The nominees for induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame were just announced and I was astonished to learn of two of the potential candidates: Bingo and Yahtzee. I would have thought they would have been enshrined many years ago.
Bingo has been a standardized game since 1929 and is the object of organized fundraising events in almost every city. It has been a staple at county fairs, church festivals and nursing home activity rooms for generations. Yahtzee, too, has a long history dating back to its inception in the 1940s and its owner Hasbro still sells 50 million games each year.
Whether or not Bingo and/or Yahtzee are among the three lucky inductees this year, they provide a lesson of persistence to all of us: do what you do best and keep doing it, year after year, decade after decade, whether or not you receive any official recognition for it. These games have brought countless hours of enjoyment to many. We should all be so lucky to have that as our legacy.
