Want To Play? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Beanie Babies

In 1983 Ty Warner mortgaged his home, and founded Ty Inc. in Chicago, Illinois. His first toys, called Himalayan Cats, were popular. Some of the stuffing was left out to make the animals seem more lifelike. Warner still, however, wanted to find a collectable toy that was relatively inexpensive.

In 1994 the "original nine" Beanie Babies were launched. It is believed the Warner earned as much as $700 million a year at the height of the Beanie Babies craze.

Answer: Play-Doh

Joseph McVicker's sister-in-law was a teacher, and asked about a safe and fun substitute for modeling clay. He sent her a non-toxic compound that was used to clean wallpaper; the use of vinyl wallpaper had caused the sales of the compound to stagnate. Joseph and his nephew, Noah, formed Rainbow Crafts of Cincinnati in 1956 to market the compound.

It was available in only one color - off-white - and in a 1.5 pound can. Later that year a three pack of 7 ounce cans was added to the product line.

Answer: Cabbage Patch Kids

Xavier Roberts was a twenty-one year old art student in 1976 when he discovered "needle molding", a German technique for fabric sculpture. After winning a first place ribbon for his creation ("Little People" with birth certificates) at the Osceola Art Show, he opened Babyland General Hospital and introduced Cabbage Patch Kids to the world.

Answer: Hula-Hoop

Honestly, people have been playing with this type of toy for centuries. There is evidence that at about 1000 B.C., Egyptian children played with large hoops of dried grapevines. The English experienced a "hooping" craze in the fourteenth century and began to associate "hula" with the toy when British sailors began to visit the Hawaiian islands.

When an Australian company began to market wooden hoops in 1957, Richard Knerr and Arthur Melin modified the idea, and began marketing plastic hoops in a variety of bright colors.

It is said that one hundred million Hula-Hoops were sold in their first year on the market.

Answer: Lionel Trains

Joshua Lionel Cowen started a business called the Lionel Manufacturing Company in 1900, but didn't have anything to manufacture! One day he noticed a display in a store window that included a toy push train. The "Electric Express", powered by a fan motor and moved on thirty inches of track, was built as a display piece in a toy store, but it didn't take long for there to be a demand for the toy. During its peak years in the 1950s, the company sold $25 million in trains per years; since its beginning Lionel has sold more than fifty million train sets.

Answer: Odyssey

Ralph Baer is known for leading the development of the "Brown Box", which was the first home video game console. The game was licensed to Magnavox, renamed Odyssey, and released to the public in 1972. A total of twenty-seven games for the Magnavox Odyssey were eventually released.

Answer: PEZ

PEZ was originally marketed as peppermint candy in Vienna, Austria. The name came from the German word for peppermint - PfeffErminZ. One of his employees, Oskar Uxa, invented the candy dispenser that looked like a cigarette lighter, and the item was marketed for adults as a breath mint and alternative to smoking. By 1955 the company began to place heads on the dispensers and market them for children.

Answer: Slinky

When Richard James was in the navy during WWII, he noticed a torsion spring fall to the floor and flip flop. After returning home, he and his wife, Betty, borrowed $500 and started a company called James Spring & Wire Company. James designed a machine to coil the steel into a spiral, and the Slinky was born. Over the years, the only change to the original design has been a safety measure - the ends have been crimped. By 2005 over three hundred million Slinkys were sold.

Answer: Schwinn Bicycle

Adoph Arnold's financial partner was Ignaz Schwinn. The company was based in Chicago, and became the "dominant manufacturers of American bicycles through most of the 20th century". In 1933 the company manufactured the "Aerocycle", which became known as the paperboy bike or cruiser. Known for classic models like the "Phantom" and "Stingray", Schwinn is an American icon.

Answer: SIMON

SIMON was launched at Studio 54 in 1978 in New York City and was an immediate success. The toy has four colored buttons, and each one plays a different tone when it is activated. The device randomly lights up the buttons and plays the tones, which the player must reproduce. Each round the number of buttons to press and tones increases, making it more and more difficult. Named for the game Simon Says, the toy has been cloned by many companies.

There is even a wrist-watch version.