Most Popular Toys Of The 1970s

most popular toys of the 1970s the 1970s toy market continued to boom there were some toys that were very popular at the time and really never made it out of the decade however some toys were very innovative and remain popular for decades to come some of them are just as popular today as they were when they first came out the nerf ball was launched in 1970 and it was billed as the world's first official indoor ball it was marketed as a ball that can't damage lamps or break windows they also said you couldn't hurt babies or old people the nerf ball sold around 4 million in its first year in 1971 hasbro came out with another sensation in the form of an egg these however were not so fragile and they were called weebles their success was due to how simple and safe and durable they were in the hands of little ones weevils wobble but they don't fall down the evil knievel stunt cycle was a huge toy in 1973 and it was made by ideal toys it was based after the famous stunt man named evil knievel who made 13 jumps on his harley that same year one of his epic jumps was over 13 vans long he crashed once but that didn't stop him or the sales of his merchandise magnadoodle was made by tycho and they sold millions of these little art pads it was released in 1974 and was thought by some to be a better alternative to an etch-a-sketch the biggest fad of 1975 were these little pet rocks they blew up big in the middle of the year but started to fizzle out by christmas time of the same year however the inventor gary dahl didn't care too much about that he had sold over a million stones for four dollars each by that point the company kenner launched stretch armstrong in 1976 and stopped manufacturing the elastic hero in 1980 his insides were filled with corn syrup before the world knew transformers there were micronauts these figures premiered in 1976 but had their moment in 1977 following the sci-fi mania sweeping the globe after the movie star wars was released they were produced by mego the same company passed on the license to sell the star wars toys which of course they certainly regretted much later the marvel comics launched a comic with the micronauts title but it was not enough to keep the company from going under in the early 1980s for many of us it may be difficult to believe that the home video game system had been out since the 1970s in 1975 a home video game console was released but it only had one game on it the system had no way of changing cartridges or games and it was strictly just a game of pong atari presented pong to sears and the retail giant ordered 150 000 units for the upcoming holiday season the consoles were first branded with the sears telegames name the atari 2600 game system was released in september of 1977 but the price was steep the console sold for 199 dollars which is somewhere around 800 in today's money despite that there were some people who had them and there is little doubt that it revolutionized the gaming world forever since the atari was so expensive there was an extremely popular alternative that was much more affordable mattel released a handheld game device that was powered by a 9-volt battery it was a football game in the simplest form represented by red rectangles on a black field this game system was far cheaper than the atari at 29.95 lots of kids had these and it paved the way for game boys and iphone games in the future when star wars the film hit the scene in 1977 it changed pop culture in a huge way surprisingly the toys were slow to hit the market after the company mego passed on the licensing of the toys the company kenner won the license they sold certificates redeemable for four figures the line expanded in 1978 and raked in the money but demand still made them hard to get in 1979 the options had increased which was just in time for children who were anxiously anticipating the release of empire strikes back the rubik's cube was invented by erno rubik in 1974. originally it wasn't intended to be a toy but rather a model to help explain 3d geometry however it was released at the nuremberg toy show in 1979 and became an instant hit in 2009 this popular toy surpassed 350 million units sold worldwide making it the biggest selling toy of all time could you solve the puzzle or did you have to peel off the stickers or take it apart and cheat the six million dollar man television show was a huge hit in 1973. because of that the action figure was released in 1975 it was 13 inches tall and dressed in a red tracksuit the original had a telescopic bionic eye and a right arm that could lift two pounds boggle is a timed word game that was invented by alan turnoff in 1972 it was originally sold as a three game pack by parker brothers players had three minutes to find as many words as possible by connecting the letter dice within a 16 cube grid any words found by more than one player did not count towards the individual's final tally points were only rewarded for unique words connect four was invented by howard wechsler in 1973 but the milton bradley game didn't really take off until 1978 when the company began airing commercials for it the game was similar to tic-tac-toe and was an easy game for all ages the object of the game is for the player to race and to compete to see who all will be first to get four chips in a row hungry hippos began being sold in 1978 by milton bradley they purchased the rights from fred kroll who had bought the rights earlier in the decade in japan where the game originated the object of the game is to use your hippo to chomp down as many marbles from the center as possible whoever has the most marbles in the end wins baby alive was a massive hit when hasbro released it in 1973 it was billed as the doll that eats drinks and wets children could feed the doll packets of food mixed with water the doll would chew and then spew out the other end starsky and hutch was a buddy cop television show that was a hit on the airways in 1975. it starred paul michael glaser and david's soul the show was so popular that it didn't take long for the themed toys to hit the market shrinky dinks were invented by betty morris and catherine bloomberg as a boy scouts project for their son's troop it was first sold at a brookfield wisconsin shopping mall in 1973 the set came with sheets of thin plastic that could be decorated however you want it they were then popped in the oven and baked which caused them to shrink to one third of their original size kids would often make charms or just simply collect them sunny and share dolls capitalize on the success of the sunny and share comedy hour they were released in 1976 by the company mego the dolls were 12 inches high and allowed kids to imagine their own comedy show for hours in 1976 mattel released a gross toy called sly it was packaged in a neon green trash can and advertised as a toxic waste you can play with simon is an electronic party game that was unveiled at the toy fair show in 1978 it has four colored sections red yellow green and blue and test players memories the object is to repeat their progressively longer light patterns without missing a sequence simon was a holiday season hit and has remained popular despite its imitators there has even been different versions of the game released throughout the years speak spell was introduced at the summer consumer electronics show in june of 1978. this made it one of the earliest handheld electronic devices which had a visual display to use interchangeable game cartridges this educational toy by texas instruments could teach kids how to read spell pronounce words as well as learn math over the years there would be several designs and versions but this really was a popular toy through several decades the 1970s produced some toys that are still being manufactured to this day and are just as popular as they ever were there probably isn't a kid alive who has been in a toy section of a store and doesn't know what nerf is many of the toys from the 1970s are collectors items a few of them such as evil knievel have been re-released for the young at heart thank you for watching this little video on the most popular toys of the 1970s i hope you enjoyed it and we'll see you all next time [Music] you

Channel: Rhetty for History

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Id: 1sAMykZ3BR0

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 20 2020