Rochester Business Journal

The Big Wheel, Game Boy and ball are headed to the hall.

The three toys were selected among a group of 12 finalists to be inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at Strong National Museum of Play, the museum announced Thursday. The playthings join the more than 44 others in the hall of fame, including the stick, teddy bear, Frisbee and Barbie doll.

Criteria for selection include longevity, innovation, icon-status and how the toy encourages creativity or discovery through play. The ball is among one of the oldest existing toys, having been depicted in Egyptian, Greek and Roman drawings.

The Big Wheel and Game Boy have significantly shorter histories. Big Wheel was designed in the 1960s by a designer for Louis Marx & Co. who reassembled a tricycle to handle like a race care. Nintendo’s Game Boy transformed electronic gaming by popularizing handheld games, and its simultaneous multiplayer gaming and slate of games such as Tetris and Super Mario Land were cited as innovations.

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