I Love Toys!

As at least Melissa knows, VH1 has been running an "I Love Toys" series (like the I Love the 80's, but for... toys) - the top 100 toys. I felt this called for a Special Edition Blog, because just watching the top 20 toys brings back floods of memories! I'll just include the ones that I had/played with as I grew up (or even yesterday). In bold are the things we had in our home...

100. Magic 8 Ball - Melissa had this. It was great until it got all bubbly. I like to live my life according to the 8 Ball's advice. Reply Hazy.

99. Thumbelina - ?

98. BB Guns - I would have shot my eye out...

97. Spirograph - I loved this thing, but it was so frustrating! I'd do several rounds perfectly, then totally mess up on the last one. Grr.

96. Pong

95. Chutes & Ladders - Melissa's game, I think. I liked it. Except when I lost...

94. Laser Tag

93. Sea Monkeys - Creepy little things. Yuck.

92. Dominos

91. Uno - Still one of ym favorite games!

90. Models - I built a Statue of Liberty model with my dad. Poor guy wanted sons... :)

89. Dungeons & Dragons

88. Care Bears - Melissa had a Grumpy Bear, which was so fitting. Ahh, the memories...

87. Radio Control Cars - I don't think I had any, but Dad sure did. Again, no sons.

86. Ouija Board - My mom is not crazy-conservative by any means, but there was no way she was letting one of these in our house. I do remember playing it one time at a slumber party - I was 8 or 9. It told me I was going to marry the guy in our class that was known for picking his nose. The thing is? One of the girls playing was my arch-rival. I suspected trickery.

85. My Little Pony - I feel like Melissa had more of these than I did, but I do remember one with shiny wings that moved when you pused a lever on its back. Then one wing fell off.

84. Gumby

83. Memory - I loved playing this game with Melissa or Lindsay because I always won. Somehow, back then, it didn't matter that I was two or even three times their age.

82. Little Golden Books - The Poky Little Puppy!!! I loved those books. Still do.


81. Wooly Willy - One of my sisters got one of these when I was in junior high or something... I hadn't seen one until then. He lived by our phone for a while, which was fun.

80. Baby Alive

79. Trivial Pursuit - I like this game a lot, still, at times. I remember reading the questions as a kid and feeling really... young.

78. Green Army Men - Didn't play with them as a kid, but did decorate a friend's house with them a few years back...

77. Stickers - Oh, yeah I had a sticker collection, complete with sticker book. I L-O-V-E-D getting the fancy 2-quarter stickers at restuarants. Sparkly!

76. Balsa Wood Airplanes

75. Weebles - They don't fall down! I used to have a house and a car and a girl and boy Weeble. I know where the girl is, but the other stuff is long gone. I don't really remember playing with them, but I remember having them...

74. Erector Set

73. Rainbow Brite - Her shiny skirt hurt my eyes. But I liked her yarn hair.

72. Colorforms

71. Walkie Talkies - I was so excited to get walkie talkies! They had morse code printed on them. I remember playing with the morse code more than actually using the talkie part.

70. Candyland - I hate this game.

69. Slip'N Slide

68. Smurfs - I know I had a little smurf, but I don't remember which one...

67. Tinker Toys

66. Risk - We had this game (may still have), but I dont' think anyone has ever played it. We were more into Pretty, Pretty Princess and Dream Phone and Mall Madness.

65. Jigsaw Puzzles

64. Roller Skates - Got my first, and only, pair in fifth or sixth grade. Right when everyone else was getting roller blades. How dorky are roller blades?!

63. Rubik's Cube

62. Life

61. Operation - I would just wedge the tweezers into the crack in
the heart to get it out. It was so easy that way. Probably a good thing I'm not going into cardiothoracic surgery! Man, does my bread basket hurt.

60. Tickle Me Elmo

59. Simon - My cousin, Ian, had this. I remember playing it with him at my grandparent's house... It was fun. I got a travel-size Simon a while ago. Man, it is really annoying. I can't believe our parents and grandparents didn't send us packing!

58. Mad Libs

57. Stretch Armstrong - I think it was Melissa that had this. I brought it to school in HS for some sort of presentation (who knows...), and left it in the trunk afterwards. It stayed there for a good long time and got pretty cooked. No more stretchy. Or maybe it was Melissa that did that... I get our lives confused.

56. Barrel O'Monkeys - My cousin, Heather, had this. Again, I remember playing with it at her house, and it was fun. In college, I got my own monkeys, but they mostly just sat there. There are many things more fun than Barrel O'Monkeys.

