TOY TRIVIA

Bet you didn't know this:

LEGO originally got its name from founder Ole Kirk Christiansen by combining the Danish words "Leg Got" that means "play well" and later realized that the word LEGO in Latin translates to "I put together."

or this:

On July 5, 2009, Toys R Us opened a store in Kuwait.

or that:

The first Radio Flyer wagon was the "No. 4 Liberty Coaster", which was built from wood and steel in 1923.

Also....

In 2003, the National Toy Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum inducted ABC blocks into their collection, granting it the title of one of America's toys of "national significance."

Plus....

The Etch A Sketch toy was invented in France in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes, in his basement. He called it "L'Ecran Magique", the magic screen. In 1959, he took his drawing toy to the International Toy Fair in Nuremburg, Germany. The Ohio Art Company saw it but had no interest in the toy. When Ohio Art saw the toy a second time, they decided to take a chance on the product. The L'Ecran Magique was soon renamed the Etch A Sketch and became the most popular drawing toy in the business.

Additionally:


Frisbees originated at various New England colleges when students began throwing empty pie tins from the Frisbee Baking Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut.


And finally:


A husband and wife created the game of Yahtzee while on their yacht, thus the name "Yahtzee."

Oh wait, here's one more:

In 1989, Lonnie Johnson was trying to build a better refrigerator, based on a low-cost heat pump that circulated water instead of Freon. But when one of his custom-machined brass nozzles blasted a stream of water across his bathroom, Johnson—by day an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory—realized he had the makings of something way more fun. A shotgun-style air pump and a series of check valves allowed for sniperlike range and accuracy with little exertion. Selling the idea to toy companies, though, was more of an effort. After seven years of frustration, Johnson scrapped his difficult-to-manufacture

Plexiglas “pressure containment vessel” for an empty 2-liter soda bottle. It wasn’t slick, but it was easy to make. In 1990, the toy maker Larami brought the Power Drencher to store shelves; it sold roughly 2 million of them in the first year alone. Rebranded as the Super Soaker, the line has raked in sales of more than $200 million to date.

Click on this link to see a prototype of the Super Soaker:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_prototypes/

Does knowing a little something about the toys you are buying, make the "buying" process less painful?  I hope so.  Merry Christmas!