The National Toy Hall of Fame, founded in 1998, has let another year pass without inducting Chess into the Hall. Many experts considered Chess to be a shoe in for initial inauguration, which didn't happen, but who could have guessed that after 8 years of inductees that Chess would be left to wait another year for consideration?
2006 saw the induction of the Easy-Bake® Oven and the Lionel® Train Set. Worthy entries to be sure, but alas no Chess. Experts close to this reporter have shared that Chess's exclusion may be due to concerns regarding Chess's moral character. Incidents like that "One Night in Bangkok" and Chess's active participation in Cold War battles were mentioned as possible reasons for exclusion.
I would like to note that Chess was not even among the considered nominees for the prestigious Toy Hall in 2006. The 2006 nominees were: Atari® Game System, Big Wheel, Easy-Bake® Oven, Lite-Brite, Fisher-Price® Little People, Hot Wheels®, Lionel® Trains, Operation Skill Game, PEZ® Candy Dispenser, Rubber Duck, Skateboard, and Twister®.
Some anti-Chess activists have commented that Chess is a boardgame and not a toy and should thus be excluded from the Hall, but considering that prior inductees include Monopoly®, Checkers, and Candy Land®, this is complete rubbish. Let's see...a game invented by a flat tax advocate which lived its early years as an Econ class instruction tool, a game Chess could sue for trademark infringement, and the quintessential strategyless track game are included but Chess isn't?
One need not even mention the controversial induction of the Cardboard Box which is in all actuality a nomination for children's imagination (though that deserves a place in the Hall).
Please make sure to nominate Chess in the upcoming year. If the elites won't do it, it is time for We the People to do our part.
