Play All Day!
A museum that is all about play just got bigger—much bigger!
Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York
The Hasbro Game Park at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
The Strong National Museum of Play takes fun very seriously. That’s why the museum recently got bigger—a lot bigger.
The Strong Museum, which is in Rochester, New York, expanded by 90,000 square feet (8,000 square meters)! Now, visitors have more ways than ever to learn about the history of play, or just to play.
Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York
The Strong Museum has everything—even dragons!
The museum has been putting smiles on the faces of kids, and many grown-ups, since it opened in 1982. There’s all kinds of stuff to do, including a room full of pinball machines, a play lab, a butterfly garden, and a ropes course. The expansion includes part of the ESL Digital Worlds exhibit, which explores the history of video games. As visitors enter the exhibit, they see a 20-foot-high (6-meter-high) version of the Donkey Kong arcade game. And yes, it works!
Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York
Want to play some Donkey Kong?
Outside, there’s the Hasbro Game Park, which has enormous Monopoly pieces and Jenga blocks to climb on. There are even giant Simon and Chutes and Ladders games you can play.
John-Paul Dyson is the museum’s vice president for exhibits. “There are so many areas you can [visit], whether it’s all about video games or something else you want to do,” Dyson told ABC-TV. “It’s fun for the whole family.”
