The Strong

What The Strong does

The Strong National Museum of Play is a private nonprofit interactive museum founded in 1982 and headquartered at One Manhattan Square, Rochester, New York. It operates nearly 150,000 square feet of dynamic, interactive exhibit space and is positioned as the only museum in the world devoted to the history and exploration of play. The institution maintains the world's most comprehensive collection of toys, dolls, board games, and video games, supported by dedicated research arms including the Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play, the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, and the National Archives of Game Show History. It also operates the National Toy Hall of Fame and the World Video Game Hall of Fame as flagship recognition programs.

The institution serves four primary customer segments: families with children seeking intergenerational play experiences, K-12 schools and educational groups on field trips and curriculum-aligned programs, seniors through dedicated programs such as Museum Mondays for Seniors, and adults through 18+ events such as Happiest Hour and private venue rentals. Core products span interactive exhibits (Take Care with Peanuts, Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden, Imagination Destination, Skyline Climb, Play Lab), educational programs (Woodbury School, Summer Camps, G2 community program, Scout badge workshops), research collections and the academic Journal of Play, and ancillary services including museum rentals, birthday party packages, and a retail gift shop.

The business model is a diversified nonprofit revenue mix combining transactional, recurring, and contributed income streams. Transactional revenue includes general admission (with half-price promotional days and select free community events), ticketed special events and workshops, summer camps, venue rentals, party packages, and retail store sales. Recurring revenue comes from annual and multi-year membership programs. Contributed revenue, critical to nonprofit sustainability, is sourced from individual donations, corporate sponsorships (including CooperVision, Fidelis Care, and Rochester Area Community Foundation), and an active capital Expansion Campaign tied to the 2025 Neighborhood of Play addition. Distribution is omnichannel through a web store at store.museumofplay.org, on-site ticket sales, group sales for schools and organizations, and digital extensions including a public online collections database and the Google Arts & Culture partnership.

Name

The Strong

Legal name

The Strong National Museum of Play

Website

https://museumofplay.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Strong National Museum of Play is a nonprofit interactive museum in Rochester, New York, founded in 1982, that preserves and exhibits the history of play across nearly 150,000 square feet of exhibit space, serving families, schools, seniors, and adults through exhibits, halls of fame, research archives, summer camps, and community programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Children's Museum

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Children’s Museums (THAJADAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA), Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums) (THAHAAAG)

Keywords

• Children's museum
• Interactive exhibits
• Toy history preservation
• Family educational programs
• Play collections

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. General Admission: Ticket sales for museum entry, with standard hours 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and extended hours until 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
2. Memberships: Annual and multi-year membership programs offering unlimited admission, member-only events, and other benefits.
3. Summer Camps: Multi-day summer camp programs for children including themes like Nature Discovery, Museum Makers, STEAM Exploration, and Game Makers.
4. Event Tickets and Programs: Ticketed special events, workshops, and programs such as truffle making classes and adult-only events like Happiest Hour.
5. Museum Rentals and Party Packages: Venue rental for private events and birthday party packages for families.
6. Donations and Corporate Giving: Individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and fundraising campaigns like the Expansion Campaign.
7. Retail Store: Museum gift shop sales of toys, books, and play-related merchandise.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Strong National Museum of Play operates a 150,000 square-foot museum in Rochester, NY that delivers interactive exhibits, hands-on play experiences, and educational programs (including summer camps and group visits) for children and families. It is also a collecting and research institution, curating the National Toy Hall of Fame, the World Video Game Hall of Fame, and an extensive archive of toys, dolls, board games, video games, and cereal-box novelties.

Product overview

The Strong National Museum of Play is a museum dedicated to exploring, preserving, and sharing the history of play. It operates as a unified attraction featuring interactive exhibits (Take Care with Peanuts, Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden, Imagination Destination, Skyline Climb), recognition programs (National Toy Hall of Fame, World Video Game Hall of Fame), educational offerings (Woodbury School, Summer Camps, G2 program), research archives (Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play, International Center for the History of Electronic Games), and visitor services (Play Lab activity center, membership, museum rentals, party packages). The museum also provides digital access through online collections and the Journal of Play publication. With nearly 150,000 square feet of exhibit space, it serves as both a physical attraction and a research institution for play history.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Neighborhood of Play: Outdoor expansion area featuring play structures, gardens, and event spaces.
• National Toy Hall of Fame
• World Video Game Hall of Fame
• Brian Sutton-Smith Library & Archives of Play
• International Center for the History of Electronic Games
• The National Archives of Game Show History
• Woodbury School
• Journal of Play
• G2

Products and services

• Museum general admission
• Annual museum membership
• Summer camp programs
• Group and school visits
• Museum online store
• Special event and facility rentals

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and strategic.

