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Cool Toy Trivia See how many of the following toy facts you know! The word "toy" comes from an Old English word meaning "tool". It takes 63 feet of wire to make a Slinky. Slinky was invented in 1945 by Marine Engineer, Neil Tollotson. The shape of Gumby's head was inspired by the hair of creator Art Clokey's father.
The name "Crayola" means "Oily Chalk" in French from the combination of "craie" (chalk) and "oléagineuse" (oily). All G.I. Joe 12-inch action figures have a scar on their right cheek. They also have an inverted thumbnail on the inside of their left thumb in honor of a production error made years ago. The first video arcade game was Pong, introduced by Atari in 1972 The yo-yo is believed to be the second-oldest toy in the world. The name yo-yo comes from a Filipino expression meaning "come come". In 1985, Astronaut David Griggs used a Duncan Imperial Yo-yo on live TV from the deck of the Space Shuttle. Dolls are considered to be the oldest toys in history. Tinkertoys were invented when Charles Pajeau was watching some kids play with pencils, sticks and empty spools of thread Hasboro introduced a toy in 1962 called "Flubber" (tied to the movie "Son of Flubber"). It was made from synthetic rubber and mineral oil. Unfortunately, it made people sick. More than 1600 people developed sore throats, rashes and other reactions from contact with the stuff and Hasboro had to recall it. To get rid of it, they buried it and put a parking lot over it. According to legend, on hot summer days Flubber would ooze through the cracks in the pavement. Clue: The Movie was the first film based on a board game In the 1960's, Ohio Art used television to advertise the Etch A Sketch®. The response was so incredible that the company decided to continue manufacturing them until noon Christmas Eve 1960. The Etch A Sketches® were then immediately shipped to the West Coast so people in California could buy Etch A Sketch® on Christmas Eve and have them for Christmas. Barbie was introduced in 1959 and cost $3. Every second, two Barbie dolls are sold in the world. Early drafts of the original Toy Story (1995) had a Barbie doll in the roll that became Little Bo Peep, but Mattel refused to license the character to Disney. The huge popularity of the movie (and boost in sales for Mr. Potato Head and other featured toys) led them to agree to have Tour Guide Barbie included in Toy Story II. The first toy advertised on television was Mr. Potato Head. From 1952 to 1963 parents had to supply real potatoes for the body of Mr. Potato Head, until 1964 when Hasboro introduced a hard plastic body. What company makes more airplanes than Boeing? During World War II the U.S. Armed Forces commissioned ViewMaster reels for training purposes. Play-Doh was originally used to clean wallpaper. The ingredients are a secret. Lego's name comes from the Danish phrase "leg godt" ("play well"). In January, 1992, The First Years, Inc. manufactured 29,000 blue turtles, red beavers, green frogs, and yellow ducks — called Floatees — and loaded them onto a ship in China. Halfway across the North Pacific a storm knocked the container with the toys overboard, spilling all 29,000 Floatees. After several months, the toys drifted hundreds of miles apart, and first reached North America (2,000 miles away) at Sitka, Alaska. Beachcombers discovered thousands of the toys washed ashore. Thousands are believed to have drifted along Alaska to Japan and then back across the Pacific again. After three years, and 15,000 miles they reached Washington State. Some are believed to have drifted into the Arctic Ocean and into the Atlantic. Others are believed to have drifted south into the Indian ocean. Over the years, sand will bury some, the sun with disintegrate others, and sea life will eat some. The average child in the United States will wear down 730 crayons by their 10th birthday. What is the oldest board game? That's not an easy question... The game of Checkers was depicted on ancient Egyptian tombs. The oldest set of board game equipment ever found is The Royal Game of Ur. Two game boards were found in the Royal Tombs of Ur in the 1920's. It was played in Babylon for over 5,000 years.
Recent excavations of a sixty piece game set at the "Burnt City" in Iran may be slightly The board game Mancala may date back to as far as 3,000 BC The Scrabble® board game was designed by Alfred M. Butts of Poughkeepsie, NY in the 1930s. In order to determine the quantity and value of each letter, he analyzed letter frequencies in the daily newspapers. His calculations have held up through the years, and today's game is very similar to his original design. There are far fewer S tiles than his calculations would have suggested, because Mr. Butts wanted people to be challenged to think up new words and not just make plurals. Lincoln Logs were invented by John Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1916, Architect John Lloyd Wright visited his father's work site in Tokyo. He was intrigued with the methods used to make the Imperial Hotel earthquake-proof, and decided to make a construction toy for kids using some of those principles. Play-Doh, whose ingredients are still a secret, originally came in only off-white. Binney & Smith produces more than 1,500 pounds of Silly Putty each day -- that's more than 20,000 eggs. According to a Yale University study, Crayola crayons rank 18th among the 20 most recognizable scents to American adults. Coffee and peanut butter are first and second. The Lego Company is the world's biggest vehicle tire manufacturer producing 311 million tiny tires in 2001. A Chemical engineer named Neil Tollotson accidentally created Latex balloons while trying to make liquid rubber. There have been five billion Monopoly houses built since 1935. The record for playing Monopoly underwater is 1,080 hours. Wooly Willy, the bald character with the magnetic hair, was created by Donald and James Herzog of the Smethport Specialty Company in Pennsylvania in 1955. Willy was drawn by artist Leonard Mackowsky. His name is hidden in the artwork to the right of the mushroom on the back of the package. COLORFORMS pioneered the realm of licensed characters with a 1957 Popeye Cartoon kit. By 1991, COLORFORMS had sold over a billion sets. In 2004, a Beatles COLORFORMS set sold for $520.00. PEZ was created in 1927 in Vienna, Austria by Eduard Haas III, and was first marketed as a compressed peppermint candy. The name PEZ was derived from the German word for peppermint: PfeffErminZ. |
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The ancient Egyptian game of Senet is believed to be older than The Royal Game of Ur. It may date as early as the 33rd century BC.
older than the Ur set. At the same excavation, archaeologist discovered the oldest known Backgammon, oldest known dice and the world's earliest artificial eyeball.