Yahtzee, Baby Nancy, My Little Pony up for Toy Hall of Fame
ROCHESTER, N.Y. » Breyer Horses and My Little Pony are neck-and-neck in the race to the National Toy Hall of Fame, making the list of 12 finalists for the Class of 2020.
Baby Nancy, an ethnically correct Black doll unlike those produced before her debut in 1968, is also up for the honor. The games Risk, Sorry, Yahtzee, bingo and Jenga also made the list, which is rounded out by Lite-Brite, Masters of the Universe, sidewalk chalk and the 1990s virtual pet, Tamagotchi.
Three of the finalists will be inducted into the hall Nov. 5.
“These 12 toys represent the wide scope of playthings — from simple sidewalk chalk that has its roots in ancient times, to Baby Nancy, which proved a turning point in the representation of race in dolls, to the more recent, highly innovative Tamagotchi,” Christopher Bensch, vice president for collections, said in a news release.
Bensch said all the nominees have influenced how people play, one of the key criteria for earning a spot in the hall of fame alongside icons from the jack-in-the-box to the cardboard box, both inducted in 2005.
Honorees also must have lasted through generations, have reached icon-status, and foster learning, creativity or discovery through play.
A national selection committee casts ballots for the winners. Members of the public, who submit nominations all year, can also weigh in on the final selection through an online “Player’s Choice” ballot through Wednesday.
More about some of the nominees, according to the Strong:
Baby Nancy: Introduced by Shindana Toys, a company dedicated to making toys that reflect Black pride; Bingo: a staple of fundraisers for churches and charities that descended from a lottery game first played in Italy around 1530; Breyer Horses: collectibles produced by the Breyer Molding Co. for the past 70 years; Jenga: the stacking game created by Englishwoman Leslie Scott based on wooden blocks from her childhood in Africa.