Toys

Rubiks Cube

The Rubik's Cube is widely considered to be the world's best-selling toy. It was a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik.

In 1980, Rubik sold the licence to the toy, originally called the "Magic Cube" to Ideal Toys in 1980 and it won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that year.

Rubik's Cube is the incredibly addictive, multi-dimensional challenge that has fascinated fans since it arrived in 1980. Over "43 Quintillion" (that's 43 with 18 zeros to you and me) moves are possible with this original 3x3 Cube, but there is only one solution!

It was a must for puzzle lovers, the aim was to twist and turn the Rubik's Cube to return it to its original state, with every side having one solid colour.

For those who struggle to master this challenge - or simply lack the patience - you could always just peel the stickers off or take it apart and reassemble it!

Mr Potato Head

Who says you're not allowed to play with your food? Hours of fun making funny faces was to be had with this plastic potato and various facial features.

Theoretically, with a large enough number of pieces, Mr. Potato Head could have a nearly infinite variety of faces, thus making him the ultimate super spy.

Unfortunately, children usually just spend their time playing with this master of disguise putting the eyes in the mouth slot, or similar actions, producing a face similar to something Picasso may have painted.

Simon

The premise behind Simon was quite simple. It was based on the old game Simon Says. You would start the game and one of the four coloured panels would light up and sound a tone. Your responsibility was to press the panel that lit up. Simple enough. Then Simon would repeat lighting that panel and add another. Now your job was to press the two panels in order. The number of panels would continue to increment until you could no longer remember the sequence which would cause Simon to issue a harsh buzz.

Slinky

Yes, as a kid, I had a slinky. So did many of my friends. Slinky was simply eighty feet of flat steel wire machine-wound into a short column of 98 coils. The Slinky's ability to "walk" down stairs and open and close like an accordion made it a favorite toy during the 80's, but it was actually invented in the 1950s, and it is still popular today.

Inevitably though, most Slinkys ended up getting and tangled and twisted. And a bent Slinky, like Prince Naseem Hamid, is never going to get back into shape.

Etch a Sketch

An Etch-a-Sketch is actually a pretty amazing device! It is essentially a manually operated plotter with a built-in erasing system. Anyone who has used an Etch-a-Sketch before will recognize the familiar red plastic toy with the glass drawing window.

Despite the impressive artwork on the box and in TV adverts, anyone is is anything less than an artistic savant would struggle to produce anything more complex than a five year old can do with a piece of paper and a crayon!

It is not easy, but you can get inside by removing the outer case and the glass, and I know, I took my sister's toy apart on Boxing Day one Christmas!

On opening the case, an obvious question, prior to playing with this powder, is, "Why does the aluminum powder stick to the glass?"

After you play with the powder, you know that the answer is, "Because it sticks to EVERYTHING!" It is amazing stuff!

The downside is that when your mother asks who destroyed your sisters favourite Christmas present, the evidence is clear for all to see!

Boyz Toyz

Big Trak

The first artificial intelligence robotic vehicle made expressly for children, this was the toy I always wanted but never got one.

Its price was high enough that it was marooned it to the envious land of “toys other people have in their homes.” Big Trak also had one “trailer hitch” accessory that, for anyone who saw Big Trak commercials, was an absolutely necessary purchase. In the commercial, a kid giddily programs his Big Trak to surprise his father with a cool, refreshing drink, perhaps thanking him for spending so much on this techno-wonder.

It could remember up to 16 commands which it then executed in sequence (such as "go forward 5 lengths", "pause", "turn 30 degrees right", "fire phaser" and so on. In the end though, remotely serving your father his evening gin & tonic was about the limit of Big Trak’s practical applications.

Scalextric

Scalextric slot cars were initially created in the 1950s by British firm Minimodels. The company had in 1952 introduced a range of clockwork powered race car systems called Scalex, which were then adapted into electric systems and renamed Scalextric, combining the words Scalex and electric.

The only real way to describe it to someone who has truly never heard of it is to compare it to the humble train set. Now think of a train set with dual tracks so you can race them off against each other and you're getting the idea of Scalextric. The speed at which the cars race isn't fixed, it is governed by a hand held controller - try and take the corners too fast and you're bound to come spinning off the track!

Grown-ups never forget the childhood smells of hot electric motors and the brightly-coloured plastic controllers associated with Scalextric, nor do they forget the Christmas Day pleading with their elders to let them have a turn or continually replacing the cars that come flying off at the corners! Is this the reason why adults turn into the kind of parents who love to buy their children a Scalextric set for Christmas so they can play with it themselves? They believe Scalextric is wasted on their kids.

Many a bloody fight has occurred between friends trying to get their little plastic car around the track ahead of each other. Almost all Scalextric owners have tried putting both cars on the same track for no logical reason apart from the sheer stupidity of it. The whole point of Scalextric is to race the cars against each other so there is absolutely no sense in putting them in the same slot, yet still they have to try.