#ThrowBackThursday: Toys from the past to make you nostalgic

Growing up, we all had that one favourite toy. It provided entertainment for hours on end, until the next new toy. Whether it entailed taking care of a virtual pet, or watching a rainbow plastic spring make its way down a flight of stairs, these toys have been part of many childhood memories.

1. Tamagotchi

Making sure this virtual pet was fed and bathed, and just trying to keep it alive, was the hardest thing to do as a child.

2. Troll dolls

We all knew trolls were the monster-looking creatures who lived under the bridge. What blew our minds were the funky colours of their hair when Troll dolls were introduced. From the biggest Troll doll, (10cms) to the tiniest one (2cms), these dolls were a collectors item.

3. Pokèmon tazos

The Japanese cartoon Pokèmon took the industry by storm with their fictional characters who lived in Pokè balls. The craze intensified when Simba chips got in on the action and introduced the Pokèmon Tazos.

Each packet of chips had one tazo and a bonus one if you were lucky. A total of more than 250 tazos with different Pokèmon on them needed to be collected. You could swap the doubles with your friends and if you got to knock down a whole stack, you would win them. Pokèmon lived up to their phrase; Gotta catch’em all!

4. Spin tops

A spinning top was designed to spin rapidly on the ground, the motion of which caused it to remain precisely balanced on its tip. Traditionally, tops were constructed of wood, sometimes with an iron tip, and would be set in motion by the aid of a string or rope coiled around its axis which, when pulled quickly, caused a rapid unwinding that would set the top in motion. Today they are often built of plastic.

5. Slinky spring

Watching a plastic  pre-compressed spring travel down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum, has never been more fascinating.

6. 3Dimensional view master

View-Master “reels”, which are thin cardboard disks containing seven stereoscopic 3-D pairs of small color photographs on film, display photos taken on tourist sites. Looking through this view master the first time changed your world forever.

Which was your favourite toy as a child? Let us know in the comments section below!