This is it. The big one. #1. I think many in my generation would agree that the Atari 2600 was the best thing to happen to toys and technology at the time. Long before the days of the Xbox360, Wii, and PS3, this granddaddy started it all as far as switchable video games went. The Atari came with 2 joysticks, 2 paddles, and a pack-in game of Combat. Nowadays you get one controller and no game with a brand new latest generation system. Oh yeah – don’t forget the awesome RF modulator switch you had to slide to “game” or “tv” depending on what you wanted to do. It had the 2 leads you had to screw down to the back of your television. That was tech. It’s hard to believe, but the Atari went for $199 retail. That’s nuts. There were also a couple of versions. First generation models had six switches on the console and were much heavier. Later they were streamlined to just 4 main switches and less RF shielding to make them lighter. Atari really hit it big when they started buying the licensing for arcade games. Space Invaders was a mega-hit for Atari even though it was inferior to the coin-operated machine.

Do you remember? – Pitfall, Combat, Pinball, Kaboom, Breakout, Adventure

When I got this for Christmas it turned into family fun time. Rarely do you see families hang out together in the same room and play a game together let alone a video game. My family was the same way. That’s what we did that Christmas. On a 13″ color tv (Dad didn’t want to screw up the big one.) Me, mom, dad, Jon, Pam, Jerry, Cindy, Jenny, Rob, & my nephew Nick. We played Space Invaders until 2am. I threw up in the middle of the night that night. Mom thinks it was from too many video games. I think it was just the flu. For the past few Christmases we had the Kirk family Christmas at my brothers or sisters house in Columbus or Sidney respectively. Our family is much bigger now. We played Wii bowling till all hours on an inflatable screen in the basement as a giant family. I believe this is why I picked the Atari as my number one. It brought my family together for a moment from our hustle and bustle lives. It’s really more about family and friends than all the super cool toys from my youth. This is very Clark Griswold, but it’s about the times and memories you have and those times and memories you will still make.
I hope everybody enjoyed my top ten list. I wanted to get back into the blog again, and saw this as a great motivator to write again. I’ll try and keep it updated with interesting anecdotes and adventures. Most of all, thanks for reading. Have a great Christmas Day today. Enjoy your family, watch your kids open presents, and curse the toys you have to assemble. Merry Christmas everybody!

You knew I couldn’t get through this list without having Star Wars toys on it didn’t you? The big question people had was how many Star Wars toys would make the list? Anyone that knows me knows that that is not very possible. It would be a top ten star Wars list instead. Hmmm…maybe another time.
When Star Wars first came out there were no such things as action figures. In fact you may recall that Kenner released a cardboard box for purchase with the promise of 4 action figures by mail. When I received those action figures I would imagine play scenarios around them since there were no playsets or ships yet. I used the narrow end of a mini ironing board as the Millennium Falcon. Kenner then started trickling out ships. First the landspeeder, the xwing, tie fighter, a death star playset. Then the holy grail of all ships and playsets came out – the Falcon. A working ramp, opening cockpit, retractable landing gear, rotating radar dish, swiveling gun turret, holo chess board, jedi remote training area, and a hidden storage compartment. THIS ROCKED!!!!
This toy was not necessarily a surprise on Xmas morning. At the time midwestern Ohio was not very prone to get Star Wars toys when they first came out. Even if they were manufactured in Cincinnati, so it was hard to find anything let alone a brand new MF that everybody wanted. Hence Davenport, Iowa enters the picture. My sister and brother-in-law lived there and we would visit every now and then. Every trip to Iowa meant a trip to the mall (Sidney, Ohio had no such thing.) That is where I saw my coveted Falcon – at Montgomery Ward. Later on we all split up to do our own thing in the mall. I happened to spy my dad walking down the opposite side of the mall with a large bag under his shoulder with my new Xmas toy in it. Score! Many, many hours were spent piloting the hunk of junk from a galaxy far, far away.

Before Star Wars action figures there were the Fisher Price Adventure People. Kind of a post pre-school toy line to role play neat adventures. Recently you may have seen the concept of these toys transformed into the Rescue Heroes by fisher Price. There was a wide assortment to choose from. Check out the photos, you may see something you had as a kid. I had the kayak, the skydiver, a sea explorer boat, the rescue copter, and the blue news van.

