Toytopia (Springfield Museums, Springfield, MA)

Date Of Visit: July 3, 2019

Location: Lyman And Merrire Wood Museum Of Springfield History

Highlights: classic toys on display(sometimes for use)

Website: Toytopia

Rubik’s Cube.  Monopoly.  NES.  Do these games bring you a warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia?  Then you would have loved the Toytopia exhibit this summer at Springfield Museum.

The exhibit featured a variety of old style arcade games such as Ms Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Defender and Dig Dig.  The games were able to be used and the museum conveniently provided change making machines for visitors to make change so they could partake in the games.

One of the most popular exhibits was the Etch-A-Sketch exhibit, largely because of the works of a famous Etch-A-Sketch artist.  The Etch-A-Sketch display showcased the work of George Viosich.

The display showed off George’s Etch-A-Sketch’s portraits of  Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.  His portraits can take up to 150 hours and they can sell for $5,000 to $10,000.

Zoltar, the fortune telling machine from the movie “Big” and his parrot were also at the exhibit.

A toy that replicated the musical stairs from the movie were also part of the exhibit which patrons could use to make their own music.

There was also a display of Lego figures that ranged from Star War figures to Marvel and DC characters.

The exhibit also showed off popular toys from every decade and era going back to the early 1900’s

AS if that wasn’t enough fun, there was also a Thomas The Train exhibit in the Springfield Museum of History.

The exhibit featured a replica of Thomas The Train and props from the show.

The train also allowed visitors to use toy pieces of coal to start the train.  Reminds me of fueling up my car!

The Toytopia exhibit showed how everyone, regardless of age, size, gender