Favorite Toys By Year That Ruled The Seventies. It was a wonderful simpler time and fun for a kid.

In the 1970s, some advances in toy technology started with computerized games of Electronic Football and the Atari computer and home gaming system. Pop culture also continued to greatly influence many youngsters by being able to recreate their favorite movies or tv shows with matching action figures and dolls like the Six Million Dollar Man.

The 1970s were a time when parents kicked the kids out of the house and said go play outside. Kids spent their summer vacation going to the movies to see Jaws, then not going into the water rest of the year. Dress to impress with very high tube socks and shorts that were pretty small. We worshiped “The Fonz” from Happy Days and quoted catchphrases from Welcome Back Kotter and Saturday Night Live.

My hero was a late-night TV host named the Ghoul who showed really bad movies. We watched the Red Wings, Tigers, and Lions even though they were pretty average. The Toys we had could never be released today. Jarts is a toss game like horseshoes but with metal projectiles. Light bright-colored pieces of glass on a grid plugged into an outlet. These toys made a fork in the toaster not look so bad.

Favorite Toys By Year That Ruled The Seventies

• 1970 - The Big Wheel

   

  Who didn’t have a big wheel? It was one of the coolest toys Marx made. The only thing… it wasn’t built for going off homemade ramps.

• 1970-71 NERF BALL

  Parents loved this toy as it was hard to destroy anything in the house playing with a NERF BALL. Low injuries were reported and nobody I know died.

• 1972 - Toss Across

  The official rules state that the X player to go first. Each player starts with three beanbags. Players stand approximately six feet from the board to toss their beanbags, alternating turns. The beanbags are only retrieved after all six are thrown. Whenever three matching symbols in a row are turned over by either player, the game ends immediately. Trick shots were allowed where you would score on more than one box at a time. I still have mine and it’s in great condition. 

• 1973 - Colorforms Shrinky Dinks

  Shrinky Dinks has enthralled children and adults with its crafty charm. The idea is pretty basic. Color a sheet of floppy plastic to create a fun design and then slide your creation into a warm oven. Amazing how there were no lawsuits over this product. 

• 1975-76 - PET ROCK

  The first official “pet rocks” that were sold in the 1970s were simply nice stones from Rosarita Beach in Mexico. These pebbles sold for a penny and were resold with goofy accessories for a lot more. They looked, well, like a typical rock. The inventor went on to make millions of dollars. 

• 1976 Evel Knievel 1st Issue Stunt Cycle Toy

  https://youtu.be/B-H5g9WEqCc

  Ideal Toys, the manufacturer of Evel Knievel toys, got their start in the Knievel business when they released the first Evel Knievel action figures.

• 1977 - Star Wars Action Figures

  https://youtu.be/lJY709chKLw

  I had a Star Wars Tie Fighter. Didn’t last long as we blew it up in a homemade movie.

• 1978 - SIMON

  Wild how Vincent Price did the voice in the TV commercial. It got my attention as a movie buff. Fun game to play. Later in life, it became an after-school / weekend drinking game.

• 1979 - ATARI 400 Home Computer

  Designed for younger children with its clean simple design and more importantly its tactile keyboard to prevent damage from food and small objects. It’s still pretty cool if you had one in 1979.

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