Board games Battleship and Trivial Pursuit have been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, organizers at the Strong National Museum of Play announced Thursday. The Strong also hosts the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Battleship and Trivial Pursuit join slime — yes, the gooey, stretchy globs of fun — in the National Toy Hall of Fame’s class of 2025.
Those toys join a prestigious list of previous inductees that include Transformers, Nintendo’s Game Boy, Lego, and ball. That’s right. Ball. You gotta give it up for ball.
Battleship, Trivial Pursuit, and slime earned their place in the National Toy Hall of Fame among a strong list of competitive nominees that included Catan, Connect Four, cornhole, Furby, the scooter, snow, the Spirograph, the Star Wars lightsaber, and Tickle Me Elmo. Reached for comment about being denied a place in the National Toy Hall of Fame, Furby said, “Loo-loo-doo?”
“Battleship has long been a household name in the board game world,” said curator Mirek Stolee in an announcement from the Strong. “Its popularity crested in 2012 when Universal Pictures and Hasbro released a movie called Battleship. The film was only very loosely based on the game, but it helped cement Battleship’s place in popular culture history.”
Trivial Pursuit, which had its heyday in the mid-1980s, has since sold more than 100 million copies. The board game’s influence “has spread beyond the realm of board games to game show iterations and video game adaptations,” noted Stolee.
Finally, slime was recognized by the museum for its DIY nature and pop-culture presence since its commercial introduction in 1976. “Countless kids enjoy creating slime on their own or adding it as an element to play with other toys,” said curator Michelle Parnett-Dwyer. “For others, it has therapeutic benefits—offering stress relief and enhancing fine motor skills.”
The Strong’s National Toy Hall of Fame was established in 1998, and “recognizes toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period,” according to the museum. Other inductees include Barbie, Mr. Potato Head, Rubik’s Cube, Magic: The Gathering, and the stick.
