Alternative Use of Play-Doh

From The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror XVII


At 13:25, Marge has an alternative use for Play-Doh, though with annoying Fran Drescher nasal voice results.  Though, of course, don't just scoot over to 13:25, this is the Simpsons, watch the whole damn thing. :)

Retro Toy: the BigTrak

Yes, there was a time when toy cars were clunky and carried dozens of buttons to function (just plain unsightly--not to mention awkward when installed on a real-life car), but hey, the Bigtrak was programmable, and it paved the way for future RC toys cars and vehicles.

Thusly I Will Have This Captain America Shield Ricochet with a Purpose

Amidst all the predictable Captain America movie tie-in products and gimmicks happening right now (you know, Captain America action figures, Captain America bucket meals, T-shirts, etc), here is one that's completely different and quirky and fun, from our much-beloved hotdog brand: Purefoods Tender Juicy.


For a PhP 170 pack of Tender Juicy you get a toy freebie.  Don't get the one with the blah pencils though; get the other freebie, the one with the red and blue plastic pieces you snap on a la railway tracks and two plastic discs with holes in them. 


It's called a spirograph.

Your ballpen tip, preferably colored, goes in any hole on either disc. Then you carefully run the disc along the inside of the railway tracks, like cogs and wheels, faithfully following the entire circumference of the racks.  And in the process produce beautiful geometric circles and blooms.  If you're patient you'll get perfect patterns each time.  If, however, you"ve got tremor of the hands, or have bad eye and hand coordination, or just plain careless, you get sloppy drawings of course such as this and this.

So the Spirograph discs by Tender Juicy still have Captain America's mighty shield going for them, at least in terms of the sticker on them, plus the red and blue color.  Anyway, a shield able to create artworks is better, I think, than the real shield of Captain America which just ricochets and boomerangs off walls and enemies' foreheads.


Okay, the freebie isn't an original toy anymore, which is why I'm filing this post under Classic Toys.  The spirograph has been around since the 60's, invented by one Denys Fisher, who, not surprisingly is an engineer.  Really, beneath all the smooth seemingly mindless fun of creating wonderful geometric patterns is an actual mathematical curve.

Originally, Fisher intended the contraption to be a tool for draftsmen (move over boring compass), but he thought it best to market it as a toy.  And sure enough, it won Toy of the Year and was the best selling toy in 1967.
 At the grounds of Quiapo church they sell spirographs too, for 20 bucks.  No hotdogs included, but for 20 bucks you have about 5 or 6 or even 7 discs of different sizes, so there's a wider variety of geometric blooms possible.

Before Barbie.

Demure and all

Oh look,

Filipiniana dolls

outfitted in their national costumes!

True, they don't have Barbie's full range of motion and Barbie's plastic smooth skin--these vintage dolls have fabric for their skin, bordering on pink instead of the true Pinoy's tan--and they're planted besides on wooden stands so that they don't keel over, unlike free-to-roam-anywhere Barbie--but what the heck.  

These guys are dusty and oooold, and don't believe in bling blings and Crocs.

Uncle Wiggily | Retro Toy

Designed by: Howard R. Garis, based on his children's book of the same title

First manufactured: 1916

Publisher: Milton Bradley

Number of players: 2-4

Playing time: approx. 30 minutes

Strategies required: none, just pure luck

Barbie, Lots and Lots of Barbies

• Barbie's inventor is Ruth Handler who was inspired by little adult dolls she saw on a trip to Germany.
• Barbie's first ever attire when she debuted at the American Toy Fair in New York was a black and white striped bathing suit--pretty liberal already.
• Barbie celebrates her birthday on March 9, 1959.
• Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
• Unbeknownst to many, Barbie has five sisters: Skipper, Tutti, Stacie, Kelly, and Krissy.
• If Barbie were a real woman, her measurements would be 36-18-38.
• Over the years, Barbie has had about 80 careers already.
• Barbie's first pet was a horse named Dancer.  
• Ken was named after Ruth Handler's son.
• The first Barbie doll with legs that could bend was introduced to the market in 1965.
• Christie was the first African-American Barbie doll, and she was brought to market in 1968.
• Barbie's eyes were adjusted in 1971 to have her looking straight ahead, as opposed to looking sideways.
• Barbie is an animal lover who has had 38 pets over the years. Her animal companions have included cats, dogs, horses, and a lion cub.
• Barbie collector editions are organized into four tiers: Pink (unlimited production), Silver (up to 50,000 units), Gold (up to 25,000 in production), and Platinum (up to 1,000 in production)
• Every second somewhere in the world three Barbie dolls are sold.

