OT: Favorite toys while growing up....

[JB75]

Does anyone remember APBA baseball. Got me and my friends through many a rainy day.

Yes my father still plays that and is currently playing out a whole entire season with all the greatest teams of all time

 

[Dove]

Not sure if it counts as a toy, but if any one of you sat down to a meal with my mother and asked about Hoophound as a kid, she’d tell you how many Big Wheels I wore out. She insists those were so far and away the best thing they ever bought my brother and I and frankly, I wish I had one right now, so she’s probably right.

Amazing!!

 

[Spaceman213J]

The first thing I thought of when I read the title of this thread was the erector set. What is more kid friendly then sharp edged pieces of metal and small screws and nuts? Well, maybe a game of Jarts.

I loved jarts. We were just saying we wish we had our old set so we could play in our backyard with what is going on.

 

[David 76]

Yes my father still plays that and is currently playing out a whole entire season with all the greatest teams of all time

Is this like Stratomatic?

 

[metsfan2323]

Dad attaching a basketball hoop to the shed in 1976 was a game changer. I used to shoot until it got dark and then the porch light would go on for more shooting.

Lesser sports toys were the baseball "pitch-back" and the "Johnny Bench batter-up".

 

[Skol33]

I was a teen when I got addicted to this game. My friends and I would play for hours:

View attachment 53140

Haha I guess I’m not the only one

 

[Deepster]

Is this like Stratomatic?

Me and my friends loved strat-o-matic. Had a draft before the “season” and managed the roster. Trades. Kept all the stats in a notebook with hand calcs.

Now I deal with stats and risk. Staring at spreadsheets all day. Go figure.

 

[UconnU]

 

[uconnfan68]

Xmas 1973.... I prayed really hard for this. I must have done a good job.

1973, I gave myself a new Harley, XLCH.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I wanted the gi joe air craft carrier ......still waiting

Maybe because GI Joe was Army and carriers are Navy??

 

[JB75]

Is this like Stratomatic?

Yes but way better, more in depth and pretty accurate. Strat o matic was cool tho

 

[Dove]

Late 70s a kid across the street got this game. Offense play cards were paired against Defense play cards to reveal potential outcomes. Then you ping the pinger and play on.

Great game.

 

[cohenzone]

My cap gun. Last gun I ever cared about. And smashing the roll of caps with a hammer on the sidewalk was the best . Nice racket.

 

[Dove]

My cap gun. Last gun I ever cared about. And smashing the roll of caps with a hammer on the sidewalk was the best . Nice racket.

Ha ha...caps. Paper with gun powder. Good times!!

 

[Horatio]

Evil Knivel stunt cycle baby!

Epic

 

[Horatio]

Oh, that reminds me of this fave:

I consistently snuck this into school. A Must have before Madden

 

[T-Squared]

View attachment 53111

Loved this game! Drafted teams and played full seasons!

 

[RichZ]

I had one of these as well. What a joke. Supposedly, you could adjust the little white pieces of plastic under the players to make them run routes. Never worked for me.

Worked fine if by "Run a route" you meant "go in circles until it falls down".

 

[Dove]

Worked fine if by "Run a route" you meant "go in circles until it falls down".

I remember the player bases had dials. What the hell did the dials do?

 

[HobokenHusky]

View attachment 53126

On the topic of BMX bikes, I found that pic on this website BMXmuseum.com . Talk about a nostalgia trip. If you had a BMX bike you can very likely find a picture on here. Really cool. Just went through 1996 and it was like I was in the bike shop at 11 years old again.

 

[RichZ]

I remember the player bases had dials. What the hell did the dials do?

That must've been a later development. We used to twist the little clear plastic fins they rode on. If you got them to twist far enough in opposite directions without dislodging them you could make a guy spin pretty much in place.

 

[SoFla Steve]

1973, I gave myself a new Harley, XLCH.

I did, too!!! It was purple! My ex has all the pics.

EDIT: It looked a lot like this one.

 

[Horatio]

 

[Horatio]

AFX slot cars

 

[wheelerdog]

Loved this game! Drafted teams and played full seasons!

We played 20 game seasons. I tracked league leaders in wins and home runs. I found all the sheets in my parent's attic a few years back, but the dice are gone. From what I recall the paint on the numbers was wearing from using them so much.

I can't begin to tell you how much I loved that game....

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Not good at posting pictures. But I amused myself with the vibrating football game. Players would move across the board haphazardly. Had small felt football

My players too often spun in circles.

It was tremendously labor intensive putting the decal numbers on the players, but it's where I learned the general numbering scheme for linemen and 'skill positions.'

I still have one of the spring-loaded kickers.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I liked building stuff, but I never got the really, really big set to build everything in the brochure
View attachment 53129

After the Saturday cartoon thread, I figured this thread would come up soon. I had great toys growing up, and enough of them to make many here want to beat me up for it.

I loved playing with them all, and most of them (like my baseball cards) got strategically rotated out by my mother, to a variety of kids who had less. I may not have been happy, at the time, but clearly room was made for the new, and the lessons have endured.

My Kenner Girder & Panel set had a yellow elevator cab & motor mechanism. With a companion set, I was also able to build roads & highways, and there were even exit signs and such.

Along with Lincoln Logs, American Bricks, Tinker Toys, and Poly Rods, the Kenner set was passed on to my 4 year old next door neighbor in the past year, as he displayed a strong interest in & aptitude for building toys. Those that he doesn't like as much will go to the children's area of the local library branch.

In this thread, it has been easier to mostly Like the toys that others have posted, if I grew up with them too. I'll post pictures of a few items I haven't yet seen.

 

[uconnfan68]

I did, too!!! It was purple! My ex has all the pics.

EDIT: It looked a lot like this one.

View attachment 53158

Mine was a 1973 model, but without lights (1972 was last year without them). It was black, with red-white-blue striping. I only have 1 blurry picture of it.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Thank the lord this topic is on the Men's board, sure the women's board would have different answers and some R (or X) rated.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Connecticut Leather Company- Talk about a company that evolved. They started out making shoe parts.

Leather making kits - > cool pools - > personal computers - >Cabbage Patch Kids. They were known for boom & bust product cycles.

If you have ever seen the iconic photograph of the first dozen or so Microsoft employees, it includes a Harvard classmate of Bill Gates, who it is said invested or lent money to finance the company's relocation from Albuquerque to Seattle. He was the grandson of the founder of Coleco.