Category Archives: Toys from 1980s

Along with a massive increase of plastic toys including child domestic appliances and plastic lunch boxes, video and computer technology began to invade most childrens lives.

Interactive speak and spell toys made learning more interactive and ranged from a electronic robot call Aphie through to Vtech computers for young kids.
For the older kids the launch of Space Invaders, and smaller handheld devices brought hours of video games into the home.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

Hungry Hungry Hippos was released in 1978 by MB Games. A game for 2 to 4 players where the aim of the game is to get their individual hippo that they are in control of to eat as many marbles as possible.

The hippos are controlled by a lever on their back and when the player pushes the lever the hippo opens the mouth and extends the neck to Gobble up the marbles. They are situated on each side of a game board and are all brightly coloured. The names and the colours of the hippos have changed over the years with the last changes being made in 2009, however the game play and rules have all stayed the same.
In 1991 an arcade version of the game was built with tickets given for the amount of marbles eaten. A live action version has been talked about by film studio Emmett/Furla. continue reading>>

Dream Phone

An interactive board game released initially in the 1980’s for 1 to 4 players with the aim of the game of trying to decipher who is your secret admirer. To win you listen to the clues given via the telephone, each game has a random different admirer who will tell you if you have guessed right on the phone.

The phone will also tell the players who goes first by displaying that players name The game has had a facelift and now has modern extras of text messages aswell as phone calls, it is still aimed soley at girls and is still very popular at sleepovers. continue reading>>

Werebears

Werebears were launched in 1983. They were designed and aimed at the market for boys so that they could have a bear and not fear being bullied for this. They were designed and launched by a children’s author George Nicholas.

Initially there were 4 bears with he names of Fang, Howler, Gums and Grizzler. In 1986 a further bear was launched with the name of Grizzler. With each were bear came a story tape that had two sides. One side telling the bears own story and the other telling the story of how the bears started. This was read by the narrator of bag puss – Oliver Post gate.
The ending of the bears own story was left open for the child themselves to use their imagination and decide upon the ending. continue reading>>

Nintendo Gameboy

Ask any child or adult that has grew up around 1989 and they’ll be able to talk emphatically about their favourite games on the Nintendo Game Boy. A handheld gaming device that revolutionised game play for millions of people worldwide. Multiple games were able to be purchased in a single cartridge that were inserted into the back of the Game Boy.

In its first Christmas over 1 million units were shipped in the US alone!!

It followed on from Nintendos first handheld gaming device that was released in 1980 – The Nintendo Game & Watch, and smaller lcd Donkey Kong and other dedicated devices. continue reading>>

Pop up Pirate

Pop Up Pirate a game that was enjoyed by thousands when they were little and still proving very popular purchases for parents today.
A simple game for 2-4 players, enjoyed by all generations. The game consists of a plastic barrel, a small pirate to placed in the top of the barrel and multiple plastic swords to place into the slots on the side of the barrel. Each time the game is played a random slot will cause to pirate to “pop’ out of the barrel. Each player takes it in turn to place a sword into the sides. Whichever player causes the pirate to “pop” is out and the game is won by the last player remain without popping the pirate. continue reading>>

Skip-It

Ask any girl that grew up in the late 80s and 90s and they’ll be proud to be able to boast of their skip-It talents. An apparatus that was able to be used by one person to skip. One end had a ring that was able to be placed around the ankle, and the other, a ball connected together so that the child would be able to jump over it.

First released in the 1980s and proved extremely popular, but re-released in the 1990s when it became even more popular with the added bonus of a counter. It was so popular it actually made Times magazines top 100 toys list. Other than the counter other items were to be able to added to the Skip-it. These ranged from stickers, streamers and charms to covers that would make patterns while being skipped. continue reading>>

Koosh Ball

The Koosh ball was a toy rubber ball with a soft rubber code with strings of rubber emrging from it. It was developed in 1986 by Scott Stillinger so that his children could throw it around without damage. It was named after the sound it often made on landing.
Scott set-up his own company with his brother in law who had previously worked for Mattel… how very handy.

The Koosh ball was one of the Christmas best sellers in 1988 the company later expanded the products to include key-rings, baseballs and yo-yos, my favourite was the Koosh with fling, it could really fly. continue reading>>

Rollerblades

RollerBlades really took off in 1990’s and were on the top of most childrens lists. It was no longer cool to be the kid using classic roller skates. The new design was inline skates which looked similar to ice skates. So many designs and colors were released but you had to adapt to the different design and especially with balancing and stopping.

The Rollerblade name has become associated with all in-line skates but the early version began in 1980’s by Scott and Brennan Olson from their basement they worked on making the blades easier to put on, adapt brakes, protect wheels from damage. The trademark Rollerblade has been in use since March 1983. continue reading>>

Must Have Toy

Must Have Toy 2022 | Latest Toy trends, Games, history of retro toys