Fun Facts About Popular Toys

1) The game "Twister" was originally called "Pretzel", and it was invented by Reyn Guyer, who also invented the Nerf Ball.

2) Mr. Potato Head was the first children's toy advertised on television.

In 1987, Mr. Potato Head went politically correct and gave up his standard issue plastic pipe at the American Cancer Society's Great American Smoke out event, giving it to then Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop.

3) Jenga in the African Swahili language means "to build." The game was created by a African named Leslie Scott, whose first language was Swahili.

4) Marine engineer Richard James invented The Slinky after a torsion spring fell off his desk and tumbled end-over-end across the floor. His wife Betty gave the toy its name.

5) Pedro Flores invented the yo yo, adapting the toy from a stone and thong weapon used in his native Philippines. In the late thirties, Donald F. Duncan bought Flores' yo yo factory and, thus, the Duncan Yo Yo was born.

6) Silly Putty was discovered by a scientist trying to find a rubber substitute in one of General Electrics labs during World War II, when rubber was in short supply.

7) Barbara Millicent Roberts is the full name of the original Barbie Doll.

Barbie was modeled after a German doll that was, in turn, modeled after a female cartoon character named Bild Lilli.

8) Frisbees originated at various New England colleges when students began throwing empty pie tins from the Frisbee Baking Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

9) Hacky Sack was a handmade beanbag created by Mike Marshall as a way to exercise his knee after an injury.

10) The Teddy Bear was named after President Roosevelt after he came back from a Mississippi bear hunt with a wounded bear cub. The bear cub was popularized by cartoonist Clifford Berryman, and thus the Teddy Bear was born.

11) Crayola Crayons have been on the market for over a hundred years.

12) According to Forbes Magazine, one out of three homes owns a Scrabble Board.

13) A husband and wife created the game of Yahtzee while on their yacht, thus the name "Yahtzee."

14) Rubik's Cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 color configurations and only one solution. Ideal Toy Company originally wanted to name it "The Gordian Knot." The ultimate 1981 collector's item was a Rubik's Cube showing Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. One of the youngest Cube solvers is a seven year old who doesn't even know how he does it ... and he does it often.

The toy made inventor Erno Rubik Hungary's richest private citizen.

15) Play-doh was originally used as wallpaper cleaner.

SOURCES:

http://www.toy-tia.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Press_Room/TOY_FAIR_100/TF100-FunFacts/TF100-FunFacts.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002485/frisbees.html

http://www.footbag.org/faq/show/941272106

http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/roosevelt/tbear.htm

http://www.den.dartmouth.edu/startups/firsts/twister.htm

http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=ci_history_jenga

http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=ci_history_yahtzee

http://www.eweek.org/site/news/Features/slinky.shtml

http://www.yo-yo.com/history.asp#

http://www.sillyputty.com/history_101/history101.htm

"Must-have items from decades past", Leah Hoffman, Forbes, URL: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10387831/ )