Here is some trivia I gathered on toys. In just a few lines, you get to learn the history of toymaking in the world and how it has come to influence us all our lives. Read on…
- All G.I. Joe 12-inch action figures have a scar on their right cheek and an inverted thumbnail on the inside of their left thumb in honour of a production error made years ago.
- The first video arcade game was Pong, introduced by Atari in 1972.
- The yo-yo which means ‘come come’ is believed to be the second-oldest toy in the world after dolls.
- Tinkertoys were invented when Charles Pajeau was watching some kids play with pencils, sticks and empty spools of thread.
- Flubber, the toy made from synthetic rubber and mineral oil in 1962, had to be recalled when more than 1600 people developed sore throats and rashes when they touched them.
- Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts (named after the creator’s daughter).
- Barbie, introduced in 1959, cost $3. There are two Barbie dolls are sold in the world every second.
- Play-Doh was originally used to clean wallpaper. The ingredients are a secret.
- A chemical engineer named Neil Tollotson accidentally created Latex balloons while trying to make liquid rubber.
- The record for playing Monopoly underwater is 1,080 hours.
- The highest price paid for a single toy soldier is $5,714 (Rs 2.4 lakh) for a uniformed scale figure of Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, made by a German firm.
- Toys excavated from the Indus valley civilization (3000-1500 BC) included small carts, whistle-shaped birds, and monkeys that could slide down a string.