Chances are someone in your family loves Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Dungeons & Dragons, video gaming or virtual reality. No matter which toys, dolls and games you’ve grown up on, the National Museum of Play is a walk down memory lane into the present world of play and a must-visit for the entire family. It’s a manageable road trip or quick flight from New Jersey, and promises hours, if not days, of fun for your crew.
Located in Rochester, NY, the Strong Museum is a highly interactive collection of everything related to play. Don’t let the term “museum” fool you. This spot has 350,000 square feet of every type of game you can imagine.
But there are also lots of exhibits dedicated to the history and psychology behind play, too. Most of the games originated in North America over the past 300 years, but you’ll even see European board games dating back to the 1700s, and lots of Japanese electronic games. The first floor is geared more toward 2-10-year-olds, with the second floor packed with games for teens and adults.
Start your walking tour at Rainbow Reef, which has a small aquarium, plus a large screen where you can see the pictures you draw come to life. There is a 300-seat Paychex Theater for short films, and a Play Lab makerspace where you can pop in for the STEM project of the day. There’s also a table where you can build your own Mr. Potato Head.
Inside Field of Play you can learn about things like why kids like to be startled by Jack in the Box, or Work vs. Play and why kids like to vacuum but adults consider it a chore. There’s a Sesame Street play area and a playset dedicated to The Berenstain Bears.
Fun fact: Wegmans was founded in Rochester and there’s a play supermarket where the kids can grab a mini cart and shop for everything from pretend cheese, vegetables, bread, packaged goods and dairy items, take them to the check out line, and get a real receipt. The kids can also “make” brick oven pizza and sushi, too.
The Raceway Arcade has a wall of old-school racing arcade games that take real tokens. And there’s an entire room filled with antique and modern pinball games.
One History Place takes you back to life in the 1800s, where you can walk through a home. Read + Adventure Land focuses on fairytales, mysteries, and the Adventure Island two-story playland. There are craft stations, a wizards workshop and Storybook Theater here. You could easily spend 2 hours in this area alone.
There is a working train and carousel inside the museum, too. The carousel is more than 100 years old and used to travel to fairs around the country, so museum conservators make sure it’s kept up to conservation standards. There’s a climb zone, zipline, and low rise course for the little ones above the carousel.
Each time you visit, head to the Changing Gallery because the exhibits rotate throughout the year. Currently, there is info on the history of mini golf. On September 21, a new Dungeons & Dragons exhibit will celebrate the game’s 50th anniversary, and in 2027, a display on game shows is already being planned.
There is a section for American Comic Book Heroes with giant statues of your favorite caped crusaders, plus all the toys, costumes and pop culture facts you can imagine. There’s also a horizontal painting of skyscrapers where you can lie down and take a picture to make it seem like you’re flying.
Hasbro Board Game Place has a giant Chutes and Ladders game on the wall, and leads to the outdoor Hasbro Game Park, where there are life-sized Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Candy Land, Connect 4 and The Game of Life sets.
There’s a giant D&D dragon sculpture that will breathe fire if you roll the dice the right way; we weren’t skilled enough to see that happen.
It’s also an unwritten rule to take a selfie in front of the Scottie dog pawn from the Monopoly board.
From the patio you can see the Vivien Hassenfeld Discovery Garden, which is part of the Woodbury School preschool program on site.
Those who love to play in nature will appreciate the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden, which mimics a tropical rainforest. There are hundreds of beautiful butterflies here along with some roaming reptiles and birds.
The Atrium Space that leads to two Toy Halls of Fame has an area where kids can relax and play handheld games.
Upstairs, you can’t miss the gigantic Mr. Potato Head that welcomes you to The National Toy Hall of Hame which also includes the Toy Industry Hall of Fame, and every November our favorite toys are inducted. You have a role in this, too, since you can nominate your favorite toys every year.
