The Strong National Museum of Play...

Just the day before we began our drive home through upstate New York, I read an article in the latest Games Magazine (yes, I still read it!) about the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. Well, talk about fate! The next day we drove about 20 minutes out of the way and I spent a way too short hour wandering through this magical place. The museum is huge and contains comic book history, a video game museum, the National Toy Hall of Fame, and even a wing donated entirely to Sesame Street. Supposedly they also have the late great Sid Sackson's extensive collection of board games but I didn't see those on display. Still, if you can get here, what a fantastic place for kids and even for adults - us two grown men had a great time!

Double-click to embiggen the pics.


Entrance



Toys!





Puzzles!

The 60's...

Sesame Street theatre!

The 'Superheroes' wing of the museum.  Seriously.

National Toy Hall of Fame



Scrabble through the ages...



Life!

Video game museum

I think I want this game....

Sports games

Obligatory Monopoly shot - one of the original prototypes on a round board.

Yay for Wits & Wagers!

MouseTrap

Woohoo, Qwirkle!

Just one of the endless displays full of creepy old dolls

My favourite game

So much fun

Giant diner and streetscape INSIDE the museum.



Yours truly...

And the Games Magazine Game of the Year goes to...

...um, Jump Gate?  This year Games Magazine makes an... "unusual" choice for the best game of the year.  Not a bad choice as far as I know, as I have yet to play the game to decide, but a game that I have never heard of and has made little to no waves in the gaming community.

This is actually kind of par for the course for Games Magazine.  I've been reading them since I was a little kid, before BoardGameGeek or even the advent of the internet as we know it (oh god,  so old.)  I used to get giddy when the December issue arrived always two months early.  I'd spend the afternoon drooling over all the great board games that I thought I'd never get to play.  In the last decade, since they split the board games up from the video games, their choices of top game each year have definitely been interesting.  Last year was definitely a good pick - Small World from Days of Wonder.   But take 2004, for example - Alan Moon's New England won.  This was the year another game from Alan Moon came out called Ticket to Ride.  It swept the Spiel des Jahres and remains one of the best-selling games of all time.  Does anyone still remember the out-of-print New England?  I have a copy somewhere which I had bought on the recommendation.  Must play that a second time....

I must say I'm curious to play Jump Gate, given that Small World and Torres have won previously.  But does anyone have a copy so we can try it?

Spielbox in English!

Great news for games addicts (at least I think so). The great German games magazine Spielbox is now going to be printed and shipped in English. Spielbox is well-known for often including expansions for popular games in its pages. I had to order one from overseas to get the Stone Age expansion (game still sucked...) You can order your subscription here although it's not too cheap. And although Games Magazine holds a dear place in my heart (mostly due to my teenage years devouring the December Top 100 issues), as far as board games go, it doesn't hold a candle to the articles in Spielbox.

Games Magazine Game of The Year.....

I remember as a teenager looking forward to the December issue of Games Magazine every year. They'd publish their list of the 'Top 100 Board Games of The Year' and I'd drool over all the games that seemed unavailable in northern BC. I don't have a subscription anymore (although I really should get one again) mostly because of my broke student status for the last 3 years.

Well, according to BGN this year's list is up and I'm looking forward to picking up the December issue at the local magazine rack. The winner: Small World by Phillipe Keyaert, published by Days of Wonder. This remake of Vinci is supposed to play like a shorter version of History of The World, a personal fave. Add another one to the wish-list...

(My birthday is Oct. 27th, by the way.... ) ;)