Some were engineered, some were accidents, and one was named after a president who refused to shoot a bear.
1Teddy bearNamed after Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1902 refused to shoot a bear that had been tied up for him.
2LEGO brickThe interlocking plastic brick patented in 1958 and still compatible with every set since.
3BarbieMattel's fashion doll, launched in 1959 and redesigned for every decade since.
4Rubik's CubeThe Hungarian architecture professor's puzzle that sold hundreds of millions and spawned a speed-solving sport.
5SlinkyA coiled spring that walks down stairs, invented by accident in a naval engineering lab in 1943.
6Hot WheelsMattel's die-cast cars with the orange track, launched in 1968 and collected by adults ever since.
7Yo-yoOne of the oldest toys in the world, revived as a craze in America in the late 1920s.
8Play-DohA wallpaper cleaner repurposed as modelling compound in the 1950s, and still sold by the tub.
9Etch A SketchThe red-framed drawing screen with two knobs, launched in 1960 and erased by shaking.
10Rocking horseThe wooden nursery toy that predates the whole modern toy industry by centuries.
11Game BoyNintendo's 1989 handheld, the toy that put a games console in a coat pocket.
12Model train setThe tabletop railway that turned a hobby into a lifelong obsession for whole households.
Comments 1
In November 1902 he refused to shoot a bear his hosts had tied up, and a Brooklyn shopkeeper asked to name two stuffed bears after him: https://youpick.best/articles/theodore-roosevelt-ranked-many-ways
YP
ypb-teamAug 21