Long before the days of Power Wheels, there was the era of the pedal tractor. Not the plastic ones mind you, but the cast iron, heavy duty models. Mine was a Ford 8000 in blue. To this day I still have memories of mom and dad taking me to a farm supply store. I got to ride one around the store, and threw the biggest tantrum because I didn’t get to keep one. Then on Christmas morning there it was. No pedal tractor is complete without a wagon. This one had that as well. I still remember the most frustrating thing about being a 4-year old, is not having the leg power to pedal the thing on shag carpet. Later on when the winter thaw came, I could ride it outside on our driveway. We had a circular driveway with a secondary lower driveway to a separate storage garage/shed. I remember coasting this iron missile down the hill full speed. In the early 80′s my nephew tried the same thing and ended up wrecking and breaking his finger.
I recently learned that mom and dad still have this same tractor in storage. I plan on getting it out and restoring it to the shape it was in when I first received it.

TCR Total Control Racing was a slotless track system that gave you more control over your racing cars than ever before. Because there were no slots for the cars to fit into, the TCR cars could change lanes. This was done by flipping a switch on the Hand Controller. However when the cars came to a bend they would always default to the outside of the bend due to gravity and centrifugal force. This meant that you could not overtake on the inside of a bend. Most TCR sets that were sold came with the added bonus of a third vehicle, a Jam Car which travelled at a slightly slower speed than the two “racing” cars. This meant that in order to win a race you would have to negotiate this vehicle as well as your opponent.
I used to have this set up in the back of our basement in a creepy storage room on top of the meat freezer. We used to have races, but had to count the laps ourselves. That never worked out because you always lost count. Wrecks never really happened either. You just rode the rails the entire time. Still a great track that didn’t frustrate you by having the cars fly off the track at a simulated 500mph.

2-XL was an educational robot that entertained you through material recorded onto 8-track tapes that you played through 2-XL. Everything was totally interactive based on the choices you made answering questions and pressing one of the four corresponding buttons on the front panel. Essentially it was nothing but a fancy 8-track player, with each button operating a particular track. The 8-Track tapes focused around a nerdy robot with a New York accent who would speak as if the listener was right there with him wherever he happened to be in the storyline. He would ask multiple-choice questions based on the subject of the tape, and the user would answer the question he asked by pushing the corresponding button. A right answer resulted in 2-XL congratulating the user on his knowledge, while a wrong answer would result in a razzing as 2-XL explained what the proper answer was. In between questions, there would sometimes be a story going on that the user was involved with, with the answers to the questions corresponding to the story line. Other times 2-XL would crack a bad joke and laugh at his own humor with a crazy-sounding laugh that was one of the many running gags that would be found on almost every tape in the series.
I have always been known for my wealth of knowledge in useless trivia. 2-XL is to blame for that. He is where I started learning everything about anything useless. Sure he spit out educational data, but the useless trivia was the best. If you step back and look at this toy it’s basically the prototype for NTN bar trivia.

Everyone had a Tonka Toy as a kid. Everyone has a fire truck as a kid. I had a combination of both. The Tonka Hook and Ladder Fire Truck. It had an actual extendable, elevating ladder on it. This is the best photo I could find online.

Before the PSP, before the Nintendo DS, before the Gameboy, handheld gaming was defined by little red LED’s and the molded plastic surrounding them. Mattel came out with a surefire hit by the name of Electronic Football. The great thing was that you could hand this off to your friend and play each other (that’s what we call multiplayer today), or simply play alone. Long car rides were made bearable again. Mattel’s version followed the basic rules of football, with 4 downs and a “full-length” football field. You couldn’t pass, nor could you run backwards. It seemed like a marathon when you broke free for a long run. You mashed on that button forever hoping you were getting close to the end zone and would hear the touchdown signal.
Football was very difficult to find after the initial release because Mattel relied on Sears to provide market data to tell how well the product sold. Production was halted at 100,000 units out of 500,000 because of “bad sales”. Sears revealed they had made an error, then asking for 200,000 more a week, then followed by 500,000 a week thereafter.
Mattel followed up with Electronic Football 2. You now had the ability to pass and move backwards. It couldn’t get any better.
Electronic Football is also featured in the ending of Supertramp’s 1979 hit “The Logical Song”. Listen closely and you can hear the 4th down whistle tweet about 3:24 into the song.
You can now re-live the experience again. In some cases you can still find the re-make of Electronic Football in stores. It was brought out again several years ago for around $10. It can also be found as an iPhone app created by touchGrove called LED football.

Many moons ago, my cousin had this toy. I begged and begged for this for what seemed like forever. Santa brought it for me I think in 1974. This toy was awesome and full of play features for the time. A helicopter with a winch, a landing pad, a ramp, a fire truck with a working ladder, an ambulance, little action figures, an elevator, and even an escape chute. Although after a while a toy loses its luster, this one is still a memorable one.