And the Mastermind Is...

Unlike the original plastic coding board and pegs of the original Mastermind board game, this one here is made of wood.  Very chic.

Over the years, the classic game has evolved, including a Mastermind with  5 colors (Grand), 8 colors (Deluxe), numbers (Number Mastermind) and words (Worf Mastermind) instead of colors, and even a  Mastermind Walt Disney  edition featuring Disney characters in lieu of the colors. 

The last mutation was in 2004 simply called New Mastermind, where the only new variation in the game is its five-player capacity.

Retro Toy | Cootie. (Without the s)

Today's Retro Toy: Cootie

Cootie, without the s, or you'll end up with the fictional disease we scare kids with so they'd behave.

Incidentally, the word cootie first appeared in a World War I memoir by Albert Depew , in which he describes the horrors of unimaginable pests and vermins that inhabit trenches where soldiers wade in regularly.  Incidentally also, cooties may have come from kuto, which is the Filipino word for the dreaded head lice, a good enough theat to keep kids from playing outside, especially during hot afternoons when lice is supposedly more rampant.

Anyway, back to the toy.  Cootie is the name of the tabletop game created by William Schaper in 1948.  The object of the game: be the first to build the bug creature by rolling the correct number in a die.

In 2003, the Toy Industry Association included Cootie in its "Century of Toys List", a list of the 100 most influential and memorable toys we've come to love.

Pet Rock

Now who in their right mind would buy a rock marketed as a pet?

Apparently, lots of people--good enough to turn Gary Dahl into a shotgun multi-millioner in 1975. 

Six months was all it took for the advertising executive to market plain old rocks to people who were fed up with their high-maintenance pet dogs and cats and African lovebirds and iguanas and discus fish.

Those were indeed crazy times, and a fad is a fad. 

Sold for  $3.95, the Pet Rock kit included:

1. A plain old rock (gathered from a beach in Mexico)
2. Hay, to keep the rock cozy and comfortable
3. A custom cardboard box, complete with breathing holes
4. A training manual to get your pet rock house-trained, and teach it new tricks which include sit, stay, play dead, roll over, and the very easy attack--the latter involving ample wrist control from the pet owner.

And because the rocks were just sourced for about 65 cents, the box and training manuals for under 30 cents, and the hay for virtually nothing (a $3 profit for every rock)--5 million dollars of sales in just six months propelled Dahl into millionaire status all of a sudden.

Of course, the only drawback of the Pet Rock: you can't post a ridiculous number of pictures of you and your geological pet on Facebook--like so many cat lovers or dog lovers or iguana lovers or African lovebird lovers or discus fish lovers out there--without looking like a fool. 

But then again, why not?

Retro Toy | Labyrinth Puzzle by Brio

The classic puzzle Labyrinth by Brio circa 1940's.

Goal: By skillfully working the left and right knobs, navigate the marble through a complex of maze while avoiding the pits that would send you right back to the start.

Requirements: Excellent hand-&-eye coordination, sturdy and stable wrists, and lots of patience.

The updated version of Labyrinth

LEGO for Adults | at the Ted Talks

1. At the TED Talks, Hillel Cooperman discusses Legos for grownup, with matching Powerpoint.  Hilarious, and the audience loves him, and by the time his talk ended, I--and I don't think I'm alone here-- had looked back to my childhood and missed all that carefree playtime so bad.

2.  Infinite possibilities you can do with Legos, not just with the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 robotics.  Cooperman means the reenacted famous movie scenes rendered in Lego style or original videos, the large scale brick architecture with lots of details,Titanic, etc.  No more innocent play.  The adults are too aware.  But that's okay.

3. As of 2007, if you combine all the Lego bricks ever made and distribute it equally among everyone in the planet, each one of us will have 62 Lego pieces.  It's 2011 already, but don't make me do the math.

4. "[Nerds are] like a couple levels above Furries."   Hahaha.

5. We're never too old to play with Legos.

 

Is Your Toy Included in The National Toy Hall of Fame?

The first and original inductees in the National Toy Hall of Fame established in 1998 by American science educator Ed Sobey.  The criteria for selection: icon-status (a toy that's widely recognized and remembered); longevity (not just a passing fad); discovery (fosters learning and creativity); and innovation (profoundly changed toy design and the way we play).

