Three toys added to Toy Hall of Fame

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Three toys that many grew up with have been enshrined in the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York.

The role-playing game "Dungeons & Dragons," Little People and a swing made the cut in 2016.

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"Dungeons & Dragons:" Introduced in 1974, D&D was the precursor of current hit games like "World of Warcraft," The Associated Press reported. It was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It has a lot of celebrity fans including action star Vin Diesel. He has called the role-playing game the "training ground for imagination" and said that it helped him accept the mythology of his "Riddick" series of films. "It essentially is a vehicle for empowering them to make up stories," Chris Bensch said. Bensch is the vice president for collections at The Strong Museum, which is the home of the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Little People: Introduced in 1959, Little People line of toys has sold more than 2 billion items. The first versions were made of wood but have changed over the years into plastic figures with arms, legs and dimensional faces. The small toys have been nominated before but were never a finalist until this year. "One of their challenges has been, frankly, that they've been kind of little and they've been easier to overlook or postpone for our national selection advisory committee," Bensch said. He said their small audience of 1- to 5-year-olds is another hurdle.

Swing: The swing was chosen because of how long children have played with it over the eons. Images of swings have been found in ancient cave drawings in Europe, carved figures in Crete and ceramic vases from early Greece, the AP reported. "Though the equipment has evolved with centuries, the pleasure children and adults find in swinging has hardly changed at all," Patricia Hogan, museum curator, said.

Other nominees, but toys that didn't make the final cut included Care Bears, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Transformers, Nerf balls, Clue, Uno, pinball, coloring books and bubble wrap.

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