Everyone has the “ah ha!” moment where they see a toy from their childhood they used to play with – from Lionel, Barbie, Nerf and Cabbage Patch Dolls to Raggedy Ann and Lincoln Logs. There’s a Crayola Crayon piano you can play, a Twister board on the floor, a working crane and Magic 8 Ball, and an Etch a Sketch that will draw your portrait.
Game Time! has board games and puzzles, and we caught many grandparent-grandchild duos battling it out in games like Four in a Row, air hockey, word search, dominoes and Battleship. America at Play is broken down by era, with an interesting tidbit: metal was needed for weaponry during World War II, so toys were made of wood or paper. And, there was a lot of interest in science kits, rocket ships and war toys.
At Re-Play: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Fun, check out the pop influence of music on toys; prior, there were Millennial Madness and Disney toys in this space.
There is case after case of dolls, doll houses, action figures and stuffed animals – including a GUND teddy bear check-up area for kids to bring their stuffies for a doctor’s visit.
For those who love to learn, scan any of the 12 QR codes on the display cases to learn more about the artifacts.
And for those who are older, there is a hallway dedicated to Age of Empires, the High Score room that has live-action video games plus the World Video Game Hall of Fame, hand-drawn sketches from The Sims, and fun facts on Women in Games.
Plus, the real catch: the world’s largest playable Donkey Kong. Count us in!
Next door at Level Up, you get an RFID bracelet so you can enter a digital world where you create your own Avatar so you become the video game character as you solve puzzles, go through the stealth zone, become a voice actor, create digital graffiti and go through the demolition derby.
The Strong Museum has a partnership with the county library system so you can check out books from the museum to read on a break or at home. Look around many areas of the museum for bookshelves with lots of good reads.
When you need a break, grab a burger or chicken tender and fries from Bill Gray’s Diner, which is a real diner from 1950s Rochester that has been moved inside the hall; a food court with more expansive options; or Puppy’s Game Cafe. The gift shop is fun, with its own Creator Lab spaces to sit down and make art magic.
To accommodate families with sensory needs, you can request headphones, or ask about the Sensory Sunday schedule throughout the year.
There are also 21+ nights where adults can leave the kids at home so they can play in the museum like when they were kids, sans kids.
There’s a fascinating backstory to the museum. Margaret Woodbury Strong collected hundreds of dolls and minis in her home. When she passed away she gave her collection, and money, to the museum. It had different iterations during the 1980s and ’90s, and evolved into the only museum dedicated to the study and history of play, combined with a children’s museum.
The City of Rochester had filled in a sunken highway to create what is now known as the Neighborhood of Play. There is a Hampton Inn by Hilton steps away from the museum; in addition to Nerdvana, a restaurant where every booth has a TV screen so you can play video games; plus a cute shopping area.
There are daily passes, a two-day pass and a family yearly membership. The Strong National Museum of Play is located at 1 Manhattan Square Dr. in Rochester, NY, and is open 362 days a year.
If you’re planning a trip to the Rochester area – New Jersey is about 6-7 hours driving or 1 hour flying, depending where you live – there are other fun attractions closeby, including the University of Rochester, the Eastman Museum (former home of the Kodak founder), Susan B. Anthony’s house, Seneca Park Zoo, Seabreeze Amusement Park, the Memorial Art Gallery, Tim Horton’s Ice Plex, Blue Cross Arena, the Genesse Country Village & Museum, and the Rochester Museum and Science Center.
You can see the High Falls from the rooftop of Genesee Brew House, which has great Bavarian pretzels and buffalo chicken pierogi to complement its craft beers. Branca Midtown has an incredibly thick mushroom pan pizza that the restaurant’s waitstaff say they dream of. Top picks at The Cub Room include paella on Thursdays, Amish chicken and the plumcot tarte.
Nature lovers can travel up to Lake Ontario, or take the Genesee Riverway Trail to walk along the Erie Canal (which is especially beautiful at sunset). Buffalo, Syracuse and The Finger Lakes are about 60-90 minutes away as well.
While you wait to plan your road trip, check out our Instagram reel filled with all things play at The Strong Museum.
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