As a new Century was preparing to begin, with huge advances in just about everything, including artificial intelligence, two of the most popular toys of the 90s were cardboard discs and water guns! Japan gave us a couple of our favorites and of course, most of the rest were highly advanced and revolutionary in nature.
Top Ten Toys of Yesterday: 1990s:
1. Pogs
Pogs are small cardboard discs with some type of printing, artwork or picture on one side. Children buy and collect these discs individually or as a grouping and bring their own personal stash to the game. Besides building their own stash of Pogs, every child wanted to own the coolest Slammers, a larger and heavier disc used in game play. These would typically be plastic discs with either an interesting design or printed side.
The play of the game was for each player to place an equal number of Pogs onto the playing surface. Those Pogs were mixed together and stacked upside down, one on top of the other. Each player would take the Slammer and “slam” it down on the stack. Of the Pogs that player was able to knock off the stack, they would “win” the ones which landed face up. The next player would take their turn and game play would continue until all Pogs had been “won.” The winner of the game was the person who “won” the most Pogs. The reason for the notation on the word “win/won” is to acknowledge that many children did not play “for keeps,” in other words, each child would leave with the same Pogs they brought to the game.
I threw a Pog Tournament for my oldest daughter’s birthday one year. Pogs were so huge that year that twenty-five kids came to the party. I supplied all the Pogs and the children got to keep all the Pogs they won during the tournament. Besides purchasing a wide variety of commercial Pogs, I had a bunch printed with a birthday wish for my daughter. I bought two “Official Pog Tournament Mats,” which were the official playing surface for tournaments. At the end of the day, my daughter and the child who won the tournament got to each keep one of the mats. The party was a great success and began my career of having to come up with interesting party themes year after year.
Pogs were manufactured by everyone for everything. Practically every specialty store had their own line of Pogs; however, Canada Games Company is credited with bringing the game to North America in the early 1990s.
The game originated in Hawaii in the 1920s when children would play with cardboard Pog bottle caps, Pog being a fruit beverage sold at that time. People confuse the history with milk caps, which is what the Hawaii teacher used in the 1980s to teach her class the game. The game became popular again in Hawaii and made its way to North America a few years later.
2. Tickle Me Elmo
Tickle Me Elmo is famous for so many things, one being the Walmart employee who was tackled and trampled as people fought over the toy that he had been holding. Tickle Me Elmo made headlines during the 1996 holiday season, the year it was released, because the company who made the toy did not plan for the results of their own marketing decision.
When Rosie O’Donnell had her talk show, companies would give her supplies of their new toys because she loved toys and would personally endorse the toys she liked. In 1996, Tyco Toys gave her two hundred of the newest toy, Tickle Me Elmo. She used the toy for a gag she played on her guests, who had no prior knowledge of what she was going to do. Each time one of her guests would say the word of the day, she would throw one of the toys into the audience. Rosie’s audience became as enthusiastic about the toy as she, and whenever a show guest would say the word, a huge roar of applause and screaming would rise from the on-set audience.
Excitement over this new toy blossomed from that show and parents and children everywhere had to have one. Tyco was not prepared for their marketing plan’s success and the company got so backed up that retailers began charging exorbitant prices for the precious few they could get in. If you were willing to pay thousands, you could go on EBay and bid on the many that were being offered by resellers. People who had bought the toy early, found themselves with a dilemma, to give their child the toy or cash in on a major windfall.
3. Furby
Furbys hate me. They really do. Whenever I am handed one that is behaving all animated, they suddenly stop talking. Sometimes they will spit raspberries at me. They will make mean comments about me whenever I walk by. I’ve even had one ask for help the moment it was placed into my hand. It said “Uh oh, help, not good.” Can you believe it?
When these computerized toys hit the market, nothing like it had ever been seen. These toys actually learned. You could teach them words and phrases, but they would pick up language just through frequent attention. They required to be fed and put to sleep regularly – feeding was simply putting your finger or something in their beak. When they slept, they liked being in a dark quiet place. Upon turning on a light or picking them up, they would wake up, possibly yawn and begin talking. Furbys carried on conversations with people and each other. When you put two Furbys together, they would sing and dance and interact with each other.
Creators David Hampton and Caleb Chung brought the world this cool toy in 1998. Furbys were sold by Tiger Electronics for $35; however, because demand was greater than expected, resellers jacked the price up to over $100. During the first three years, over forty million Furbys found their way into homes across the US.
4. Super Soaker
Fate is what kept the Super Soaker from the market until it was perfected. Initially invented in 1982 as the Power Drencher, it was a series of setbacks in manufacturing that gave inventor Lonnie Johnson the time to tweak it enough that when it came on the market as the Super Soaker in 1990, it was different enough, powerful enough and cool enough to become the standard for all future water guns.
