They made 36 million Corn Poppers. Here's how they 選ぶ the 権利 ones for the Toy Hall of Fame
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - When curators at the 国家の Toy Hall of Fame learned last 落ちる that the Fisher-Price Corn Popper had been 投票（する）d in as part of the class of 2023, they knew they had some serious work to do.
With a formal induction 儀式 approaching, they would have to 人物／姿／数字 out how to showcase the beloved toddler 押し進める toy with colorful balls that ricochet around a （疑いを）晴らす ドーム.
It isn´t as simple as going to Walmart and pulling one off the 棚上げにするs: The hall, part of the The Strong 国家の Museum of Play in upstate New York, 目的（とする）s to show how its toys have 耐えるd and 発展させるd over the years - pieces go from 支持を得ようと努めるd to plastic, electronics are 追加するd.
That means digging through 古記録s, auctions, the internet and garage sales to 追跡（する） for an 初めの, or one の近くに to it - a 過程 repeated with each new hall of fame inductee.
"We want some recognizable things 現在／一般に on the market, but we also want people to say, `Oh, I had one of those!´" said Christopher Bensch, 長，指導者 curator at the Strong museum, which is a larger-than-life interactive toybox for kids and adults.
For example, when the jigsaw puzzle was inducted in 2002, they 追加するd one of the world´s first 見解／翻訳／版s, a 地図／計画する of Europe pasted の上に a thin mahogany board from 1766, と一緒に a child´s Donald Duck board puzzle from 1990. Not all of the toys inducted into the hall are 明確な／細部 製品s, either - 2021's inductee was 簡単に "sand."
The Fisher-Price Corn Popper toys on 陳列する，発揮するs in the Hall of Fame at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
In the 事例／患者 of the Corn Popper, the curators needed to find something recognizable to 世代s. The toy has been around since 1957 and more than 36 million have been sold, によれば Fisher-Price. Nearly 650,000 訪問者s would arrive over the next year to 見解（をとる） it and the hall of fame´s other vaunted toys.
After 存在 投票（する）d in by 専門家s and fans, many hall of fame toys are pulled for 永久の 陳列する，発揮する from the museum´s 広大な 古記録s.
The honorees are usually so iconic - the Barbie doll, the teddy 耐える, checkers - that the 半端物s are good there will be 多重のs の中で the half-million or so 反対するs already in the ever-拡大するing collection.
But staff is always on the 警戒／見張り for playthings 価値（がある） saving - keeping an 注目する，もくろむ on eBay and garage and 広い地所 sales, 特に if a toy is already in, or seems bound for, the hall of fame.
With new toys on the market all the time, curators can only guess what might be the next Etch A Sketch, a mechanical 製図／抽選 toy that's still popular and 事実上 不変の after 100 years, and which toys will fizzle.
"We want to be the repository for them, for the nation or the world," Bensch said. "That´s why we have 1,500 yo-yos in our collection, or 8,000 jigsaw puzzles," he said, 指名するing two past inductees.
Some of the 蓄える／店d board games, stuffed animals, doll houses and other molded, cast and carved 思い出の品s of childhood have been 寄付するd by 製造業者s. Others come from 私的な collectors に引き続いて a death, 離婚 or move. A parent recently 寄付するd a collection of 1,600 American Girl dolls and 従犯者s after their child outgrew them.
Some items are 追求するd at auction, the way a 罰金 art museum might acquire a masterpiece. That's how The Strong landed one of its most prized 所有／入手s, an 初めの Monopoly 始める，決める, 手渡す-painted on oil cloth in 1933 by inventor Charles Darrow before the game went into 集まり 生産／産物. With Monopoly in the hall of fame since 1998, the winning $146,500 企て，努力，提案 at Sotheby's in 2010 was over 予算 - but 価値（がある） it.
"We´re the 国家の Museum of Play. If we were the Henry Ford Museum and we didn´t have the first Model T, we would kick ourselves ever after," Bensch said.
Babies have been toddling behind Fisher-Price Corn Poppers for more than 60 years, but finding a "historic" one in pristine, museum-陳列する，発揮する 条件 証明するd challenging.
"Those are toys that get used pretty hard," Bensch said, "特に 早期に 見解／翻訳／版s with that plastic ドーム and the 木造の balls hitting against it. Those did not 生き残る in 広大な／多数の／重要な 条件."
