National Toy Hall of Fame

• 1. Introduction

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  The National Toy Hall of Fame has a membership that includes a cardboard box, a stick, and a blanket. No batteries required for any of them. This is a hall of fame that takes its play seriously. It asks a question most adults stop asking: what makes a toy matter? The answers it has worked out over more than two decades involve longevity, discovery, and something harder to define called icon status. Since its founding in 1998, under the direction of Ed Sobey, the hall has grown from a modest exhibit in Salem, Oregon, to a permanent home at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. By 2025, it had enshrined 91 toys. The history of how those 91 were chosen, debated, rejected, and finally welcomed tells a story about American childhood, popular culture, and the surprisingly contentious question of what qualifies as play.

• 2. Origins and Early Years

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  Ed Sobey established the hall in 1998, and it first opened its doors at A. C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Oregon. A. C. Gilbert was himself a legendary figure in American toy history, best known for the Erector Set. The original inductees were announced in November 1999. That first class of seventeen toys read like a census of the twentieth-century playroom: Barbie, Crayola crayons, the Erector Set, Etch A Sketch, Frisbee, Hula hoop, Lego, Lincoln Logs, Marbles, Monopoly, Play-Doh, Radio Flyer wagon, Roller skates, Teddy bear, Tinkertoy, View-Master, and the Duncan Yo-Yo. Students from nearby Willamette University staged a good-natured protest when they discovered that Mr. Potato Head and Barbie's friend Ken had been left out. By 2002, the collection had grown large enough that its Salem home could no longer contain it, and the hall moved to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

• 3. The Four Criteria

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  Not every beloved toy earns a place in the hall. Four tests must be passed. A toy must have icon status, meaning it is widely recognized, respected, and remembered. It must demonstrate longevity, proving it is more than a passing fad. It must foster discovery, meaning it promotes learning or creativity. Finally, it must show innovation, having profoundly changed play or toy design. These standards explain some surprising omissions and some equally surprising inclusions. The cardboard box joined the hall in 2005, inducted without nomination. Christopher Bensch, chief curator at the Strong Museum, described it as a great play experience that you do not have to spend a lot to offer. He put it plainly: it is that empty box full of possibilities that kids can sense and the adults do not always see. The stick followed in 2008, also inducted without nomination. Curators praised its all-purpose, no-cost qualities and called it possibly the oldest toy in the world, adding that it might be possibly the best.

• 4. Debate and Rejection

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  Getting into the hall is not automatic, even for famous toys. The class of 2000 was chosen from a field of 34 nominations by a panel that included Sharon Kitzhaber, wife of Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. That panel turned away G.I. Joe, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the soccer ball, Beanie Babies, the baseball glove, and the cap gun. G.I. Joe eventually earned induction in 2004, after the brand overwhelmed the competition in a Playthings Magazine poll asking which nominated toy most deserved to be honored. Raggedy Ann made it in 2002 only after a full year of campaigning from fans. Some toys spent years as finalists before finally earning entry. Hot Wheels appeared on the finalist list in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 before being inducted in 2011. Rubik's Cube appeared as a finalist in 2004, 2009, 2010, and 2011 before joining the hall in 2014. Dungeons and Dragons appeared on finalist lists across several years before being inducted in 2016.

• 5. Unlikely Honorees

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  Sand joined the hall in 2021, alongside American Girl dolls and Risk. The blanket was inducted in 2011 without nomination. The rubber duck, a finalist as far back as 2006, finally earned induction in 2013. Each of these cases reflects the hall's willingness to recognize play in its most basic forms. The baby doll entered in 2008, the same year as the stick and the skateboard. Playing cards joined in 2010. The paper airplane, which had been a finalist in previous years, was inducted in 2017. Bubbles made it in 2014, sidewalk chalk in 2020. For the 2023 induction cycle, the Strong introduced a public-driven vote called the Forgotten Five, highlighting several toys that had been frequent finalists without making the cut. Those five were My Little Pony dolls, PEZ candy dispensers, pogo sticks, Transformers action figures, and the Fisher-Price Corn Popper. The Corn Popper had not even been on the original 2023 nominee list, but it won the public vote and was inducted that year. Transformers and My Little Pony became finalists in 2024 and were both inducted in that class.

• 6. Recent Classes

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  The class of 2024 was announced on the 12th of November 2024, and welcomed My Little Pony dolls, Transformers action figures, and the Phase 10 card game. Other finalists that year included the Pokémon Trading Card Game, balloons, Choose Your Own Adventure books, trampolines, and Hess toy trucks. The class of 2025, announced on the 6th of November 2025, inducted the Battleship board game, Trivial Pursuit, and Slime in both its manufactured and homemade forms. The other 2025 finalists included Catan, Connect 4, Furby, Spirograph, a snow entry, a Star Wars lightsaber, and Tickle Me Elmo. Spirograph has been a finalist in multiple cycles without yet being inducted, a pattern that mirrors earlier long-running candidates like Rubik's Cube and Hot Wheels. With 91 toys enshrined as of 2025, the hall continues to revisit the same question its founders asked at its 1998 founding: which objects shaped the way a generation played, and which ones will still be doing so generations from now.