Join a Toy Industry Hall of Famer for The Strong’s ‘Cocktails with the Creators’ Virtual Event

January 15, 2021 | Looking to get inside the mind of a toy industry pioneer? Toy fans everywhere are invited to join Toy Industry Hall of Fame inductee Tom Kalinske in a live, interactive Zoom event hosted by The Strong National Museum of Play on Thursday, February 25 at 6 p.m. (Eastern).

“Cocktails with the Creators: Tom Kalinske” welcomes attendees to enjoy a lively conversation in which Kalinske recounts his work helping build such brands as Mattel’s Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Masters of the Universe; disrupting the video game industry by marketing Sonic and Sega Genesis to an older age group; and other career highlights.

The Strong’s play and history experts will guide the conversation and feature rarely seen artifacts from the museum’s archives of toys, video games, and related archival materials throughout the discussion. Each “Cocktails with the Creators” episode is paired with a suggested cocktail that attendees can enjoy during the virtual event.

Kalinske previously held CEO and leadership positions at Mattel, Sega of America, Universal Matchbox Group, and Leapfrog. He was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 1997, which is housed at The Strong. Kalinske has also been featured in The Toy Association’s “Generations of Play, An Oral History” project, powered by StoryCorps, which provides the opportunity for the toy and children's entertainment community to share and record their personal stories.

More information on “Cocktails with the Creators” and how to register is available on The Strong’s website.

The Strong is a highly interactive, collections-based museum devoted to the history and exploration of play. It is one of the largest history museums in the United States and one of the leading museums serving families. The Strong houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of historical materials related to play and is home to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, the National Toy Hall of Fame, the World Video Game Hall of Fame, the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, the Woodbury School, and the American Journal of Play.

The Toy Association proudly exhibits its Toy Industry Hall of Fame inductees alongside the National Toy Hall of Fame in a state-of-the-art exhibit at The Strong. The installation showcases the toys beloved by generations – and the toy industry trailblazers who helped bring those toys to life.