What 結局 went on 陳列する，発揮する were two 見解／翻訳／版s. One is a 1980 model 購入（する）d on eBay from a woman in Canada, who likely has no idea her castaway - its wear and 涙／ほころび evident in its dinged-up and わずかに cloudy ドーム - is now a museum piece. The other is a shiny new 見解／翻訳／版 that is still on 蓄える／店 棚上げにするs for about $12, with a sleeker blue 扱う and beefier red wheels that 反映する slight design changes over the years.
"It was hard to find a photogenic one that went 支援する more than a few １０年間s," Bensch said. "I´m not sure we 結局 got one that was as old as we wished for, just because they had been so 井戸／弁護士席 loved."
Each year, a new class of toys makes it into the hall of fame, the culmination of an 年次の 過程 that 招待するs anyone to 指名する their favorite toy online.
Museum staff culls the 指名された人s to 12 finalists before a パネル盤 of 専門家s 投票（する）s in the 勝利者s. Eighty-four toys have earned the 栄誉（を受ける） since the hall opened in 1998.
指名された人s can be as 継続している as steel erector 始める，決める 創造s, inducted in 1998, or as (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing as 泡s blown through a plastic 病弱なd, 栄誉（を受ける）d in 2014.
Many inductees are a 思い出の品 that the true value of a toy isn´t やむを得ず in the price, but the play. In 2008, an ordinary stick from a tree - but a no-cost sword or 魔法 病弱なd to a child - was inducted into the hall, but 柔軟な Flyer sleds and the Rubik´s Cube did not make the 削減（する） that year. The 平易な-Bake Oven was bypassed in 2005 - by the cardboard box it might have shipped in.
The museum received 2,400 指名／任命s for 382 different toys for the class of 2024.
This year´s 12 finalists 含む Apples to Apples, balloons and the trampoline. Also: "Choose Your Own Adventure" 調書をとる／予約するs, Hess Toy トラックで運ぶs, remote-controlled 乗り物s, the stick horse, 段階 10, Sequence and the Pok?mon 貿易（する）ing Card Game, and two perennial 指名された人s, My Little Pony 人物／姿／数字s - a seven-time finalist - and Transformers 活動／戦闘 人物／姿／数字s.
From them, a chosen few will be 発表するd and 栄誉（を受ける）d in November, and the curators will begin their 追跡（する） all over again
A 訪問者 walks through the outdoor Hasbro Game Park at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
足緒 and Lydia Xu of Toronto play a game of Jenga with their kids Casper, 9, and Lydia, 8, at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Rita Wilks plays a game of Bingo with her grandson, Oliver, 2, while visiting The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Christopher Bensch, 長，指導者 curator at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, stands の中で 棚上げにするs of toys and games in a 貯蔵 area below the museum, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Christopher Bensch, 長，指導者 curator at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, の近くにs a 貯蔵 locker of porcelain dolls Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Christopher Bensch, 長，指導者 curator at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, 持つ／拘留するs one of the toys that is a finalist for the 2024 Toy Hall of Fame, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Christopher Bensch, 長，指導者 curator at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, takes out toys and games that are finalists for the 2024 Hall of Fame, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Christopher Bensch, 長，指導者 curator at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, 持つ／拘留するs one of the games that is a finalist for the 2024 Toy Hall of Fame, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Large scrabble letters line the outdoor Hasbro Game Park at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
A 陳列する，発揮する of baseball cards inside of the Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Roches ter, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Oliver Jin of Toronto walks through the outdoor Hasbro Game Park at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
The Toy Hall of Fame inside The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Twins Josh and Zach Alli, 6, of Toronto play racing games at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Laur en Petracca)
訪問者s walk through the Toy Hall of Fame inside The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Ryan, 4, and Camryn Nielander, 2, shop at a play grocery 蓄える／店 at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Suellen 告訴するs puts together a Potato 長，率いる with her granddaughter, Isla, 2, while visiting The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Travis Skadberg watches as Jacob, 6, plays a 巨大（な） game of Donkey Kong at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
One of the world's first jigsaw puzzles from 1766 is 陳列する，発揮するd in the Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
訪問者s walk through the Toy Hall of Fame inside The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Katie and Henry Liggett play with an interactive game while visiting The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Elliot Drury, 展示（する）s fabricator and designer at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, 作品 on a new 展示（する）, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
Large scrabble letters line the outdoor Hasbro Game Park at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
A 訪問者 takes a picture of an 初めの Monopoly 始める，決める on 陳列する，発揮する at The Strong 国家の Museum of Play, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Lauren Petracca)
