Insane things to play with.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

My friends and I used to toss them at each other deliberately.

We were idiots.

Have you seen the Herring?

Dave

I have.

Don't like herrings.

Chas

[Combwork]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

And yes, there were, um, incidents. They sell a non-pointy version now.

Pete

Yes and no. Now you have to buy the points and body separately. Not a difficult diy job to screw the things together.

[piece-itpete]

It WAS a good game, and you didn't need a dedicated setup like horseshoes.

The comments about bb guns and bottle rockets bring back a lot

Pete

[simi]

Around the same time, maybe a little earlier were knockers, or clackers.. two large hard plastic balls or marbles on the ends of a string, and a ring in the middle.. the idea was to make them hit below your hand, and above your hand.. Also outlawed because the balls would shatter, or the string break and they would fly off and hit someone..

Loved mine, although my arms were one huge bruise from them..

Here's a video if you don't know what they are... looks like someone is making and selling them again..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLHft...eature=related

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by simi

Around the same time, maybe a little earlier were knockers, or clackers.. two large hard plastic balls or marbles on the ends of a string, and a ring in the middle.. the idea was to make them hit below your hand, and above your hand.. Also outlawed because the balls would shatter, or the string break and they would fly off and hit someone..

Loved mine, although my arms were one huge bruise from them..

Here's a video if you don't know what they are... looks like someone is making and selling them again..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLHft...eature=related

Cool! I remember those.

Dave

[BlueStreak]

How about the "Paddleball"? They were dangerous to me, because my mother would wait until the rubberband broke then set the paddle on top the refridgerator. Later, when I misbehaved, (Usually only an hour or so later.), she would use it to "Tan your (my) hide!". The thin plywood had a nasty sting to it, and she broke more than one of those things, hitting me with them.

Dave

[Combwork]

http://gajitz.com/1950s-radioactive-...rous-toy-ever/

Apparently the idea was to demystify `The Atom`. At $50 each I doubt that many were sold.

If we include things not built as toys but used as toys, what about the Pediscope? Found in shoe shops, you put your foot in it complete with nice new shoes and saw an X-Ray image of the outline of the shoe and where the bones in your feet were. In theory, shoe shop owners were meant to supervise them but in practise, big brother would be happily wiggling his toes (outlined in green) while Mum tried new shoes on little brother.

[BlueStreak]

Awesome! Radioactive toys for the kiddies. Yep, the fifties are a good era to return to alright!

Dave