When curators at the National Toy Hall of Fame learned last fall that the Fisher-Price Corn Popper in as part of the class of 2023, they knew they had some serious work to do.

With a formal induction ceremony approaching, they would have to figure out how to showcase the beloved toddler push toy with colorful balls that ricochet around a clear dome.

It isnB次元官网网址檛 as simple as going to Walmart and pulling one off the shelves: The hall, part of the The Strong National Museum of Play in upstate New York, aims to show how its toys have endured and evolved over the years B次元官网网址� pieces go from wood to plastic, electronics are added.

That means digging through archives, auctions, the internet and garage sales to hunt for an original, or one close to it B次元官网网址� a process repeated with each new hall of fame inductee.

B次元官网网址淲e want some recognizable things currently on the market, but we also want people to say, B次元官网网址極h, I had one of those!B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� said Christopher Bensch, chief 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 added one of the worldB次元官网网址檚 first versions, a map of Europe pasted onto a thin mahogany board from 1766, alongside a childB次元官网网址檚 Donald Duck board puzzle from 1990. Not all of the toys inducted into the hall are specific products, either B次元官网网址� was simply B次元官网网址渟and.B次元官网网址�

In the case of the Corn Popper, the curators needed to find something recognizable to generations. The toy has been around since 1957 and more than 36 million have been sold, according to Fisher-Price. Nearly 650,000 visitors would arrive over the next year to view it and the hall of fameB次元官网网址檚 other vaunted toys.

Vaults, garage sales, eBay

After being voted in by experts and fans, many hall of fame toys are pulled for permanent display from the museumB次元官网网址檚 vast archives.

The honorees are usually so iconic B次元官网网址� the Barbie doll, the teddy bear, checkers B次元官网网址� that the odds are good there will be multiples among the half-million or so objects already in the ever-expanding collection.

But staff is always on the lookout for playthings worth saving B次元官网网址� keeping an eye on eBay and garage and estate sales, especially 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 drawing toy thatB次元官网网址檚 still popular and virtually unchanged after 100 years, and which toys will fizzle.

B次元官网网址淲e want to be the repository for them, for the nation or the world,B次元官网网址� Bensch said. B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 why we have 1,500 yo-yos in our collection, or 8,000 jigsaw puzzles,B次元官网网址� he said, naming two past inductees.

Some of the stored board games, stuffed animals, doll houses and other molded, cast and carved reminders of childhood have been donated by manufacturers. Others come from private collectors following a death, divorce or move. A parent recently donated a collection of 1,600 American Girl dolls and accessories after their child outgrew them.

Some items are pursued at auction, the way a fine art museum might acquire a masterpiece. ThatB次元官网网址檚 how The Strong landed one of its most prized possessions, an original hand-painted on oil cloth in 1933 by inventor Charles Darrow before the game went into mass production. With Monopoly in the hall of fame since 1998, the winning $146,500 bid at SothebyB次元官网网址檚 in 2010 was over budget B次元官网网址� but worth it.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e the National Museum of Play. If we were the Henry Ford Museum and we didnB次元官网网址檛 have the first Model T, we would kick ourselves ever after,B次元官网网址� Bensch said.

An eBay find

Babies have been toddling behind Fisher-Price Corn Poppers for more than 60 years, but finding a B次元官网网址渉istoricB次元官网网址� one in pristine, museum-display condition proved challenging.

B次元官网网址淭hose are toys that get used pretty hard,B次元官网网址� Bensch said, B次元官网网址渆specially early versions with that plastic dome and the wooden balls hitting against it. Those did not survive in great condition.B次元官网网址�

What eventually went on display were two versions. One is a 1980 model purchased on eBay from a woman in Canada, who likely has no idea her castaway B次元官网网址� its wear and tear evident in its dinged-up and slightly cloudy dome B次元官网网址� is now a museum piece. The other is a shiny new version that is still on store shelves for about $12, with a sleeker blue handle and beefier red wheels that reflect slight design changes over the years.

B次元官网网址淚t was hard to find a photogenic one that went back more than a few decades,B次元官网网址� Bensch said. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 not sure we eventually got one that was as old as we wished for, just because they had been so well loved.B次元官网网址�

What makes a toy a hall of famer?

Each year, a new class of toys makes it into the hall of fame, the culmination of an annual process that invites anyone to nominate their favorite toy online.

Museum staff culls the nominees to 12 finalists before a panel of experts votes in the winners. Eighty-four toys have earned the honor since the hall opened in 1998.

Nominees can be as lasting as steel erector set creations, inducted in 1998, or as fleeting as bubbles blown through a plastic wand, honored in 2014.

Many inductees are a reminder that the true value of a toy isnB次元官网网址檛 necessarily in the price, but the play. In 2008, an ordinary stick from a tree B次元官网网址� but a no-cost sword or magic wand to a child B次元官网网址� was inducted into the hall, but Flexible Flyer sleds and the RubikB次元官网网址檚 Cube did not make the cut that year. The Easy-Bake Oven was bypassed in 2005 B次元官网网址� by the cardboard box it might have shipped in.

The museum received 2,400 nominations for 382 different toys for the class of 2024.

This yearB次元官网网址檚 include Apples to Apples, balloons and the trampoline. Also: B次元官网网址淐hoose Your Own AdventureB次元官网网址� books, Hess Toy Trucks, remote-controlled vehicles, the stick horse, Phase 10, Sequence and the Pok茅mon Trading Card Game, and two perennial nominees, My Little Pony figures B次元官网网址� a seven-time finalist B次元官网网址� and Transformers action figures.

From them, a chosen few will be announced and honored in November, and the curators will begin their hunt all over again