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Games and Competition

The interesting thing is that it doesn't sound like people minded much.

Once Upon a Time, Exploding Billiard Balls Were An Everyday Thing

It was a side effect of no longer making them from ivory

The 2016 Spelling Bee co-champions Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, and Jairam Hathwar, 13, of Corning, New York.

The National Spelling Bee Adjusts Its Rules To Prevent Ties

Top spellers will be required to take a written test on the final evening of the competition

Researchers scanned the brains of memorizers as they practiced tried-and-true memory techniques to see how their brains changed in response to their training.

New Research

Neuroscientists Unlock the Secrets of Memory Champions

Boosting your ability to remember lists, from facts to faces, is a matter of retraining your brain

It was a pivotal moment in computing history when a computer beat a human at chess for the first time, but that doesn't mean chess is "solved."

Computers Are Great at Chess, But That Doesn’t Mean the Game Is ‘Solved’

On this day in 1996, the computer Deep Blue made history when it beat Garry Kasparov

Pinball players are no longer scofflaws in the eyes of Kokomo, Indiana law.

Trending Today

Pinball Is Finally Legal Again in This Indiana City

Kokomo, Indiana, has reversed a 61-year-old ban on the game

How Pokémon Go Can Save Lives in a Hurricane

Players could mobilize by donating blood, filling sandbags and evacuating threatened areas

Little People meant big fun for generations of imaginative kids.

Cool Finds

These Childhood Delights Just Made It Into the National Toy Hall of Fame

Dungeons & Dragons, Little People and the humble swing are this year’s toy honorees

Inside Hong Kong’s Annual Milk Tea Competition

How You Wound Up Playing ‘The Oregon Trail’ in Computer Class

From the 1970s to 1990s, the government-owned Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium dominated the educational software market with more than 300 games

Ten-year veteran of the Smithsonian's protective services office, Sargeant Nadia Tyler is master of the wildly popular Pokémon Go.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All on the National Mall

Sergeant Nadia Tyler, a security guard at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, is collecting Pokémon creatures daily

Cool Finds

Before Pokémon Go, These Scavenger Hunts Were All The Rage

“X” marks the spot

One of the board games in the collections of the Museum of World War II

How the Nazis “Normalized” Anti-Semitism by Appealing to Children

A new museum and exhibit explore the depths of the hatred toward Europe’s Jews

University of California, Irvine students playing League of Legends.

Cool Finds

UC Irvine Becomes the First American Public University To Offer E-Sports Scholarships

The university jumps into the world of competitive gaming

Trending Today

Plagiarism Scandal Checkers the World of Crossword Puzzles

Digital database points to puzzle plagiarism

When Work Becomes a Game

Across corporate America, applying the principles of games to the non-game setting of the workplace is a growing phenomenon

Liliya Lifánova, Anatomy is Destiny (live performance at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis), 2012.

Cool Finds

Board of Sexism in Chess? Check Out These New Exhibitions

The World Chess Hall of Fame is showcasing the power of its women

A Lady-in-Waiting of France strums her instrument on this card from The Courtly Household Cards (Das Hofämterspiel), created in c. 1450.

Cool Finds

Lavishly Illustrated Medieval Playing Cards Flouted the Church and Law

Secular and religious officials alike frowned on card playing in Europe’s Middle Ages

Google’s New AI Can Beat Human Champions at the Game of Go

Google appears to have won the long race to develop a Go-winning artificial intelligence, considered a major step towards more human-like AIs

The Museum of Pinball in Banning, California, boasts a treasure trove of vintage and modern pinball machines and arcade games.

Cool Finds

Take a Turn at the Flippers This Weekend at the World’s Largest Pinball Museum

So you didn’t win the lottery: why not try your hand at a game of pinball?

A four-year-old beagle from British Columbia, Miss P was awarded the 2015 Best in The Show at Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

Cool Finds

How to Prep Your Pooch to Win Best in Show

Pro-Tip: hope the judge is in a good mood

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