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Nintendo

Game Boy Inducted Into The National Toy Hall of Fame

RSS by Evan Elden Eller on 11 November 2009, 1031 views
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The 12 nominees for 2009 showed some fierce competition.  The Game Boy was competing with not only balls and Big Wheels, but some real timeless heavy hitters.  Here's the full list of nominees:

Ball
Big Wheel
Cabbage Patch Kids
Game of Life
Hot Wheels
Nintendo Game Boy
Paper Airplane
Playing Cards
Rubik's Cube
Sidewalk Chalk
Toy Tea Set
Transformers

I'm pretty sure I played with 10 of those and broke the other 2.

The Ball was inducted for being the first toy most people play with, and for being "as old as civilization itself."  The Museum of Play points out that balls are depicted in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art, and are still used by grown-ups in most sports.  Big Wheels were inducted for re-inventing the tricycle in 1969, making them easier to ride, and also more badass.

As for the Game Boy, it is being inducted for its innovation, popularizing handheld gaming, and being synonymous with handheld gaming for 2 decades.

The National Toy Hall of Fame is housed within the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.  Each year 2 or 3 new toys are inducted, and this year's 3 new entries bring the total to 44.  Nominations can be made by anyone, and then they are scrutinized and voted on by a team of "historians, educators, and other individuals who exemplify learning, creativity, and discovery through their lives and careers."

If you're interested in what criteria could possibly put a portable video game system in the same class as 2008's stick and 2005's cardboard box, here's the info from their nomination submission page:

Inducted toys are selected on the basis of the following criteria:

  • Icon-status: The toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered.
  • Longevity: The toy is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over multiple generations.
  • Discovery: The toy fosters learning, creativity, or discovery through play.
  • Innovation: The toy profoundly changed play or toy design. A toy may be inducted on the basis of this criterion without necessarily having met all of the first three.

    •  

    It's interesting to see the Game Boy take down some toys that are much older, a testament to how "pandemic" our portable hero has become.  Even the NES has not been nominated yet, and only one gaming system has been inducted into the Museum of Play before.  That would be the Atari 2600, inducted in 2007.

    Game Boy at the National Toy Hall of Fame

    List of all 44 inductees (.pdf file)

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    21 Comments

    Tammi
    Tammi (on 05 July 2011)

    There's actually a toy hall of fame? Ha. They need to include Hot Wheels too.

    • 0
    AgentDark
    AgentDark (on 12 November 2009)

    PlaystaionGamer we don't need trolls here please

    • 0
    mike_intellivision
    mike_intellivision (on 12 November 2009)

    I am hoping to make it to the Strong Museum over the holidays.
    Videotopia is there through the first of the year.
    (I saw its debut in Pittsburgh a decade ago and then saw it in Philly).

    Mike from Morgantown

    • 0
    PlaystaionGamer
    PlaystaionGamer (on 12 November 2009)

    i think Gameboy really does deserve to be there, also the original Playstation as the first huge home system that brought so many people into gaming

    • 0
    Aidman
    Aidman (on 12 November 2009)

    @ PeteyPeeps

    The Wii is the first Home console to enter the White House.
    THINK ABOUT IT.

    • 0
    Dgc1808
    Dgc1808 (on 12 November 2009)

    The ball wasn't there already??

    These guys lose all credibility...

    • 0
    PeteyPeeps
    PeteyPeeps (on 12 November 2009)

    @ YesWiiCan

    The wii doesn't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame ... doesnt deserve to be in ANY Hall of Fame actually ...

    DS should be in! <3 DS

    • 0
    darklich13
    darklich13 (on 12 November 2009)

    Wow, I'm impresses. That was a tough list of nominees.

    • 0
    YesWiiCan
    YesWiiCan (on 11 November 2009)

    Where's NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube and Wii?

    • 0
    Red4ADevil
    Red4ADevil (on 11 November 2009)

    Final something that has captivated the millions of kids of the 80s and 90s (im one of them) Thank you Game Boy, you left me with some great childhood memories.

    • 0
    Paperdiego
    Paperdiego (on 11 November 2009)

    ya for gameboy.

    • 0
    elgefe02
    elgefe02 (on 11 November 2009)

    Great Job Evan!
    Wonder which ones you broke...

    • 0
    Sapphire
    Sapphire (on 11 November 2009)

    everybody loves Game Boy
    even my parents and my grandma
    playing Tetris and Doctor Mario

    • 0
    Fededx
    Fededx (on 11 November 2009)

    Well deserved!

    • 0
    llewdebkram
    llewdebkram (on 11 November 2009)

    My parents could only affored the 'cardboard box' and 'stick' when I was a kid ;0P

    • 0
    superchunk
    superchunk (on 11 November 2009)

    From the last link.

    To date, the following 44 toys have made it into the National Toy Hall of Fame: Alphabet Blocks, Atari® 2600 Game System, Ball, Barbie®, Baby Doll, Bicycle, Big Wheel®, Candy Land®, Cardboard Box, Checkers, Crayola® Crayons, Duncan® Yo-Yo, Easy-Bake® Oven, Erector® Set, Etch A Sketch®, Frisbee®, G.I. Joe™, Hula Hoop®, Jack-in-the-Box, Jacks, Jigsaw Puzzle, Jump Rope, Kite, LEGO®, Lincoln Logs®, Lionel® Trains, Marbles, Monopoly®, Mr. Potato Head®, Nintendo Game Boy®, Play-Doh®, Radio Flyer® Wagon, Raggedy Ann & Andy™, Rocking Horse, Roller Skates, Scrabble®, Silly Putty®, Skateboard, Slinky®, Stick, Teddy Bear, Tinkertoy®, Tonka® Trucks, and View-Master®.

    • 0
    The Ghost of RubangB
    The Ghost of RubangB (on 11 November 2009)

    Yeah I'm shocked the ball wasn't there in the first year.

    • 0
    Wii_Master
    Wii_Master (on 11 November 2009)

    Gameboy FTW and NINTENDO FTW!!!

    • 0
    llewdebkram
    llewdebkram (on 11 November 2009)

    You're saying the 'ball' only just made it on the list?
    Surely it should have been the first thing inducted as it's something every child must has played with from an early age.

    • 0
    Kenryoku_Maxis
    Kenryoku_Maxis (on 11 November 2009)

    Surprised Rubik's Cube didn't get put in as well. I would have picked that over 'Big Wheel Tricycles'. heck, I would have picked half the list over those.

    Though I don't make the rules however, a 'Ball' sounds kind of a little too general. Next thing you know, all other toys related to balls are going to be excluded because 'Ball' covers it (Basketball, soccer ball, board games, pinball, etc).

    • 0
    ph4nt
    ph4nt (on 11 November 2009)

    In my opinion the "Ball" is rated to high on this list,toy tea set should be at least top 5.

    • 0