A comprehensive, enjoyable look at the timeless toys of both my childhood and that of my children.

are you interested in a Tripoly game from 1963 (I think - it’s in FL and I can’t check). Brand new - cards and chips never opened.

I heard you on WHYY Radio Times yesterday and had to ask if you ever heard of a “detective” game (don’t know the name) that you would insert a card into a machine and use a connected pen inserted through a suspect’s card you would place on top and through the process of elimination, determine who the suspect was. Whoever had the suspect lost the game. Elimination would include something like Blue Eyes or Red Hair. I’ve played this in the 60’s.
I also had another game I would play for hours. It was two plastic maze games, one blue, one red, that were connected to light. You would place three metal balls in the maze and whoever got three balls in the holes at the end of the maze, the appropriate light would go on.
Thanks for your response.
Kathy

The first game you describe was called Lie Detector by Mattel, which came out in 1960 as the “Scientific Crime Game.” The second was one of my favorites too. It was called Fascination, “The Electirc Maze Game” by Remco. It came out in 1961. Thanks for listening to the show. Have Fun!

Heard you on the radio in Philly. Wondered if you could tell me the name of a toy I played with in the early 1960’s. It consisted of a base on which you would build the framework for a building using litte red plastic girders. Once the framework was completed you then attached semi transparent plastic sheets to the girders that looked like the exterior of the building. Hope you can tell me what this was, no one I know can remember it.

It was more than likely Kenner’s Girder and Panel sets. They came out in the late 1950s and have the parts you describe. There was a Bridge & Turnpike set, International Airport set, World Famous Buildings set, and others.

You can get the new version of Concentration from Endless Games at www.endlessgames.com. As far as the pencil aparatus is concerned, I would try Flax Art & Design at (800) 343.3529. I’ve seen it before but I am not sure what it is called.

I enjoyed hearing you yesterday on WTVN in Columbus. I still have my old games including Lie Detector, Battling Tops, Hi-Q, Perils of Pauline and Concentration. My children got many hours of fun from these games. I just saw in Target a new Battling Tops game with a smaller playing arena. Great memories.

Battling Tops was one of my favorites! There was Dizzy Dan, Tricky Nicky, Smarty Smitty, Super Sam, Hurricane Hank and Twirling Tim. Of course my favorite was Twirling Tim, but I changed his name to Terrible Tim because “twirling” just didn’t cut it for me. Great memories indeed! Thanks Karen.

Heard you recently on 610WTVN in Columbus. Do you remember the “Thing Maker” and “Incredible Edibles” from the 60s-70s? Used to love making our own rubber crawly things, flowers, etc.. and remember fondly getting burned on the electric hot plate! I’m sure that sort of thing wouldn’t be allowed now. Thanks, Laura

It’s amazing that any of us survived our childhoods Laura! We had Jarts (lawn darts to the uninitiated). What a great idea - weighted spikes that you throw in the air! We had Klackers those hard plastic balls attached to a string that you would crash into each other until they shattered and sprayed shards of plastic into your face. Then there was my Wood Burning set (with no automatic shutoff) that I would leave plugged in for days at a time. Basically on any given weekend at the Walsh household you could be impaled, blinded or set on fire. Come on over to play!

Thingmaker, Creepy Crawlers, Incredible Edibles, Vac-u-Form - I loved all of them! My sisters loved Shrinky Dinks. Awesome memories. Thanks Laura!

Hi,

Heard you on the radio and wondered if you knew of a toy I have been looking for from my childhood. I’ll do my best to describe it. It was a futuristic looking train that was battery operated. Looked a bit like a monorail train but wasn’t. It ran on a track that wasn’t really a track but instead clear tube sections you could put together. One of the tubes had a plastic door you opened to drop the train in. The train had rubber wheels if I remember correctly. The plastic tubes actually looked like the tubes for hamster habitats you can get at the pet store but were smaller.

