What-To-Do Wednesday - Virtual Visit: The Strong Museum of Play

If you want to get your dose of culture while being stuck inside, many museums and other attractions offer a variety of virtual exhibits. This is an especially great time to explore museums and attractions that are outside of your area and maybe even outside of your country that you ordinarily would not be able to get to because of time and/or money constraints. We will doing so as well and  we will be sharing one or more of our virtual visits in today's and future What-To-Do Wednesday posts.

What: The Strong Museum of Play 

Physical Location: 1 Manhattan Square
                                Rochester, NY

The Strong Museum of Play was established in Rochester, New York in 1969 and opened to the public in 1982.  It was initially based around the collection of  Margaret Woodbury Strong. The museum is devoted to the study and exploration of play, and it is the largest museum of its kind. The National Toy Hall of Fame is located at the museum and new honorees are added to the hall each year. 

The museums numerous collections include:

Toy and Doll Collections

Video and Other Electronic Game Collections

and  much more.


Current online exhibits include:


American Board and Card Game History: 

Learn about early games like The Jolly Game of Goose and The Landlord's Game, a precursor of Monopoly.

Explore the history of popular games like Battleship and Trivial Pursuit.

Discover newer games like Dominion and Agricola.

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/american-board-and-card-game-history/9wJiZCrQ9FmHJw


A Brief History of Women in Gaming the 1980s:  

Learn about such pioneering women as:

Roberta Williams who along with her husband founded a software company and created the first graphic adventure game.

Dona Bailey who was a co-creators of Centipede.

Reiko Kodama  who was the first female video game artist

and more.

The exhibit also includes video clips of some of the games in action.

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/a-brief-history-of-women-in-gaming-the-1980s/CwKCGJf3HpdoIg


The Oregon Trail, MECC and the Rise of Computer Learning: 

Learn about the history of MECC and their development of the game Oregon Trail.

Learn how the game changed over time.

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-oregon-trail-mecc-and-the-rise-of-computer-learning/TAICA3oJZQm2Kw


Other current online exhibits include:

Margaret Woodbury Strong and the Making of the Strong Museum

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/margaret-woodbury-strong-and-the-making-of-the-strong-national-museum-of-play/PQICXcY_ELWwIA

Making Monopoly: A History of the Origins of American's Favorite Board Game

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/making-monopoly-a-history-of-the-origins-of-america%E2%80%99s-favorite-board-game/ZgLSngw0ZZDFLQ

Playing with Politics

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/playing-with-politics/UwKivEbgPUxQJQ

and more.


There are also several online picture collections to explore include ones devoted to:

Dolls and related items

Videos and related items

and more.


For more about The Strong Museum of Play or to explore its online collections and exhibits, visit https://www.museumofplay.org/.

Tune in tomorrow for Theater Thursday.

photo credit: Sean X. Liu Strong national museum of play via photopin (license)