This Newly Renovated Museum Is Luring Families To Upstate New York This Summer

The Strong National Museum of Play—one of the country’s largest museums devoted to the history and exploration of play—is expanding and enticing families to add Rochester, NY to their long weekend summer list.

The museum’s 90,000-square-foot expansion— developed in collaboration between The Strong, Konar Properties, and Indus Hospitality Group— features over 24,000-square-feet of exhibit space dedicated to the celebration of electronic games and an additional 17,000-square-feet of outdoor, life-size board games, fit for guests of all ages.

“The Strong is putting Rochester, NY back on the map as a top destination for family fun and for gamers of all ages,” says Steve Dubnik, president and chief executive officer at The Strong. “This expansion project has been years in the making and reflects The Strong’s commitment to exploring the power of play and its influence on our development and culture.”

The Strong’s immersive gaming exhibit, ESL Digital Worlds, offers visitors two progressive, video game-centric areas—Level Up and High Score—where visitors can create their own personalized avatars and embark on challenging and puzzle-solving quests. Guests will also learn about the business and art of the video game industry and discover the incredible stories behind the World Video Game Hall of Fame and Women in Games exhibit.

Additionally, Hasbro Game Park, an expansive outdoor board game exhibit, allows visitors to explore a larger-than-life landscape inspired by classic board games. It will include characters from fan-favorite games, such as a fire-breathing dragon from Dungeons & Dragons, a chrome Scottie from Monopoly, and other iconic game pieces that generate the ultimate feeling of nostalgia. Before heading outside, visitors can experience Hasbro Board Game Place, a 1,000-square-foot interactive indoor exhibit that examines and celebrates gameplay, and the social impact of board games.

With this sweeping renovation, The Strong hopes families begin to consider Rochester as a family-friendly weekend destination.

“By providing an enriching and enjoyable experience, we contribute to positioning Rochester as an appealing travel destination,” says Dubnik. “We recently had someone who described it as a ‘much, much less expensive Disney World.’”

The Strong National Museum of Play anticipates that annual museum attendance will grow to nearly one million by 2026 with the expansion, up from a previous high of 600,000 pre-pandemic. With the new space, The Strong will be one of the largest history museums in the United States.

Rochester’s Neighborhood of Play also features residential and retail spaces, including a video-game themed restaurant, as well as a new family-friendly hotel located next to the museum.