In 1982, engineer, Lonnie Johnson was working on heat pump, which used water instead of freon. He hooked the model of the pump up to his sink at home and it shot out a stream of water so powerful that the shower curtains were flying from the breeze. He thought to himself that this pump would make a great water gun.
When he designed his first prototype, it used air pressure (by pumping by hand) that was able to shoot water farther and faster than anything on the market.
Twice, the manufacturers he contracted with went out of business before his toy could make it to the market. He used the time wisely and incorporated the, now famous, plastic pressure water bottle to his gun. In 1989, he signed with his third manufacturer, Larami Toys, who eagerly rushed into production. The toy was renamed Super Soaker and introduced in 1990.
The top mounted water bottles are now a hallmark of the power water guns and many now come with extra bottles and carrying cases.
Beanie Babies are a pop culture icon that was invented in 1993 by Ty Warner. Warner had been working for a company making stuffed animals and decided to make his own line that would be affordable for children to buy themselves. He understuffed the plush bears with beans (a type of stuffing material, not the food).
Warner’s best idea came when he retired the first eleven Beanie Babies in 1996, that they suddenly became a collector’s item.
I remember when McDonalds added miniature Beanie Babies to their Happy Meals. Because adults were buying them individually (under a dollar), each new Beanie Baby would sell out shortly after they came out and people would drive to McDonalds in other towns to try to find them. Avid collectors were able to amass the entire set.
6. Game Boy
The original Game Boy was introduced by Nintendo Co. Ltd. in 1991, having been released in Japan two years earlier. It holds the distinction of being the most successful video game system in history.
Game Boy has grown over the years since its debut. In 1996, Game Boy Pocket was released with a higher quality screen and smaller size. In 2001, Game Boy Advance was released with a larger screen and much better graphics. In 2003, Game Boy Advance SP was released and this time it was foldable, smaller and featured a backlit screen. Today’s Game Boy is the Nintendo DS which has two screens (one is a touch screen), a microphone, built in wireless capability and is backwards compatible with Game Boy Advanced games.
My youngest daughter has a Nintendo DS and I believe the coolest feature is the ability for her and her cousin to play games together and “chat” just by being in the same house together – no wires connecting the two game sets.
7. Buzz Lightyear
Producers and licensing agents found that none of the major toy companies believed their movie Toy Story was going to amount to anything. It was an animated film featuring toys who talked and interacted with each other when no humans were around. The toy makers were not interested in signing up to make a product line to support the movie. So when the movie became an instant and mega huge hit, the small toy company licensed to produce their toy line was unable to initially keep up with demand (which is mentioned in the second movie by the characters themselves).
Thinkway Toys of New York, contracted with a manufacturer in China to build action figures modeled after the characters in the movie. The most popular of the Toy Story action figures was Buzz Lightyear.
The Buzz Lightyear action figure spoke several phrases from the movie, one being “To infinity and beyond.” His backpack fired a projectile, had detachable wings (which could then be attached to his arms as a shield) and his arm held several buttons which provide his voice and sounds effects.
Because of Buzz Lightyear’s popularity, his character went on to have his own television series.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a 1993 television series obtained from Japan. The Japanese version debuted in 1975 as Dinosaur Task Force Zyuranger.
Power Rangers are a group of teenagers, specially chosen to defend the earth against evil forces. The teenagers were able to morph into Power Rangers and exhibit superhero powers.
When popularity began to wane, Saban Entertainment decided to save their show by creating a franchise, which was to include toys. The new Power Rangers action figures were born in 1996 and additional story lines were created for the show to increase the audience. Their plan worked and the Power Rangers became the best selling action figures of the 90s.
9. Tamagotchi
Tamagotchi were little electronic virtual pets. They were the original virtual pet, selling over forty million toys worldwide and creating an entirely new toy category.
The creator, Aki Marita, decided to design a virtual pet so that she could have the companionship of a pet, and yet keep up with her busy lifestyle.
10. Pokemon
Pokemon actually began as a game for Game Boy in 1998. Previously, I had always thought that the game came as a result of the trading cards.
In 1996, Nintendo released the game in Japan. These little Pocket Monsters would battle each other when instructed to do so by their trainer (the player). The original name was Poketto Monstaa, but soon after its released, the game was renamed Pokemon.
Because of the overwhelming success in Japan, a television series and trading card game was developed.
The US game’s release was paired with an animated television series and trading cards, lessons gained by the game’s success in Japan. The combination assured instant success. A year later, Pokemon: The First Movie was released, followed by several more.
