Favorite Toys By Year Trivia Quiz

Shirley Temple was a very popular film star during the early 1930s, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that little girls wanted a Shirley Temple doll, or any of the other merchandise that was issued for that matter. Made by the Ideal Toy Corporation, the doll was first released in 1934. It was designed by Bernard Lipfert, and Mollye Goldman added the clothing, a white and red polka dotted dress that was modeled after an outfit that Temple wore in "Stand Up and Cheer" (1934). The film chronicled an attempt to create a Department for Amusement to cheer people up during the Depression.

The doll was made of a composition material which was said to be unbreakable. It cost buyers $3-$5.

Little Golden Books were first on the market in 1942; twelve different story books could be purchased as a cost of twenty-five cents each. Georges Duplaix, who is credited for first coming up with the idea, made sure they were durable and entertaining at the same time. They were first published by Simon & Schuster and Western Publishing.

Within five months, well over a million copies were sold. Why? Well, it was a cute gift that most people could afford. In addition, reading a sweet story for kids, like "The Poky Little Puppy", was a nice diversion from WWII. Little Golden Books were also relatively easy to find; they weren't just found in bookstores, but were also sold in a variety of different places, including supermarkets and drugstores.

George Lerner, the inventor of Mr. Potato Head in 1949, was apparently concerned that children were not eating enough vegetables. He said that he created the toy to help kids eat food that they didn't like, modeling it after the vegetable dolls that he had made for his sisters while growing up!

Mr. Potato Head was originally found as a prize in cereal boxes, but in 1951 Lerner sold the rights to the Hassenfeld Brothers, which has evolved over time into Hasbro today. Said to be the first toy to be advertised on television, a year later Mr. Potato Head was flying off store shelves at ninety-eight cents apiece! Over time, of course, the real potato that customers had to provide was replaced by a plastic potato body.

Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel with her husband, came up with the idea for Barbie in the late 1950s. She noticed that while her daughter loved to play with paper dolls, there was really not a doll on the market that didn't look like a baby or toddler. She came into contact with the German-made Lilli doll while on a trip, and modeled Barbie, which was named for her daughter, after that.

In 1959, over 300,000 Barbie dolls were sold at a cost of about $3 each. With a black and white swimsuit, earrings, black heels, sunglasses, and red lipstick, she was a knockout! As time went on a Ken, who was named for Handler's son, was added as Barbie's boyfriend, and now there is a family of dolls for kids to enjoy.

Created by Ruth Handler's husband, Elliot, Hot Wheels were designed to give kids cooler and more detailed cars with which to play. Handler also wanted to create a toy for boys that was as popular as the girls' Barbie. Modeled after the California car culture, Hot Wheels hit the market in 1968 and never looked back!

The original cars, called the Sweet Sixteen, sold for around sixty cents each, but it depended on the store where they were purchased. An estimated 16 million cars sold the first year, and the toy is still going strong today! And those original Sweet Sixteen cars? They are now cherished collectibles.

The fact that "Star Wars" toys were the best selling toys of 1978, attests to the fact that the movie itself was popular the previous year. In fact, the Kenner Toy Company, who first developed them, had kind of underestimated how popular they would be.

They couldn't produce enough for the 1977 Christmas season, so they sold an empty box (!) that was called the "Early Bird Certificate Package" for $7.99. It promised that the first four figures - Luke, Leia, Chewbaca, and R2-D2 - would arrive early the following year. And they delivered! Eight more figures were added to the first four, and in 1978 an estimated 50 million figures were sold at $1.99 each.

Xavier Roberts invented the first soft-sculptured Cabbage Patch Kids, which he called The Little People. He sold licenses to other companies, including Coleco, in order to mass produce them. The marketing gimmick, to give each kid a name, birth certificate, adoption papers, and different physical features, along with the soft feel of the toy, made it a huge hit.

Did the company create a shortage of the dolls on purpose? Yes, they did. Did people work themselves into a frenzy and stand in long lines waiting to purchase them? Yes, they did. Did anyone ever see a fight in a store over who got to buy the doll? Yes, customers went crazy trying to find one for their kids! Although they sold for $18-$28 depending on the style, the value of the toy zoomed on the secondary market that year.

Teddy Ruxpin was invented in 1985 by Ken Forsse, who was a former Disney employee. His company, Alchemy II marketed the bear, which came with a storybook and one cassette for about $70. Other storybooks and cassettes could be purchased for an additional $12.95.

Decoders in the bear's head caused the eyes to blink and the mouth to move, somewhat in sync with the story. Teddy Ruxpin is considered to be the first animated talking toy on the market. Over 1.5 million sold in 1985-1986, making it the best selling toy of both years.

Tamagotchi - "tamago" meaning egg and "uotchi" meaning watch - was invented by Aki Maita and Akihiro Yokoi. It was marketed by the Banda toy company in Japan as a handheld digital pet; it really was, however, a handheld electronic game. The idea was for children to "raise" the pet during the different stages of its life.

One downside to the toy was that if left unattended too long, the pet would die. While the toy could be reset, the pet that had sprouted wings and flown away to return to its home planet vanished. This phenomena led to the term Tamagotchi Effect, which is an emotional attachment to a machine or robot. Many children were described as having actually mourned the loss of their pet.

While the toy cost around $15.99, there were not enough due to the high demand, and many people payed a lot more for it on the secondary market. An estimated 40 million units were sold world wide, but it was banned from schools because it was a distraction that also made noise. By 1998, interest had waned, and a large number of toys were unsold, generating a 6 billion yen (over $38 million in today's currency) loss for the company. They were reintroduced, however in the 2000s.

Bratz dolls debuted in 2001; they were created by Carter Bryant, who had previously worked for Mattel. He wanted to try and challenge Barbie's popularity with a more modern-looking doll. Four chic 10" (25 cm) dolls were originally released, with cool names like Cloe, Sasha, Yasmin, and Jade. They represented different nationalities.

Typically selling for about $20 a piece, by 2005 the MGA Entertainment Company grossed $2 billion selling their dolls. The franchise has since expanded to include Bratz Boyz, Bratz Babyz, and Bratz other things, as well as a television series.