Articles
Spock vs. Spock
Which one is Mr. and which one is Dr.? How to tell which Spock you've got. When you've got to make a tough decision - "Is this a Prime Directive violation?" "Should I secretly replace Jimmy's dead goldfish?" - it makes sense to turn to Spock for Advice. But which...
Pet Rock (1975)
It’s all in the packaging. Joking with friends over drinks, creator Gary Dahl decided that a Pet Rock was the ideal pet – they’re easy to take care of and don’t make a mess. Expanding on his idea, he wrote the Pet Rock Training Manual. The manual was full of...
Chia Pet (1982)
Ch-ch-ch-chia! The Chia Pet is our favorite Pop Culture “Pet” by far, and it’s an easy guess that these terracotta figurines that grew their own hair have graced kitchen counters everywhere at one time or another. Introduced in the late 1970s, Chia Pets hit the mainstream in 1982 with the...
The Game of Life (1960)
Be careful how you play it, it’s a game of Life or death. Going through the game closet, we pulled down the Game of Life – but didn’t play it. The game was vetoed not for the fond memories we had (“The clicking sound of the spinner!” “Those tiny little...
Just a pop of the dice
Pop-o-Matic... it's how we roll. Nothing can seem simpler than rolling the dice to move colored pieces around a track. But leave it to Kohner Brothers to make even that simple act into a space-age thing of tomorrow! Kohner Brothers released the game Trouble in 1965, complete with the Pop-o-Matic...
Mille Bornes (1954)
Making highway travel all fun and games. Thinking of my favorite card game recently, Mille Bornes, got me thinking about how beautiful highways can be. Highways don’t get a lot of compliments (especially during long holiday weekends requiring travel), but Mille Bornes reminds us of the idealism of mid-century highway...
Operation (1965)
Who needs medical school when you can practice at home? Operation – the game of careful hand-eye coordination, but fortunately no malpractice suits – was created by John Spinello as an industrial design project for a class at the University of Illinois. “Cavity Sam,” as the poor patient’s known, suffers...
The best who-dunnit
It was Professor Plum, in the Ballroom with the Lead Pipe. One of the best all-time, classic games has got to be Clue (Cluedo outside of North America). The simplicity of the game, mixed with enough variables to ensure that you never get the same game twice, has kept game...
Trick or treat?
Whether you carry a plastic pumpkin or a pillowcase, it's time to score some sweet loot! For most kids, Halloween comes down to just one thing: Candy. And while the extortion threat of tricks may be mostly forgotten, uttering the words "Trick or treat?" - accompanied by a little face...
A light repast from the past
Vintage clothing? Check. Vintage posters? Check. Vintage food? Ch-what? Trends in eating and drinking come and go, and what was the fashion yesterday might seem a little – stale – today. But often, the return on one trend brings back another. It probably wasn’t coincidence that the return of swing-dancing...
One hit is all you need for a homerun
Sometimes one song says it all. Though sometimes dismissed as failures, one-hit-wonders demand respect. Finding the right combination of lyrics, melody and timing to garner a hit can be like catching lightning in a bottle. And lightning doesn’t always strike twice. Whether they completed one great work and then retired...
The forgotten quick-change artists
A Gobot by any other name…A brief field guide to transforming robot toys. Coke vs. Pepsi. VHS vs. Betamax. Transformers vs. Gobots. Back in the 1980s, lines were drawn. Unfortunately for Leader-1 of the Guardians, the Gobots lost. The Gobots line of action figures caused a sensation when they were...