The Strong Museum of Play has revealed its latest class of Toy Hall of Fame inductees, and this year’s trio covers strategy, brainpower, and good old-fashioned goo. Battleship, Trivial Pursuit, and slime are officially joining the line-up of toys the museum calls “some of the best and most important of all time.” The announcement dropped on November 6, adding three very different – but equally iconic – play staples to the roster.
Battleship: A Tactical Classic
Even though the modern edition of Battleship first appeared in 1967, the concept goes back much further. Paper-and-pencil versions date to the 19th century, but Milton Bradley’s release introduced the fold-out plastic grids and pegs that made the game instantly recognizable. Saturday morning cartoon ads helped launch it into the mainstream, and Battleship continued evolving with electronic editions and early computer adaptations.
Curator Mirek Stolee pointed to the game’s lasting cultural imprint as a key reason for its induction. Battleship has spawned themed versions based on major film franchises, appeared across decades of pop culture, and even inspired its own Hollywood movie in 2012. Not bad for a game that started as a grid doodle.
Trivial Pursuit: The Canadian Hit That Took Over the World
While many Hall of Fame toys skew kid-friendly, Trivial Pursuit stands out as a game originally made for adults. Created in 1979 by Canadian journalists Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, the trivia powerhouse exploded in popularity soon after its 1981 debut. Publisher Selchow and Righter licensed it in 1982, and by 1983 it was selling over a million copies a year.
Ownership later passed to Parker Brothers and then Hasbro, but the core formula has stayed remarkably consistent. Themed editions – from sports to pop culture – plus video games, TV shows, and digital quizzes have helped the game evolve into a family-friendly mainstay. It’s also still the bestselling Canadian board game of all time, which likely helped cement its spot in the Hall.
Slime: The Stretchy, Squishy Sensation
Rounding out the class is slime, the endlessly mouldable, wonderfully messy toy that has found generations of fans. Wham-O’s pink “Super Stuff” from the 1960s was an early hit, but Mattel’s neon-green Slime – released in 1976 and packaged in tiny trash cans – set the tone for decades of gooey fun.
Slime resurfaced in a huge way with social media, where entire communities grew around stretching it, poking it, mixing it, and DIY-ing it. It’s become part toy, part sensory tool, part chemistry experiment, which made its induction feel almost inevitable.
The Toy Hall of Fame’s 2025 class highlights three timeless forms of play – strategy, curiosity, and pure tactile joy. And honestly? It’s hard to imagine a more representative mix.
