Slime, that gooey, sticky and often-homemade plaything, was enshrined into the National Toy Hall of Fame on Thursday along with perennial bestselling games Battleship and Trivial Pursuit.
Each year, the Hall of Fame recognizes toys that have inspired creative play across generations, culling its finalists from among thousands of nominees sent in online. Voting by the public and a panel of experts decides which playthings will be inducted.
Milton Bradley’s Battleship, a strategy game that challenges players to strike an opponent’s warships, and Trivial Pursuit, which tests players’ knowledge in categories like geography and sports, have each sold more than 100 million copies over several decades, according to the Hall of Fame.
Battleship started as a pencil-and-paper game in the 1930s, but it was Milton Bradley’s 1967 plastic edition with fold-up stations and model ships that became a hit with the public. Its popularity crested when Universal Pictures and Hasbro, which now owns Milton Bradley, released the 2012 movie, “Battleship,” loosely based on the game. Battleship was also among the first board games to be computerized in 1979, according to the Hall of Fame, and now there are numerous, electronic versions.
Trivial Pursuit lets players compete alone or in teams as they maneuver around a board answering trivia questions in exchange for wedges in a game piece. Canadian journalists Chris Haney and Scott Abbott came up with the game in 1979 and eventually sold the rights to Hasbro. Frequently updated, specialty versions have emerged for young players, baby boomers and other segments and an online daily quiz keeps players engaged, chief curator Chris Bensch said.
Slime’s appeal is more about squish than skill.
It was introduced commercially in 1976 and has been manufactured under various brand names, but it is even more accessible as a do-it-yourself project. The internet offers a variety of recipes using ingredients like baking soda, glue and contact lens solution.
“Though slime continues to carry icky connotations to slugs and swamps — all part of the fun for some — the toy offers meaningful play,” curator Michelle Parnett-Dwyer said, adding that it’s also used for stress relief and building motor skills.
The honorees will be on permanent display at the Hall of Fame inside The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
This year’s inductees were voted in over other nominees including the games Catan and Connect Four, the Spirograph drawing device, the “Star Wars” lightsaber, Furby and Tickle Me Elmo. They also beat out classics including scooters, cornhole and snow.