Regular reader and good friend Woodchuckgod, presents a wonderful list of greatest toys from his childhood.
"What a fun and appropriate list for the
holidays. Let's see....
10. Dominoes: I had a long fascination with domino chain
reactions, being as elaborate as I could manage. I occasionally actually played
the game – but I include them because they were far more a building toy for me.
09. Multiway Rollway: A marble track, build-your-own type of
thing. This was fun, seeing the configurations you could make work. It was also
made a dandy low-tech do-it-yourself pinball machine in a pinch.
08. Cardboard Bricks were perfect for large-scale buildings,
barricading doorways, for being completely obliterated by a speeding Tron
Lightcycle.
07. Lincoln Logs.
06. Legos
05. Fantom 4: Easily the coolest thing I ever had in my younger
childhood, toy-wise. A little fan would make this flying saucer hover over the floor, nearly soundlessly. Launch it from its charging dock, and it would go
quite a good clip, especially on a hardwood floor.
04. Transformers: The original runs. I had a ton of ‘em. Even my
little brother’s amputation of Megatron’s arm wouldn’t stop his schemes.
03. Atari 2600 VCS System: I’m a gamer from way back. This is
the thing that brought it into the home and cemented my fascination with the
video game.
02. American Bricks: There were at my grandmother’s house but I’d
spend hours with them every time I was there. The wooden pieces were easy to
hold and manipulate, the slanted roof pieces were a treat, and the nub/hold
lego-like construction (even without locking tight) made a lot of neat building
tricks possible. I was particularly fond of trying to make the largest pyramid
I could without it falling in on itself mid-construction.
01. Tron Lightcycle: This still has to get the #1 spot, hands
down. I think every action figure I ever owned rode in this at one point or
another, and just about everything I ever built with the aforementioned
cardboard bricks was brought low by this speeding missile of destructive doom.
Such fun."
Woodchuckgod: I love your list because it reflects the fun of blocks, and how much fun it is to imagine and then construct something new. I loved playing blocks as a kid. I was always building Captain Nemo's Nautilus, or Moonbase Alpha (where my Mattel Eagle One could dock).
Also, I believe your list is also the first to mention the Atari 2600 VCS System, one of the most wonderful toys of my childhood, as well. I remember so vividly the Christmas I received it, and this whole new world of games opening up. I remember playing Space Invaders, Combat and Missile Command that Christmas Morning, and not wanting to stop...ever.
Finally, I must now own that Fantom 4 hover-craft. That toy looks amazing...
Great list!
Dominos! Did ANYONE use them for anything but setting up chain reactions? When I was a kid we all vaguely knew there was some way to play a game with them but no one seemed to know the actual rules.
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