Ah yes. Hot Wheels kept the hits on coming throughout the 60′s & 70′s. One of my favorite toys does not qualify for my list. It was my older brother’s Cobra vs. Mongoose race set. You may remember it. It had the orange track and you mounted the launch gate to your kitchen table, it had 2 loops, and a parachute system. Mattel later came out with the ultimate racing system – Thundershift 500. A big oval with power shifters that propelled the cars around the track. You had to be careful, though. One bad shift and you would jam the car in the shifting mechanism and wreck. My set had two Dodge stock cars. A red one, and a yellow one. You had to time these particular cars just right & provide the proper strength to the shift, or the cars would either fly off the track or not make it around the entire circuit.
I found the secret to winning at this every time. An ugly orange GMC motorhome provided enough weight to stay on the track no matter how hard you shifted. It ran really smooth. Wasn’t very glamorous, but it worked.

Run Yourself Ragged was a puzzle game in which you raced against the clock. Kind of like Perfection. The game consisted of a marble-sized ball bearing which you would navigate through a maze of 10 different obstacles (parallel bars, catapult, etc.) Each ‘obstacle’ had its own little control assigned to it– a lever, button, etc. Ultimate goal was to navigate the course in under 60 seconds and ring the bell at the end. This game came out under several other names as well – Tricky Golf, Snafu, and Screwball Scramble.
This was a very fun game. The fun factor of this was great while on Winter Break. After that, I think it sat in the closet for a very long time. Then it was retired to garage sale purgatory. Sure wish I still had this game now.

Following the initial success of Star Wars, many toy companies started coming out with their own space-themed toys. Milton Bradley was no exception with their entry, Star Bird. Star Bird had a few, very cool features to it – press a button and their front lasers light up and fire, tilt the ship up or down and it makes engine sounds that raise or lower in pitch, removable front assemblies, wing fighters and engine parts. Milton Bradley made a playset to go along with the Starbird line, the Command Base. It is a large cardboard station with plastic accessories like radar dishes, laser guns, a working crane, little vehicles and space men.
Milton Bradley later released this toy under the name Space Avenger. The reason was everybody was hopping on the Star Wars bandwagon, copycat-ing everything Lucasfilm put out and were getting sued as well. Milton Bradley wanted nothing to do with that and promptly changed the name.

Huh? A hunk of Hot wheels plastic? No loops, parachutes, or ramps? Basically just a garage. Here’s some backstory. As a kid I was a semi-only child. My siblings were much older than I was, so I would have to come up with things to do on my own a lot. My older cousin would watch me a lot while my parents did the going-out thing. We would create huge environments out of Legos, Matchbox cars, and of course Hot Wheels. We had entire neighborhoods and scaled cities made. There were literally hundreds of cars, and even a big Matchbox parking garage. The Hot Wheels Service Center was a complement to my imaginary city. This toy had a working elevator, working dynomometer, gas pumps, car wash, a cool “road” your cars could roll down, and it folded up for “on the go” play action. It also came with a blue Trans Am. I think if I looked hard enough I might still have the car somewhere in my basement.
Even if it’s not the most awesome of toys, it’s more of the memories you have that make it great. And of course it has a Trans Am.

Vertibird (1974)

Now this is a classic. You may be able to find cheap, miniature knockoffs of this toy, but none will ever replace the original. This toy cost around $12 25 years ago. An original boxed in mint condition can fetch $500 on ebay these days.
You might remember the tv commercial where you had to stop the fictional bank robber from leaving town. You would send vertibird into action and drop a roadblock on the cardboard cutout of a road. Then you could swing in and hook onto the car and carry him away. This was nearly impossible to do in reality. I wonder how many takes it actually took to hook the getaway car?
Two things that did not work together in the 70′s – a vertibird and shag carpet. Always a tangled mess.

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What, if any, kind of themed swing set did you grow up with?

***An addendum to this post***

Just wanted to update this post a bit. In keeping with the theme of the captainscast website, I decided to span the generation gap between father and son. I talked to my son Ben regarding the Peanuts gym and what I grew up with for a swing set. I am pretty proud of this aluminum structure. His reaction to it was lukewarm at best. He comes from the newer generation that has been raised with Little Tikes plastic super-fortresses, or the even more impressive wood-built playsets with rock-climbing walls, rope swings, and motorized gun turrets. Just kidding about the gun-turrets.