Category: Toys

6 min 0

Summer’s Wildest Ride: The 1980s Slip ‘N Slide Craze

Long before water parks dotted every suburb, and before backyard playsets looked like miniature amusement rides, there was one universal, chaotic symbol of summer in the 1980s: the Slip ‘N Slide. That long, thin, plastic sheet—bright yellow and daringly slick—was the key to turning a backyard into a gravity-defying, belly-flopping thrill ride. It was cheap, exhilarating, slightly dangerous, and absolutely essential. On any given afternoon between June and August, you could hear the screams and laughter of kids flinging themselves headfirst down a watery runway, chasing a fleeting moment of coolness, adrenaline, and joy. Invented in the 1960s and sold…
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6 min 0

Rust, Rattles, and Romance: The Metal Backyard Swing Sets of the 1980s

Before playgrounds became rubber-coated wonderlands of molded plastic and padded flooring, before every suburban backyard featured a cedar-stained fortress with stainless steel slides and climbing walls, there was the humble 1980s metal swing set. Usually tucked into a corner of the backyard, often a hand-me-down or assembled during a long Saturday afternoon with a wrench and an open beer, these steel-framed contraptions were the crown jewel of childhood. They weren’t sleek. They weren’t particularly safe. But to a kid growing up in the ’80s, they were everything—our jungle gyms, our rocket ships, our roller coasters, and our launching pads into…
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8 min 0

Pixels and Zappers: The 1980s Magic of Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt on the NES

When the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) launched in North America in 1985, it wasn’t just a new video game console—it was a revival of the entire video game industry. Following the infamous crash of 1983, where cheap, low-quality games and oversaturation nearly killed consumer confidence, Nintendo emerged from the wreckage like a savior in gray plastic. But even more iconic than the console itself were the games that came bundled with it. For millions of kids, their introduction to the NES—and to video gaming as we know it—came in the form of a single cartridge: Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. One…
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