Invent Play at the Cade Museum
Press release from the Cade Museum
The Cade Museum is on a new quest and is calling for all voyagers, tinkerers, and gamers to come explore the inventions of play. The Cade’s latest museum-wide theme, Toys and Games, and exhibit, The Great Indoors, welcomes explorers young and old to build their own fortress and accept their very own quest into some of their favorite video game worlds.
Toys and Games
Toys and Games is a museum-wide theme that explores inventions related to play, from PlayDoh to Lincoln Logs to Nintendo, with all new activities, experiments, and informational exhibit panels in the museum’s Rotunda, Creativity Lab, and Fab Lab.
The Rotunda will be home to PolyCade, recently back from its voyage across the “big pond” to London. The paper polyhedrons are perfect for building fortresses tall and wide. Also in the Rotunda, visitors can explore the lands of Creativity Coaster and Rigamajig to build roller coasters and machines.
On the way to the Cade’s Labs, children and families will discover that some toys were invented by accident— whoops! They can stumble into their own brilliant accidents at the Creativity Lab. Mix ideas together and stir in basic ingredients to make an oozy concoction to take home.
In the Fab Lab, visitors can become game designers and explore the horizons of videogame mechanics, gameplay, and experience. The Cade’s 3D modeling program brings to life any hero or villain that might be lurking around the game designer’s imagination, and using the Pay-to-Print program allows game designers to take home their new friend—or foe. That’s not all it takes to be a game designer though; visitors will also get an introduction to basic coding and then see coding in action as Ozobots, guided by code tiles, navigate mazes built by the Cade’s designers.
The Great Indoors
Explorers can accept their own quest after climbing a “mountain” to arrive at The Petty Family Gallery. Once there, explorers encounter challenges and activities as they learn the stories behind popular video games like Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, or Katamari Damacy. With each activity, gamers take an in-depth look at the game’s inventor, learning the inspiration and the mechanics behind the games. Once gamers complete their quest, they receive a special password that unlocks a unique character in the Cade Quest arcade game, an 8-bit style video game developed by Cade Museum staff.
The Toys and Games theme and The Great Indoors exhibit work together to showcase the imagination and mechanics used to build and design basic toys and the digital gaming world. Gaming techniques used in the digital world (collecting, exploring, and communicating) translate into the real world as visitors navigate the diverse challenges and activities placed around the museum.
About the Cade Museum
The Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention, a museum in Gainesville, Florida is committed to transforming communities by inspiring and equipping future inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. The Cade offers unique hands-on programming for children designed to spark imagination and inspire creativity. The Cade’s programs also help to build bridges to the innovation economy for those without access, low-income families, underserved communities, and those needing assistance to access education and start on the career paths available to them to fulfill their dreams. To learn more about the Cade Museum’s mission, visit cademuseum.org. Located at 811 S Main Street, Gainesville, Florida. Hours of operation: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.