I know that we have an embarrassment of riches in the Rochester, NY area when it comes to board games. Recently, a local store, Millennium Games, opened what is being billed as the largest game store in the U.S. and, at 26,000 square feet, it just might be. Another local store, Just Games, won the 2020 GAMA Power Retail Award for Outstanding Organized Play. Add a couple of gaming cafes/bars (Nerdvana and Dice Versa) and a number of local clubs and you have a great location for board game enthusiasts.
Then there is the Strong National Museum of Play, the only collections based museum in the world that is devoted exclusively to play, including toys, games, books and other items that kids and adults enjoy. A recent expansion doubled the museum’s size to 282,000 square feet (in comparison, The Louvre in Paris is 782,000 square feet). Unlike most museums that place their exhibits behind ropes and glass, the Strong prides itself on the interactive experiences throughout the museum, whether its exploring a pirate ship, working at a grocery store, playing a video game or sitting on the iconic Sesame Street front steps.
While much of the museum is devoted to literal child’s play, there are areas that will appeal to modern board gamers including a section with the history of play on the table top. Behind the scenes, though, is where the real treasure trove resides. Their archives house over 3,500 games, going back to the 1800’s all the way to such modern classics as Pandemic Legacy Season 1. There are also numerous prototypes of unpublished games.
One of the real gems of the museum has to be the archives of Sid Sackson, one of the fathers of modern board games with titles such as Acquire, Can’t Stop, I’m the Boss, Sleuth and Bazaar. The collection includes over 300 of his prototypes, along with (from the Strong website) “the most complete Sackson archive. Visiting scholars are often amazed to learn that Sackson indexed his own diaries, cross-referencing what days he played games or worked with specific people, as well as the outcome of that game or project. Besides the diaries, the archives hold many of Sackson’s business files. Scholars can study his correspondence with the 3M Company concerning the initial design and publication of Acquire. The Strong’s archives also include business records for Philip Orbanes, noted Monopoly historian and collector, founder of Winning Moves Games, and friend to Sid Sackson. Orbanes and Sackson collaborated on a game production business, and on other mutual projects throughout the 1970s. “
Even better, the Strong administers the “Sid Sackson Portal” where researchers and fans alike can view scans of every page from Sackson’s year-by-year diaries with notations on game development, plays and other musings. One of the major projects of the portal is the transcription of all of his diaries, something that anyone can participate in through the website. To date, the 1964 through 1971 diaries are completed.
There is also an extensive glossary with information on people, companies, publications and games that are referenced within Sackson’s diaries, an amazing compendium taking you through five decades of board game history.
The Strong National Museum of Play also administers two Halls of Fame, the National Toy Hall of Fame and the World Video Game Hall of Fame. In a future article, we’ll take a look at the history, and occasional controversies, around the selections in these halls.
