Uno, noughts and crosses, and Snakes and Ladders to compete for a spot in the National Toy Hall of Fame

This year’s shortlist of nominations for the National Toy Hall of Fame have been announced, once again pitting a number of tabletop games against childhood classics.

The Hall of Fame, which is curated and displayed by The Strong museum in Rochester, New York, has previously included Dungeons & Dragons, Cluedo, Monopoly, Scrabble, chess, draughts, The Game of Life, playing cards and Twister among its collection of worthy tabletop inductees, joining non-game such as the swing, Lego and the paper airplane.

2018’s gaming hopefuls include the traditional favourites noughts and crosses and Snakes and Ladders (under their US names of Tic-Tac-Toe and Chutes and Ladders, respectively), as well as the relatively modern Tudor Electric Football, a tabletop simulation of American football from the 1960s that used a vibrating field to move players and the ball around.

Nominated for yet another year is colour- and number-matching card game Uno, which was previously shortlisted in both 2016 and 2017 but lost out to D&D and Cluedo in each case.

The games face stiff competition from eight more nominees, including pinball, the Masters of the Universe toys, the Magic 8 Ball, the sled, chalk and – perhaps most intimidatingly – Tickle Me Elmo.

Two or three of the 12 finalists will be inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame on November 8th, when we’ll see if Snakes and Ladders will ascend into the hallowed ranks of greatness – or slide all the way back to square one.