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The 2025 National Toy Hall of Fame inductees have been announced. Battleship, slime and Trivial Pursuit will be inducted into the class of 2025, per a press release by The Strong National Museum of Play. These three toys are currently on view at the museum, located in Rochester, New York. The top three winners were among 12 finalists that also included games like Catan, Connect Four, cornhole, Furby, scooter, snow, Spirograph, “Star Wars” lightsaber and Tickle Me Elmo. The modern Battleship board game was made by Milton Bradley. Inspired by a paper and pencil game, it debuted almost 50 years ago and has sold over 100 million copies. In 1979, it was one of the first board games to be computerized, and now, there are countless electronic versions to this day. “Battleship has long been a household name in the board game world. 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,” said Mirek Stolee, curator of board games and puzzles at The Strong National Museum of Play, according to a press release. As for slime and Trivial Pursuit, they’ve also found a decent amount of fame. Since its commercial introduction in 1976, slime has been produced by many manufacturers under different names. Curator Michelle Parnett-Dwye said the “toy offers meaningful play” and that’s why it saw so much success in the market, per a press release. “Countless kids enjoy creating slime on their own or adding it as an element to play with other toys. For others, it has therapeutic benefits — offering stress relief and enhancing fine motor skills,” Parnett-Dwye added. Trivial Pursuit, meanwhile, challenges players to answer difficult questions about a range of topics, from entertainment to geography. As of 2023, Trivial Pursuit has sold more than 100 million copies. “Trivial Pursuit’s influence has spread beyond the realm of board games to game show iterations and video game adaptations,” Stolee said. “The game’s maker even offers a Trivial Pursuit online daily quiz, in the vein of other popular daily games like Wordle. Frequent updates and innovations continue to keep Trivial Pursuit relevant.” Established in 1988, The National Toy Hall of Fame recognizes “toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period,” per the press release from The Strong. Past inductees include American Girl dolls, Cabbage Patch Kids, Nerf toys, baseball cards, Scrabble, chess and the Game of Life.