55. Mousetrap - Melissa's game. It always took so long to play, that I think we just set it up and set off the trap for fun half of the time.

54. Viewmaster - I still love these things!

53. He-Man - My mom didn't want me to watch He-Man for some reason...

52. Speak N'Spell - Possibly my All Time Favorite Toy. I still have it somewhere. I love the little electronic voice. Q is my favorite letter to hear him say.

51. Lincoln Logs

50. Game Boy - Again, this game was Melissa's. I'd play it occasionally, but... I'm more Speak N' Spell than Donkey Kong.

49. Clue - My board game. I was always drawn to the shortcuts for some reason. Kitchen to Study! Awesome.

48. Little People

47. Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle

46. Hungry Hungry Hippos - Melissa's. What a violent little game that always seems to turn out to be. Violently Hungry Hippos.

45. Frisbee

44. Raggedy Ann & Andy

43. See N'Say - The cow says MOOOO. That was my favorite sound. This may have been Lindsay's. Poor thing ended up with a lot of hand-me-down toys, apparently... Either that, or she's too young for this list!

42. Jump Rope

41. Transformers

40. Big Wheel - Melissa had a pink one, I had a black and yellow one? Maybe? Or Melissa had a black and yellow one and the neighbor had a pink one. I remember trying to get a fast start on with it on our gravel driveway, though - the wheels would spin and spin before they'd finally grip.

39. Tea Set

38. Pogo Stick - Not a pogo stick (though I always wanted one!) - but a Pogo Ball!

37. Mattel Classic Football - We had this game in our junk drawer for years and years. I'd take it out and mess with it every once in a blue moon, but I could never figure it out.

36. Strawberry Shortcake

35. Tonka Trucks

34. Connect Four - I think this was Melissa's, too...

33. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

32. Shrinky Dinks - I remember doing these with Dad. So much fun!

31. Twister - Melissa's game...

30. Battleship - First game I remember being tempted to cheat at. And I did cheat, on occasion. Sorry, Melissa. I don't cheat any more!

29. Cabbage Patch Kids - Remember the craze? I got one of the coveted dolls for Christmas in kindergarten (I think). Then its head split open! I got a new one, though. Stacie Trixie.

28. Crayola Crayons - We kept ours in a blue bucket. It's what my dad used to teach me about centrifugal force - I remember standing in the basement flinging that bucket around.

27. Silly Putty

26. Lionel Trains

25. Lite Brite - I miss my Lite Brite...

24. Water Guns

23. Nerf

22. Teddy Bears

21. Nintendo - We even had the floor pad thing for the running games. Man, we made a lot of noise with that. And the duck hunt!

20. Atari

19. Easy Bake Oven - Melissa had this sitting in her closet, I think until my parents moved last summer...

18. Scrabble - I get kind of bored with this game, which is surprising given how much I love words.

17. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots

16. Etch-A-Sketch - I could draw a mean rectangle!

15. Matchbox & Hot Wheels Cars

14. Bicycles - Learned to ride my bike on a gravel driveway. I thought it was normal to spend the entire summer with both knees, and sometimes elbows, covered in scabs. Of course, it may have been my general klutziness more than the gravel driveway...

13. Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine - One of my good friends in jr. high had this, though I don't ever remember using it.

12. Radio Flyer

11. Play-Doh - Like Mom and the Ouija Board, Dad didn't ever want this evil stuff in the house. We'd get it from friends occasionally, though, then we'd have to put newspaper all over the table and the floor, and the walls, and each other.... No Play-Doh in our carpet!

10. Wiffle Ball and Bat

9. Slinky - The plastic ones are such junk. We had one or two of each kind - metal and junk.

8. Yo-Yo

7. Star Wars Action Figures - One weekend, which may or may not have been the Fourth of July, I found a Darth Vader action figure under a tree at Square Lake. I felt like I'd owon the lottery, and I kept that thing for years. It didn't do anything. But, man! It was Darth Vader!!

6. Monopoly - If I must play this game, I would like to be the iron. But I'd rather not play the game.

5. Mr. Potato Head - I think this was Melissa's too. Which is fine with me, because I think Mr. P-H is kinda boring.

4. GI Joe

3. Legos - I like to build houses. And cars.

2. Barbie Doll - I liked to take all the clothes, set up a little Barbie boutique and make my sister's dolls come shopping for clothes. Of course, me, as the boutique-owner, got first pick at the clothes. Then Barbie and Ken would get in their Corvette, and plunge down the stairs.

1. Hula Hoop - You know, for kids!