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Toy and Game |
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The point of this site is very simple: To celebrate and enjoy toys from what I consider the best period in the history of toys--arguably, but in my opinion nonetheless: 50s to 70s American Toys. The focus here will be on battery operated and toys of what I consider 'high play value'. (What you won't see here is a bunch of Macromedia Flash content and animations that web designers put up with an "ain't this cool" attitude. No, it's not, and you're a moron. What you will get here is straight forward pictures, text, history and information as we are able to find out about these toys. The toys are cool on their own.)
Why are these toys so great?
I believe that in this period of time, we saw an absolute zenith in the creativity, ingenuity and style in the creation of toys. Toymakers had to come up with toys of visual and marketing appeal, and found that because of competition, were forced to push the limits of engineering, while having to keep costs low.
I grew up in this great period. I knew, when I was playing with them, that the toys were great.
We've been active on the web since 1994 and started our first business website in 1995. However, my collecting started years before that.
In about 1987, I started wishing I had some of my great old toys back. A friend suggested reading Toy Shoppe Magazine, and I was amazed at the plethora of black and white ads of toys. Some of which gave me great memories, some I actually had as a child, some I didn't know WHAT they were. (Soakie? Operation Orbit?)
I still had a few of
my original toys. As any kid, one gets to be around 13 and puts away the
toys, or your mom gives them away, or both. Same happened to me as I drifted
into hobbies, cars, other interests. However, for some reason, I kept my
Matchboxes, Hot Wheels, a few board games and Tonka trucks. Somehow I retained
my complete Lionel train set and accessories, my Tycopro Race set, and every
one of my Estes rockets. Everything else went to cousins, friends, or to
charity. My three GI Joes and their Mobile Support Vehicle, all my Tog'ls,
most of our games. All my original Hot Wheels tracks, with Rod Runner and
Speedometer went. My Vertibird went. So did my Thingmaker sets, my Strange
Change Machine, my Kenner SSP Smash UP Derby. My original Selectronic Eldon
Raceway parted ways with me. Original , or 60s versions of Operation, Life,
Sorry, Monopoly, Concentration, Dealer's Choice, Battleship, Kind of the
Hill, Cat and Mouse, Fascination, and many others flew the coop.
One doesn't think that, in the future, some people realize that you don't really grow up, you just change the WAY you play, and you play with other things as well. Many people long for a bit of nostalgia and the memories of the old toys they had. That was the way it was with me. So my desire to collect toys goes right in line with collecting real cars, RC flying, model rocketry, and many other hobbies I enjoy myself and with my kids--and I can appreciate the nostalgia of the period as well as my own memories.
For collecting, I looked at getting back every toy that I loved, every toy that I WISHED I had as a kid, plus alot that I either knew about or have discovered along the way. I'll attempt to profile as many of these wonderful toys and games as I can on this site.
This site went live in 1998. I have received hundreds of letters and feedback from friends literally around the world. People really respond to the wonderful toys of our collective memories.
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