What toys/games were part of your childhood?

[John Smith]

I recall erector sets and Tinker toys. Also a variety of balsa wood planes, some with rubber band driven props. One company made a 'ceiling walker' a stick with two oppositely pitched props the simply bounced along the ceiling. Hula hoops were quite a fad. We'd send cereal box tops to Battle Creek, and they'd send us some small toy.

We flipped coins, or cards, against the wall. Played Tag or Hide and Seek. We caught leaves as they fell. Cards on our bikes made a motor sound.

We'd stretch a napkin across a bowl, holding it in place with a rubber band, and place a coin on the center of the napkin. Then we'd take turns using a punk (I believe that's what it was called) to burn a hole in the napkin. The one who burned the whole that caused the coin to fall lost.

We rode bikes everywhere, including our local cemetery that had this short steep hill that, once you got to the top, let you coast down a slight incline that went all around the cemetery and brought you back to the bottom of the hill. We often attached a playing card that, as the spokes hit it, made a 'motor' sound.

I had a lot of 'toy' or 'model' boats. They ranged from put put boats to rubber band driven, to wind up models, to battery powered, gas powered, and wind powered. I spend a good deal of time at the local pond

[White River]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

Logos, Legos, and more Legos. Infinite possibilities

[ron ll]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

Slinkys and Gyroscopes and Viewmasters.

[David G]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

BB gun wars. Monopoly. Bike riding. Building rafts for exploring the bay. Playing in the woods and along the creek. Blocks. Pinochle. Lincoln logs. Poker. Competitions to see who could pick the biggest bucket of blackberries for mom's pies/cobblers. Building things: slingshot, 8' pram, skateboard, underwater viewing bucket, etc. Books... lots of books. Hunting (from about age 10). Fishing (from as long as I can remember). Clamdigging.

[Garret]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

I had my dad's Meccano (2 full sets with motors) - countless hours building stuff with that. Younger years I spent a lot of time in the sandbox with dump trucks & road graders, etc. Sleds & saucers - built all sorts of twisting courses for the saucers. Also built downhill courses for a tennis ball with dirt & boards - turns, bridges, etc. Bikes for sure - skidding contests on the dirt driveway - which for some reason seemed to wear out rear tires.

[Hugh MacD]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

All of the above, plus the American Flyer electric train that we'd set up on the bedroom floor and make structures out of poker chips and cards and run the train through. 800 acres of old donation land claim woods behind the house was our "woods" and we could hike from our place to the top of "Mt. Sylvania" (about three miles) and only cross two roads. Now, of course it's all houses.

[Ralphie Boy]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

How about Chemisty Sets? I had several.

[Ralphie Boy]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

I also remember playing with these miniature toy power tools. I recall there was a circular saw that could cut thin balsa but not your fingers.

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[Bobby of Tulsa]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

Mumbley peg and marbles for outside, checkers and dominos for inside.

[willin woodworks]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

Daisy BB Guns
Superballs
Erector Sets
Columbia bikes
Radio Flyer sleds
Heathkit radios
Tree forts
Fishing at Lorenze Pond and skating on it in the winter

[Scrib]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

HO race cars
Lionel trains
A pile of scrap wood, used bent nails, and an old hammer

[Todd Bradshaw]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

Other than bikes and Lionel trains, my favorite was my Robot Commando. It would throw small orange balls with its arms and the head would open and shoot a rocket out the top. The rocket had a red rubber tip that would leave a red mark on the ceiling, which really thrilled my mom.

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[MushCreek]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

I had an Erector Set, Lincoln logs, trains, a chemistry set, a microscope (I loved that thing), an Etch-A-Sketch, and I'm pretty sure lots of other stuff that I've forgotten. I remember being very young and having large cardboard construction bricks. We got for our son, too. They come flat, and you fold them up and lock the tabs to form hollow bricks.

[Ted Hoppe]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

My father had one of the largest private toy train collections, a financial hobby game he came up with in the early 1970s as a scheme. He would put ads in the newspaper for model trains. He made me come along on these trips to buy from private owners. It may have been a way to launder money in buying and selling large scale. The collection grew very large and became a way to move money and gold internationally, a good tax dodge. I was allowed to play with most of it not in storage units. We had thousands of pieces, a large standard and intricate 0 track. My friends when they visited were in awe and would want to play all day with them. To me they were a harsh reality that I was just a tool in his money game as none of it was really for me.

Much of the collection at this national toy train collection "was bought for me" by my father.

https://www.tcatrains.org/museum/museum-exhibits/museum-exhibit-photo-gallery/

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I can tell you the history of many of those above and do remember the families we got them from; they were thrilled that nice boy had a fun dad who wanted to get a set for them to share together. I played the game - always had 10 dollars in old singles in my pocket which I would give to the families; often time they just gave us the stuff new in the box for free.

[Ralphie Boy]

Re: What toys/games were part of your childhood?

That’s pretty dark, Ted. Would love to hear more about how this scheme worked.