Timeless Toys & Games

Timeless Toys. Weekend Edition Sunday: 12/25/05 - 5:01). "Toy inventor Tim Walsh's book Timeless Toys is full of stories about a century of all things playful. He fills Liane Hansen with facts about the Slinky, Play-Doh, Lincoln Logs and other fundamentals of fun."

Old-Fashioned Toys with a New-Fangled Twist (11/27/06) - "Tweens may have been sucked into a world of cell phones and MP3 players, but younger children still can find joy without a joystick -- which is good, because how else would parents get to indulge their inner child? Here's a selection aimed at pushing the old-fashioned buttons of creativity, free play and learning -- with a few modern twists."

Parker Brothers (2/11/04) - "Phil Orbanes discusses the rich history of Parker Brothers board games. Learn about George and his brother Charles Parker, who were responsible for many favorites, including Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Clue, Boggle and Risk." It seems that Hasbro now owns Clue and Monopoly, and here are two pieces (Clue - 8/11/08) and (Monopoly - 9/16/2006) on their planned makeover.

Musings

• The piece on the Parker Brothers mentions the continuing interest in old-fashioned board games. Discuss your own experience with one or more board games or jigsaw puzzles; include a detailed account of the context in which you played the game, and what, if anything, you learned from it. 


• There are 40+ toys enshrined at the National Toy Hall of Fame (more @ Wikipedia). Focus or one or two classic toys from this list that you can remember playing a role in your life, or mention one or two others that you think should be included in the list, focusing on toys without batteries.


• What is your own definition of a classic (or timeless) toy or board game? What makes such a toy or game endure? The best responses here will make effective use of examples, including lots of concrete details so we can see (or feel, taste, touch, even smell) the toys for ourselves.