CHAPTER 7

The Classics

Certain toys have earned their place in history as classics. Chances are you’ve either played with them yourself or perhaps you’ve seen them in your attic or at a garage sale! The iconic toys in this chapter set the standard for having fun, challenging kids’ creativity, and inspiring imaginations.

THE DRAW OF THE ETCH A SKETCH

One of the most recognizable American toys is the Ohio Art Company’s Etch A Sketch. The first one rolled off the assembly line in the summer of 1960 and, 60 years later, the toy is still going strong. The most people drawing on an Etch A Sketch at once is 372 and was achieved at an event organized by Jeff Gagliardi and Clark Hodge in Lyons, Colorado, on June 25, 2011.

DON’T FALL!

In the classic body-bending game Twister, players have to put their hands and feet on different colored spots without falling over. But on the largest Twister board the game is taken to a much grander scale. Combining 1,200 standard Twister boards, the massive mat spanned 171 feet, 3 inches by 158 feet, 5.5 inches. It was created by country music star Thomas Rhett and Big Machine Label Group at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on September 23, 2015, as part of a week-long event called “Tangled Up in Texas.”

NO YO-KE

The largest simultaneous yo-yo was achieved by 2,036 participants at an event organized by Yomega Corporation and Boys’ Life Magazine at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. This smashed the previous record by 1,479 yo-yoers.

ULTIMATE FACT:

Have you ever “walked the dog” with a yo-yo? This is a trick in which you release the yo-yo, let it spin, then allow it to roll across the floor before tugging it back to your hand.

A DIZZYING DISPLAY

American John “Lucky” Meisenheimer first fell in love with yo-yos when he was in junior high in the early 1970s. When he grew up and went to medical school, he began playing with yo-yos as a way to help him relax between classes. Lucky’s collection grew to 4,586, the largest collection of yo-yos as of February 22, 2010. He’s an author, too, self-publishing Lucky’s Collectors’ Guide to 20th-Century Yo-Yos.

STRINGING ALONG

Now this is a yo-yo you can’t fit in the palm of your hand! Taking three years to construct, the largest yo-yo is 11 feet, 9 inches in diameter and weighs in at 4,620 pounds. It was devised by American Beth Johnson in La Rue, Ohio, and verified on September 15, 2012. It was a nail-biting photo shoot as it was quite windy when Beth climbed on top of the mega-toy to have her picture taken.

CORNY CONTEST

Cornhole is a popular game in which players take turns throwing bags of corn at a board with a hole in the far end. The largest game of cornhole measured 64 feet, 3 inches long and 32 feet, 2 inches wide, with an 8-foot diameter hole. It was created by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Pompano Beach, Florida, on December 28, 2015.

PINBALL WHIZ

A few quarters last a long time at the arcade for Alessandro Parisi of Australia. He holds the record title for the longest pinball marathon, lasting 28 hours at the Westland Shopping Centre in Whyalla, Australia, on January 22–23, 2007.

PINBALL FOR GIANTS

The largest pinball machine, meanwhile, measures 53 feet, 9 inches long by 24 feet, 7 inches wide, and was made by Heineken Italia. Demonstrated during Milan Design Week in Italy on April 12, 2014, the installation turned a normal living room, including sofas, tables, and a bar, into a supersize pinball table!

POGO POP

Hopping his way into the record books and “bursting” the competition’s bubble is Mark Aldridge of the UK. He achieved the most balloons popped using a pogo stick on the set of Lo Show dei Record in Italy, taking out 57 balloons in just a minute on April 1, 2010.

ULTIMATE FACT:

The pogo stick was invented and patented in 1918 by George Hansburg. He formed Flybar, Inc., the largest pogo stick manufacturer in the world, which to date has sold over 25 million pogo sticks!

JUST DUCKY

When Charlotte Lee takes a bath, she’s never at a loss for tub toys. As of April 10, 2011, this American collector owned the largest collection of rubber ducks—a quacktastic 5,631! She began collecting the squeaky toys in 1996, and displays them all inside glass cases in her dedicated “duck room.” The ducks come in all shapes and sizes; some glow, some have special scents (like strawberries!), and some are even big enough to sit on.

ROUND AND ROUND

The longest distance swinging on rings while Hula-Hooping is 272 feet. Super-strong Jeffrey Clark Nash of the USA swung into the record books after achieving this feat on April 11, 2013, in Santa Monica, California.

HOOP-DE-DO

The most Hula-Hoops spun at once is 200, achieved by Australian hooping instructor Marawa Ibrahim in Los Angeles, California, on November 25, 2015. It is the fourth time that “Marawa the Amazing” has broken this record, with her latest success bettering her first by 40 hoops!