Vintage Toys & Games

Was it Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the candlestick? This is just one of the potential outcomes in the classic murder mystery game of Clue.

Yee-haw! In 1982, Tomy released Pony Plates, a Western-themed variant on its popular Fashion Plates design kit. Children ages 6 and up could create personalized ranch scenes complete with horses, barns, and wilderness landscapes.

Released in 1968 by Schaper, Big Mouth combines two of my favorite things–food and humor–into a single game.

Graham Hancock, LEGO collector and deputy editor of Blocks magazine, examines one of the most widely recognized LEGO building kits from the iconic manufacturer.

Released in 1979, Guess Who? from Milton Bradley is a variation of the classic game of 20 Questions – a spoken parlor game that rose to popularity in the 19th century.

In 1943, brothers Alvin and Earl Herdklotz established the A & E Tool and Gage Co. in Rockford, Illinois as a defense-based precision tool-and-die business. After World War II, focus shifted primarily to toy making. Operating under the name Midgetoy, the company began to produce basic, smaller-scale die-cast vehicles and airplanes at low price points.

Scrabble – the classic word game for two to four players – combined two concepts in a unique way. It’s both jigsaw puzzle and board game – an innovation that was perhaps a barrier to success in the game’s early days. Modern audiences, though, have embraced the game through its various evolving forms.

In the 1970s, creativity met “Big Iron” in the Play ‘N Learn Computer from Playskool. Patterned after mainframe computers in use at the time, the toy was helped children with basic math, spelling, and matching skills.

Kenner’s 1965 release of Pistol That Shoots Around the Corner (and over your shoulder, too!) was a toy gun far more compact that its 11-word name would indicate.

Nicolas Ricketts, Curator at the National Museum of Play at The Strong, guides a through a brief history of the world’s finest plaything: The Crayon

Graham Hancock, toy collector and writer, takes us back to the prehistoric days of Kenner Products’ line of Jurassic Park toys.

Released in the late 1950s, the Magnajector from Rainbow Crafts (1959) was a kid-friendly opaque projector, and the company’s first foray outside of its iconic Play-Doh modeling compound.

Released in 1968 by New Jersey-based Remco, Rudy the Robot was touted for his ability to “walk like a man.”

Released in 1974, Mego’s Communicator was a stylized walkie-talkie made to resemble the same device used on the Star Trek television show. Each walkie-talkie operated on a 9-volt battery and could send and receive voice messages up to 1/4 mile – perfect for alerting your landing party of pending danger!

Join Brian Washington – vinyl collector, writer, commercial artist, composer, and voice artist – as he offers a glimpse of his favourite childhood vinyl.

In 1973, Marx captured the fun of classic amusement park target shooting games in a table-top-sized format called the Magic Shot Shooting Gallery.

It’s international espionage on the high seas with the Electronic Radar Search Game from Ideal!

Billed in a $1,000,000 advertising campaign as “the toy that makes toys”, Parker Brothers’ Riviton construction system hit the market with impact in 1977.