The Strong® is a highly interactive, collections-based museum situated in Rochester, New York, which is devoted to the history and exploration of play.
It houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of historical materials related to play and is home to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, the National Toy Hall of Fame, the World Video Game Hall of Fame, the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, the Woodbury School, and the American Journal of Play.
Together, these enable a multifaceted array of research, exhibition, and other interpretive and educational activities that serve a diverse audience of adults, families, children, students, teachers, scholars, collectors, and others around the globe.
The Strong® welcomed six games into the inaugural 2015 class of its World Video Game Hall of Fame™, including:
- DOOM
- Pac-Man
- Pong
- Super Mario Bros.
- Tetris
- World of Warcraft
With arcade making half the class, this is a great moment that testifies to the incredible contributions arcade made to the growth explosion in gaming.
The games were judged on four points of criteria:
"Iconic: The game is widely recognized and remembered.
Longevity: The game is more than a passing fad.
Geographical reach: The game meets the first two criteria across international boundaries.
Influence: The trump card in the selection process, an examination of the game's influence on the design and development of other games, on other forms of entertainment or on popular culture and society."
Congratulations to the 2015 Class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame! We look forward to seeing next year's nominees.
