall of Fame The World Video Game Hall of Fame is an international hall of fame that opened on June 4, 2015. It is located in The National Museum of Play's ''eGameRevolution'' exhibit; the hall's administration is overseen by The Strong and the Internationa ...

International Center for the History of Electronic Games The International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) collects, studies, and interprets video games, other electronic games, and related materials and the ways in which electronic games are changing how people play, learn, and conn ...

* The Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play * '' American Journal of Play'' * The Woodbury School It also houses

the National Museum of Play The Strong National Museum of Play (known as just The Strong Museum or simply the Strong) is part of The Strong in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1969 and based initially on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret ...

. Independent and not-for-profit, The Strong houses hundreds of thousands of historical materials related to

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

. These enable a multifaceted array of research, exhibition, and other interpretive activities that serve a diverse audience of adults, families, children, students, teachers, scholars, collectors, and others around the globe.

History

The Strong was founded by Margaret Woodbury Strong in 1968 as the "Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum of Fascination." On her death the next year, the museum inherited her estate and collection of dolls, toys, and other everyday objects. It moved to a new building in downtown Rochester in 1982. Market research in the 1990s led it to pivot toward more family-oriented programming, and in 2002 it acquired the

, which it renamed the Strong National Museum of Play on 2006. The institution rebranded itself The Strong in 2010, housing

The National Museum of Play The Strong National Museum of Play (known as just The Strong Museum or simply the Strong) is part of The Strong in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1969 and based initially on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret ...

and four additional Play Partners. The Strong collects and preserves artifacts,

documents A document is a writing, written, drawing, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of nonfiction, non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', w ...

, and other materials that illuminate the meaning and importance of play. The hundreds of thousands of objects in The Strong’s collections comprise the world’s most comprehensive assemblage of

toys A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

electronic games An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...

, and other items related to play, many of which are on display in approximately 100,000 square feet (26,200m2) of exhibition space.

Current Exhibits

* Play Lab * Skyline Climb * Toy Halls of Fame * Material Girl * Millennial Madness: The Toys That Shaped a Generation * Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden * Women in Games * Wegmans Super Kids Market * Reading Adventureland * Play Pals * Pinball Playfields * Peanuts and Play Display * One History Place * Imagination Destination * Game Time! * Field of Play * eGameRevolution * DanceLab * Elaine Wilson Carousel * Strong Express Train * Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? * Build, Drive, Go * The Berenstain Bears: Down a Sunny Dirt Road * Aquariums at Rainbow Reef * American Comic Book Heroes * America at Play * Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences

Former Exhibits

* Kid to Kid * UnEARTHling * Between 2 Worlds * Richard Scarry's Busytown * Psychology: It's More Than You Think! * Contraptions A to Z * Arthur's World * Say Aah! * Altered States * Memory and Mourning * Earth 2U: Exploring Geography * Kaleidoscope * Toys from Mars * Kid Stuff * The Rochester Business Hall of Fame * Making Radio Waves * Geo-Zoooom! * Face to Face: Dealing with Prejudice and Discrimination * The Nobel Prize: Celebrating 100 Years of Creativity and Innovation * Global Shoes * Not Sold in Stores * Sweet Shoppe * Louie's * Alice's Wonderland: A Most Curious Adventure * Making Things Happen * Lady Liberty * The Berenstain Bears: The Art of Stan and Jan Berenstain * Adventures with Clifford the Big Red Dog * Mister Rogers' Neighborhood * Think Tank * Discovery Garden * Things for Play * Art of the Garden * Cyberchase * Bob the Builder: Project: Build It! * Grossology * Curious George: Let's Get Curious! * Make It & Take It * Name the Newcomer Contest * Child's Play * Mr. Potato Head * Videotopia * America's Favorite Doll * Mindbender Mansion * Toys and More * National Geographic MAPS * Five Friends from Japan * Football: The Exhibit * Monopoly * The Wizard of Oz * Design Zone * Doodle 4 Google * Dora & Diego: Let's Explore * LEGO Travel Adventure * Boardwalk Arcade * Atari Design * Little Builders * Animation * LEGO Castle Adventure * Play Pals * Trivial Pursuit: A 50-State Adventure * Cats Versus Dogs * Joey & Johnny, the Ninjas * Racers: The Thrill of Driving Game * Go Greyhound Display * Sid the Science Kid: The Super-Duper Exhibit * Playing with Power * Making Magic * Perfectly Pez * Hot Wheels: Race to Win * Muppets, Fraggles, and Beyond: The Jim Henson Collection * Rockets, Robots, and Ray Guns * The Force at Play * Dinosaurs: The Land of Fire and Ice * Playing with Politics * Big, Scary, and Extinct * Hands-On-Harley-Davidson * Paw Patrol

