Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood (Honorable Mention)
TCR Racing Racetrack (1980)
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.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood #4
2-XL (1980)
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.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood (Honorable Mention)
Tonka Fire Truck (1975)
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.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood #5
Mattel Electronic Football (1977)
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.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood (Honorable Mention)
Playskool Rescue Center (1974)
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.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood #6
Thundershift 500 (1976)
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.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood #7
Lego Space Sets (1978-1982)
Everyone grew up with Legos in my time, however sets were pretty humdrum in the 70′s. They consisted of big multi-colored pieces. Nothing was very uniform at all. This was especially evident during the great science fiction boom consisting of Star Wars, Star Trek, the Black Hole, etc. We wanted to make spaceships, and we didn’t want them to look like candy canes. Hence the introduction of one of my favorite toy lines, the Lego Space Series.
These sets were a major part of my childhood for years. I had quite an arsenal of ships, bases, and Lego parts. Here are the sets I can remember I had over the years: Galaxy Explorer, Starfleet Voyager, Mobile Rocket Transport, Space Command Center, Alpha-1 Rocket Base, & Intergalactic Command Base. That’s a lot of freakin’ bricks.
Although it is extremely difficult to find complete sets anymore, you can still find a few original sets, parts, and reproductions made from newer bricks on ebay. The command center above was going for $105 last time I looked.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood (Honorable Mention)
RUN YOURSELF RAGGED 1981
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.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood #8
Star Bird (1978)
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.
Top 10 Xmas toys from my childhood #9
Hot Wheels Service Center (1978)
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.
