Games and Competition

The best board games of the past year

The Best Books of 2022

The Best Board Games of 2022

Players of all ages will have to make room in their closets for these selections

Pieces of Forrest Fenn's treasure

You Can Own a Piece of Forrest Fenn's Treasure

The valuable artifacts, hidden in the Rocky Mountains for more than a decade, are going up for auction

Participants of the 2022 Florida Python Challenge captured a total of 231 invasive pythons during the ten-day competition. 

Florida Teen Wins $10,000 for Hunting Invasive Pythons

The annual Florida Python Challenge combats the destructive snakes, which have taken over the Everglades

The nine finalists are Samantha Raimis, CHUCK E., Carrie Torrence, Pamela Crumb, Frida Hitchcock, Blair Hanscom, Sally Strode, Rosie Romero and Wendy Craven.

Which of These Historical Dolls Is the Creepiest?

Vote for one of the nine finalists from a Minnesota museum's collection

A rendering of a giant flower pot vacation rental on a farm in Idaho, designed by Whitney H. from the United States

Spend the Night in a Giant Flower Pot or a Supersized Cereal Box

Airbnb is giving $100,000 each to 100 people to help them build the most off-beat lodgings they could imagine

Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen, seen here competing in 2021, has accused 19-year-old Hans Niemann of cheating in recent games.

The Cheating Scandal Rocking the Chess World

Will the evidence back up world chess champion Magnus Carlsen's allegations against Hans Niemann, a young grandmaster?

A game of doubles pickleball 

Why LeBron James Is Buying a Pickleball Team

The Los Angeles Lakers star is a fan of America's fastest-growing sport

Théâtre D’opéra Spatial by Jason Allen

Art Made With Artificial Intelligence Wins at State Fair

Artist Jason Allen placed first in a Colorado contest, generating debate about A.I.'s role in art

Some of the artifacts discovered in Israel

Cool Finds

Israeli Archaeologists Uncover Hundreds of Ancient Dice Used for Divination—and Gaming

Made from animal bones, the artifacts are more than 2,000 years old

Contestants work under time pressure to pitch ideas and write complete novels. 

New Reality Show Is Looking for 'America's Next Great Author'

Applications are open for aspiring writers who want to appear in the pilot episode

The single-engine, single-seat Turner RT-14 Meteor is the "epitome of what a 1930s air racer in the United States would be: big engine, big propeller, small profile,” says the museum's Jeremy Kinney.

The Record-Shattering Airplane Behind a Dashing Pilot’s Meteoric Rise to Fame

Roscoe Turner's air racer takes center stage this fall when newly renovated galleries open at the National Air and Space Museum

This year, sixteen bakers delivered on the challenge.

Good News

This Museum Is Asking People to Remake Famous Artworks With Cake

Through its annual bake-off, the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas, provides a fun way for the public to engage with its collections

Artle involves guessing who created a work of art using images from collections housed at the National Gallery of Art. 

This New Daily Game Is Like Wordle for Art

The National Gallery invented the guessing game to help users access its vast collections

Just as Wordle has its share of detractors today (a phenomenon only magnified by social media), a look back at newspaper reports from the 1920s shows that the crossword faced its own number of critics.

A Century Before Wordle Went Viral, Crossword Mania Swept the Country

In the 1920s, puzzling inspired a Broadway musical, built a publishing house and counted the queen of England as a fan

Photographer Jeff Schultz and painter Jon Van Zyle have co-created a series of artworks capturing Alaska and the sled dog community.

Alaska

For 50 Years, Dogsled Teams Have Been Testing Their Mettle at the Iditarod

Three men who have lived and breathed the Alaskan race for much of its history recall how much has changed—and what has stayed the same

This image shows the Wordle instruction page.

Why the Online Game Wordle Went Viral, According to Psychology

Users are sharing their game grids, which show how they played without spoiling the answer for others

The stone board game featured a grid-like pattern and cup holes to hold game pieces.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth 4,000-Year-Old Stone Board Game in Oman

The board resembled other artifacts that point toward a game similar to backgammon

This year's picks include Trails, Cascadia and the Initiative.

Gift Guides

The Best Board Games of 2021

These new offerings are sure to entertain, as more gatherings of families and friends are happening

Vote for the creepiest doll via the center's Facebook and Instagram pages.

Which Historical Doll Will Be Crowned the Creepiest?

A Minnesota museum's third annual contest invites the public to vote on which of nine antique toys is the most unsettling

The “Assasin’s Creed” series, famous for using real historical events as a backdrop to the games, have gone through scenarios such as the Crusades, the American Revolution and the Golden Age of Piracy.

When Playing Video Games Becomes a History Lesson

On campuses across the country, professors are putting historically based games into the classroom

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