• Rochester Area Community FoundationcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 June 2026Presenting sponsor of The Strong's Juneteenth Community Celebration. Partnership provides free admission and parking from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. in honor of Juneteenth. The foundation supports community access programs and educational mission.
• Greater Rochester Martin Luther King Jr. CommissioncoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 June 2026Collaborative partner for Juneteenth Community Celebration, promoting and cultivating knowledge and appreciation of Black history and culture through performances and activities.
• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 June 2026Partner for Juneteenth Community Celebration providing outdoor games and activities including double dutch and hula hoops in Riedman Commons.
• Freedom Scholars Learning CenterminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 June 2026Students from Freedom Scholars Learning Center created poster presentations showcasing notable African American women's achievements for Juneteenth Freedom Scholars Art activity.
• Fidelis Care NYminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 June 2026Presenting sponsor of Pride Celebration event with a booth near Play Lab for community engagement.
• CooperVisionstrategicGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Presenting sponsor of 'Summer of Exploration!' program featuring multiple themed weeks including Forest Explorers, Under the Sea, Down on the Farm, and Arctic Freeze activities in Hasbro Game Park.
• Google Arts & CulturestrategicTechnology or IntegrationPartnership to launch online exhibit 'The Jewish History of the Toy, Game, Pinball, and Video Game Industries' making museum collections accessible digitally worldwide.
• Eastman Community Music SchoolstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerPerforming arts partner for Dr. Vivian A. Palladoro Performing Arts Series: Eastman Evenings, providing family-friendly performances in Adams Atrium.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Exploratorium: San Francisco interactive science and perception museum with hands-on exhibits across STEM topics. Comparable in being an interactive, collection-supported nonprofit museum with ticketed admission and educational mission, but oriented more toward science/perception than play history.
• National Museum of American History (Smithsonian): Smithsonian institution housing major cultural and historical collections including toy, game, and technology artifacts. Comparable in curating and exhibiting historical artifacts related to play, but operates at a much larger institutional scale with federal funding.

Direct peers

• Madison Children's Museum: Single-location children's museum in Madison, WI emphasizing hands-on play and intergenerational learning. Comparable scale and operating model — nonprofit ticketed museum with school programs, memberships, and donor-supported operating budget.
• Please Touch Museum: Philadelphia-based children's museum with a play-based learning mission and hands-on exhibits for young children. Directly comparable operating model — ticketed admission, memberships, educational programming, and donor-supported nonprofit structure.
• Children's Museum of Indianapolis: World's largest children's museum with 472,900 sq ft of exhibit space. Most directly comparable peer — operates an interactive, play-focused experience across multiple subject areas (science, history, world cultures) for families and school groups.
• Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation: Large-scale collection-based museum with an American innovation and cultural history focus. Comparable in operating a comprehensive, history-themed collection with interactive exhibits, school programming, and membership-based revenue model.
• Children's Creativity Museum: San Francisco-based interactive museum focused on creativity and technology for children. Similar target demographic and play-based / STEAM exhibit orientation, though smaller in scale and focused on a different creative-tech niche.
• Boston Children's Museum: One of the oldest and largest children's museums in the US, focused on hands-on, play-based learning for kids and families. Comparable nonprofit museum business model with ticketed admissions, memberships, school programs, and community access initiatives.
• Cincinnati Children's Museum (Cincinnati Museum Center): Multi-museum complex including dedicated children's and play-oriented exhibits. Comparable in operating a play-and-learn children's museum within a broader heritage institution, with school group, membership, and donor-supported revenue model.

Others

• International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) — internal: Listed for completeness — ICHEG is actually a sub-brand of The Strong itself, but the broader video game preservation space includes institutions like the Video Game History Foundation and the Strong's own archives. Included as a thematically related reference point for the niche of electronic game history preservation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/MuseumofPlay
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheStrongMuseum
• Instagraminstagram.com/museumofplayroc
• TikToktiktok.com/@museumofplay
• Xx.com/museumofplay

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Strong