In a partnership celebrating a milestone in tabletop gaming, The Strong National Museum of Play has teamed up with Google Arts & Culture to launch a free online exhibit detailing the first 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons.
The digital exhibit, titled Dungeons & Dragons: The First 50 Years of Storytelling, explores the game’s origins and its significant cultural impact. It charts the journey of D&D from a niche hobby to a global phenomenon, showing how it blended the universal appeal of make-believe with a structured game system of monsters, magic, and treasure.
This collaboration with Google marks another step into the digital space for the Rochester, New York-based museum. Last year, The Strong launched its own interactive online experience to celebrate the game, making this new exhibit an expansion of its commitment to preserving the history of play.
The Google Arts & Culture exhibit delves into the wargaming roots of D&D, a scene in which co-creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were active participants. It highlights how fanzines and miniature battle simulations laid the groundwork for the roleplaying game.
Visitors to the online collection will also learn about Chainmail, the 1e-combat ruleset written by Gygax and Jeff Perrin in 1971, which served as a direct precursor to Dungeons & Dragons. The exhibit explains how the game’s Fantasy Supplement introduced the magical elements, monsters, and enchanted items that would become central to the D&D experience.
Acknowledging the complexity of the original rules, the exhibit also touches on the creation of the Basic Set. In 1977, J. Eric Holmes was enlisted to streamline the convoluted mechanics into a more accessible format for newcomers, a move that proved crucial for the game’s early growth.
The Strong is one of the largest history museums in the United States and is home to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games and the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Google Arts & Culture is a non-commercial initiative that partners with cultural institutions to make art and history accessible online.
Quick Links
- D&D @ Google.