Thanks for any help

Louis

I am also an old toy collector for the last 30 years. It is a great hobby and has been most rewarding. I have one of my old games called “Skunk” which is a dice game. I just wondered if you ever heard of it. I have played it as a kid and with my kids and now with my grandkids. One of my other favorite games was called “Merry Milkman”. Antique Toy World magazine used to have an article called “The fun is in the search” and that truely is the best part of collecting. Happy Hunting. Rick

I remember playing Skunk! Didn’t think anyone else ever heard of it.
In the sixties my son had a wafer thin plastic oval filled with colored sand. It was various colors of blue and white and you could turn it,shifting the sand -it almost looked like waves in the ocean. It was about 10 inches long and about 7 inches wide. Does anyone remember the name of it and who made it?

Skunk came out around 1968 and was produced by Schaper, who made Cootie and Ants in the Pants famous.”Shake the dice, roll for a score, but don’t get skunked!” Merry Milkman was a bit earlier. It was produced in 1955 by Hasbro in a time when most families still got their milk delivered to metal boxes on their front porch!

I posted some information on Wham-o’s Magic Window today. Check it out!

Boy, that futuristic train in a tube sounds familiar but I can’t seem to find it in any of my reference books. Can anyone help?

I had a toy monorail back in the sixties. It was white plastic, about 12” long, shaped like a mix between a flashlight and a rocket. It ran on 2 “D” batteries inside it and was controlled with a trackside device with a “redlight-greenlight” switch. It hung from a 6’ x 8’ oval track made of 1/8” round metal sections, 18” long. The track supports were 10” tall, shaped like half-horseshoes. Does anyone remeber the maker or name of this monorail?

It sounds like you are describing the X-20 Electric Monorail by Wham-O. It came out in 1962 and comes up from time to time on ebay.

I have been looking for a toy canister animal sound maker,namely one that sounds like a cow or pig or horse or a sheep. I am making toys for my grandson and I need these small sound makers to put inside my animals. Do you know where I could find these toys? I recall when my kids were little, we were able to buy them for a dollar or so, but now I can’t find them anywhere. I have searched the internet and called around to craft stores and hardware stores all over the place. I spent a day going to all the stores in LaCrosse that might possibly have them, but no luck. I am pretty frustrated. Can you help? Thanks.

Try these manufacturers:

www.edinburghimports.com
www.soundproltd.com

or e-mail Allan Glass at toyvoice@att.net

Louis, I know I had that same “monorail” toy back in, 68-70. I used to think I had dreamt it, but your description is dead on. Let me know if you find two ;).

-The closest replica I’ve found is those Disney HO sets…not the same, but close.

Russ

I’m looking for a photo (on the net) of
“The Game of India”.
Can you tell me where to find one?
Thank you.

Rebecca,

Here you go!

hey you guys all seem to forget about hess trucks i collect them every year two ever since there inception they get better and better i can put my son through college one day because of them happy holidays

I need to know where to find an electronic Tic Tac Toe. Happy Holidays.

i am trying to find a toy for my son i had it when i was younger a handdown from my brother it was an oval filled with blue and white sand….you would flip it and the snad would shift making patterens a wonderful oy but i can’t find it any where or a name for it if it had one any help would be fabulous

The Magic Window! Check it out HERE!

Hi:
I remember growing up in the 60’s a toy that was so much fun and made beautiful psychedelic colorful flowers, bugs, and butterflies.

I have looked on the internet to see if that toy is still available and have had no luck. I remember plastic molding toys were a big deal when I was young.

What do you remember. Loved to hear your stories. I will continue to look up the Flower Factory, or Fun Factory. I can’t remember what the original name was, need your help jogging my memory.

Try to give me as much detail as you can on the toy and I will look for it. Spirograph allowed you to create great designs, but not specifically butterflies and flowers.

does anybody know where to find calvin and hobbes toys.

thanks,
john

John, Bill Watterson has famously refused to allow Clavin and Hobbes to be licensed in any form other than comics. Unless his stance has changed, anything you see is bootleg, including the Calvin car stickers of him urinating on… (fill in the blank here.)