View-Master

   1. Barbie
   2. Crayola Crayon
   3. Erector Set
   4. Etch-A-Sketch
   5. Frisbee
   6. Hula Hoop
   7. Lego
   8. Lincoln Logs
   9. Marbles
  10. Monopoly
  11. Play-Doh
  12. Radio Flyer wagon

Tinkertoy

  13. Roller Skates
  14. Teddy Bear
  15. Tinkertoy
  16. View-master
  17. Duncan Yo-Yo

Okay, Crayola is more of a school supply, but you get the point.  And don't worry, G.I. Joe was included in 2004.

The World's Largest Twister Mat

 A few weeks ago along Commonwealth Avenue, I saw a nice alternative use for an old Twister mat: a tarpaulin awning for a market stall.

I should have snapped a photo of it because now whenever I pass by, the Twister mat is no longer there, a plain old banig mat has replaced it.  Guess the owners figured out what all those colored circles are for, and took to playing the game.

 
I don't know anyone who has a Twister mat.  I don't have friends who have it, and before that apparition on Commonwealth Ave., the only times I've ever seen a Twister mat is in the movies.  Specifically, lovey-dovey movies where the boy and the girl happily entangle themselves into pretzels of bliss.  A game of Twister was excellent foreplay.  

 
During its early years, Twister was even branded by competitor toy manufacturers as "sex in a box".  Of course, that was the 60's.  Since then, we've made drastic leaps regarding our concept of personal space.


I suspect that's the reason why Twister never was a hit in the Philippines.  We're too conservative; we value our personal space.  The Catholic priests and bishops will surely frown upon girls and boys--or worst--just boys or just girls entangling themselves into pretzels of bliss.

Trivia: The original patent for Twister by game developers Chuck Foley and Neil Rabens was: an "Apparatus for Playing a Game Wherein the Players Constitute the Game Pieces.”

Happily Bankrupt at Monopoly | & Why You May or May Not Love the New Monopoly Revolution

 Now they have Monopoly Revolution, featuring a "revolutionary" circular game board, fake credit cards, and matching sound effects from the electronic banker--there's a chugging train for instance, when you land on Reading Railroad, or a door slamming on your face when you're sent to Jail.

And listen to this--Monopoly Revolution even plays music from the past five decades.  So one minute you're hearing Rhianna's Umbrella, the next Queen is declaring "I want to ride my bicycle."

No doubt, there's a lot of getting used to with the new Monopoly Revolution.

Thing You'll Miss About the Old-School Monopoly Boardgame

1. The tangible feel of cold cash in your hands, especially when you're on the receiving end.  There is still something to be said for counting physical cash, you know.


2. No more cards to flip over.  The Chance and Community Chest  cards are now rendered electronically.    (Said one person about the Community Chest cards, "...I hope they are updated. If I win a beauty contest, I want a lot more than $100.00.")

3. Now that there's electronic banking, no chance of cheating,

4.  You can't boast to the other players about how fat your wad of cash is.  Let's see you try that with a credit card.

5. With the classic Monopoly, it feels like you're really traveling from end to end.  In Revolution, true to its name, it feels like you're just going in circles.

6. No more tokens in the shape of a racecar, thimble, top hat, etc.

But hey, Hasbro is just keeping up with the times.  [Check out If America Were a Game of Monopoly].

The best places to own a property in Monopoly:  

Illinois Avenue, 
New York Avenue, 
B&O Railroad, 
& Reading Railroad


The least-landed-upon places:  
Mediterranean Avenue & Baltic Avenue.  

: : . .

Journal entry four years ago (May 25, 2007): 

"Played Monopoly yesterday, me, my sister Van, and Edge.  Haven't played that game in a good while.

When we were young and school was suspended because of typhoons with women's names, my cousins and I used to Monopoly.  We'd dressed up in our best heavy sweaters, nonchalant that there'd be tomorrow and that school uniforms would then have to be worn back.

There was urgency of the Monopoly board in front of us, and the dice and our tokens, and the crinkly paper bills in our hands.  Back then, I lamented the fact that my sister and I had to visit next door every time, just to play Monopoly with our cousins, because they happened to own it.
 

Now, more than a decade later, sharing funds with Edge, I finally get around to buying the darn board game.
 
And yesterday, I lost big time.  But, what with all the shrieks and laughter and nervous rolling of the dice, getting bankrupt has never been this fun."

: : . .

At Amazon, they're slashing the price of Monopoly Revolution by as much as 56%, from $39.99 to $17.65.  Don't worry; the classic old-school Monopoly boardgame is still around if your purist tendencies won't let you sleep.

Retro Toy: Gnip Gnop

...or Ping Pong spelled backwards.  
Something from the 70's by Parker Brothers.

And three decades later reincarnated and updated by Fundex Games into this: