Yes, There’s A Toy Hall Of Fame And It Just Inducted Twister And Super Soakers

Nov 09 2015, 5:18 PM

Holiday shopping season is here, meaning your bandwagon-jumping kids are probably dropping hints already about the latest, greatest, most impossible-to-find toys everyone must have this year. Meanwhile, a bunch of adults in upstate New York with far more life experience refuse to forget the classics. In Rochester, The Strong Museum houses the National Toy Hall of Fame — and last week it inducted 3 more toys into its annals.

Twister, Super Soakers, and the puppet were the 3 inductees chosen from 12 finalist nominees to join the 56 others that have previous landed a place in the Hall of Fame, originally launched in 1998. Anyone can nominate a toy for inclusion in the Hall, but the finalists are chosen by The Strong’s team of historians and curators, who then leave the the final decisions up to a national panel of judges consisting of psychologists, inventors, teachers, and more.

The 9 toys that didn’t make the cut this year were the spinning top, the coloring book, Wiffle Ball, American Girl dolls, Battleship, Jenga, PLAYMOBIL, the scooter, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It begs the questions: Was the coloring book caught in a gambling scandal? Was Battleship accused of using PEDs? How are some of these guys not getting votes? There are 59 toys in the collection so far, and all but 2 are available through the Amazon or Ebay links below. As for the exceptions, you can probably find your kid a stick (2008) and cardboard box (2005) without too much trouble.

2015: Super Soaker, Twister, Puppet