Woodbury School

Woodbury School at The Strong offers a preschool program for three- and four-year-old children and an early kindergarten program for four- and five-year-old children. Both programs are

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...

-inspired, and therefore responsive to the children's interests. This curriculum approach encourages teachers and students to work together to plan curriculum and create projects. Guided by teachers who facilitate their explorations, children delve deeply into topics that fascinate them and stimulate their learning.

The International Center for the History of Electronic Games

The

collects, studies, and interprets

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

, other electronic games, and related materials and the ways in which electronic games are changing how people play, learn, and connect with each other, including across boundaries of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

National Toy Hall of Fame

The

recognizes toys that have demonstrated popularity over multiple generations and thereby gained national significance in the world of play and imagination. Each year it inducts honorees and showcases both new and historic versions of the classic objects of play.

World Video Game Hall of Fame

On June 4, 2015, The Strong opened the doors to its

. Its curator is Jon-Paul C. Dyson, who is The Strong's Vice President for Exhibit Research and Development and the Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games. The First Class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame consists of six games: ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the approp ...

'', ''

Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game '' Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for ...

'', ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

'', ''

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...

'', ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...

'' and ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...

''. The Second Class consists of an additional six games: ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...

'', ''

Grand Theft Auto III ''Grand Theft Auto III'' is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 1999's ''Grand Theft Auto 2'', and the fifth instalment o ...

'', '' The Oregon Trail'', ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...

'', ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...

'' and ''

The Sims ''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. The games ...

''. The Third Class includes ''

Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and his clan of other Ape, apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of plat ...

, Halo: Combat Evolved,

Pokémon Red (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' and ''Green'' ''and

Street Fighter II is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...

.'' The Fourth Class includes ''

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertai ...

'', ''

John Madden Football ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...

'', ''

Spacewar! ''Spacewar!'' is a space combat video game developed in 1962 by Steve Russell in collaboration with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner, and others. It was written for the newly installed DEC PDP-1 minicomputer at the Mas ...

'' and ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, th ...

''. Games become eligible for the World Video Game Hall of Fame by meeting four basic criteria. They must be iconic, have longevity, reach across international boundaries, and exert influence on the design and development of other games, other forms of entertainment, or popular culture and society.

Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play

The Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play is a multidisciplinary research repository devoted to the intellectual, social, and cultural history of play. In addition to housing the personal library and papers of eminent play scholar

Brian Sutton-Smith Brian Sutton Smith (July 15, 1924 – March 7, 2015), better known as Brian Sutton-Smith, was a play theorist who spent his lifetime attempting to discover the cultural significance of play in human life, arguing that any useful definition of pla ...

, it holds a spectrum of primary and secondary resources, including scholarly works, popular and children’s books, professional journals, other periodicals, trade catalogs, comics, manuscripts, game design materials, personal papers, and business records.

''American Journal of Play''

The '' American Journal of Play'' is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary

periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also examples ...

for the discussion of the history, science and culture of play. It includes articles, interviews, and book reviews for a broad readership, including educators, scholars and designers.

References

External links

The Strong National Museum of Play''American Journal of Play''The International Center for the History of Electronic GamesBrian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of PlayNational Toy Hall of Fame
* Karp, Walter
"A Fascination With The Common Place"
''

American Heritage American Heritage may refer to: * ''American Heritage'' (magazine) * ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' * American Heritage Rivers * American Heritage School (disambiguation) See also *National Register of Historic Place ...

'', August/September 1986 (37:5) {{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, The Organizations based in Rochester, New York