The toy you describe went by the names Clackers, Clack Clacks or Klackers, Klick Klacks plus many more, produced by multiple companies. They tended to shatter in people’s faces and were taken off the market for saftey concerns.

If yours pictures the surgeon with a cigarette in his mouth, I would guess the value at $30 to $50. Play Well!

Looking for a toy I had back in the early or late 60’s. It was a metal toy bear that operated on batteries and moved around on all fours until hit by a toy dart (suction cup type). Then the toy would stand up on two hind legs, roar, eyes flash red lower back down on all fours and then head off in a different direction. If I recall it was about 12” tall when upright and ran on four wheels, two of which rotated to change direction when hit or it ran into something.

As a toy inventor, when I first saw the book I thought this is the best book on toys—ever! After reading it, it’s even better than I thought. A must for anyone who likes toys or loves great design.

And, they get their often little known facts right (along with some extremely rare objects) which would make it a worthwhile history book even if it weren’t so beautifully designed with fantastic photography.

Hi

Can you tell if Candyland ever came with a molded plastic mountain with holes to place real candy lollipop to be given to the winner of the game. I remember playing candyland as a child I was born in 1959 and if I won the game being given a lollipop for winning.

Lorna,

I have several early editions of Candyland, but none like that. I’ve never heard of a version like that, but you might want to ask a guy a know named Bruce Whitehill. No one knows more about games than him. He’s at: thebiggamehunter.com.

I’m trying, with no sucess, to find the history of both Tripoly and Michigan Rummy. They seem to play the same; is it two different manufactures? Copywrite laws? Which came first - Tripoly or Michigan Rummy?

To Barbara and Tim… that toy is called Fun Flowers (Thingmaker by Mattel). Yes, I loved that toy too - so I just purchased one from 1964 on Ebay. The toy allowed us to make the psychedelic flowers, bugs, etcetera from a liquid “goop” which was poured into a mold and cooked. The one that I purchased has a “cooker” that still works and I was able to find some (modern-day) goop to use in the flower and bug molds. It’s great stuff… it still has that wonderful smell that we all remember with the 60’s goop, when we used to cook it up. Is this the same toy you remember? What a great time!

In the 1960’s I had a toy cooker that really worked. I’ve no idea which company made it but my mum must have bought it in a shop local to Marple, or Stockport, Cheshire. The cooker was made of metal and it was a turquoise/green colour. It had a kettle and a couple of pans to cook with. It came with tablets that sat on a little metal stand inside the cooker, positioned underneath the hole (for the gas ring) that the kettle/pans sat on. The tablet was then ignited! (imagine being allowed to buy such a toy for today’s children!)Thus allowing you to boil the kettle etc. I remember boiling potatoes in the pan. Does anyone remember such a toy, or better still, have one to sell?

Kay,

Sounds like the Easy Bake Oven to me. The teal color is a great clue! Still on the market, but now Hasbro favors Pink over Teal.

trying to find a doll called tippy tumbles my sister had one.mines was a large walking talking doll don”t have a clue who made it

According to Mark Rich’s book, Toys A to Z, there was a 17” doll made by Mattel in the the late 60s - early 70s called Tippee Toes, which “moved is legs to ride an accessory Hobby horse or tricycle.” Is that it?

I had a toy from the 1960’s that would mold dinosaurs out of green plastic. The machine could melt the dinosaurs down again into plastic squares. The machine would get really hot to melt the plastic. Does anyone remember the brand and name of this molding machine.

Thanks, Sheldon

Sheldon,

You’re describing a Thing Maker by Mattel. With it kids could make bugs and “Creepy Crawlers.” It was a big enough hit that different sets came out so that kids could make all kinds of things beyond bugs. It came out in 1964.

Check out this Wikipedia entry

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