Iconic Toys That Were Born In Minnesota

Over the years, Minnesota has been home to some pretty wonderful things – whether it’s Prince and Bob Dylan or the artery clogging “Juicy Lucy” – we’ve done a pretty solid job contributing to the world. Since Christmas is right around the corner, today we’re going to celebrate by taking a look at some of the world’s most iconic toys, that we created right here in the land of 10,000 lakes. Here we go.

1. Tonka Trucks

Basically any boy between the ages of 3 and 10 had one of these bad boys when I was growing up. I remember walking into Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us as a lad and seeing these everywhere. Definitely one of the most popular toys of my generation.

2. The Game Of Cootie.

This was one of my favorite games growing up. Not necessarily because actually playing it was that much fun, but more or less just because I enjoyed piecing the figures together in various configurations.

3. Gumby and Pokey Figures

I remember watching Gumby as a kid. It was an entertaining show. It was revolutionary in that it was one of the first uses of the “claymation” technique.

4. Twister

Oh yes, the most infamous party game of all time. Sure it’s cute and funny when kids play it, but when it adults end up drinking and playing it at parties it’s kind of weird. I’ve never played this game and I never will.

5. Nerf Balls

If you’re like me and hated tossing balls around that could potentially hurt you if thrown too hard when you were a kid, you definitely had a couple of Nerf balls lying around. If you we’re a real athlete you probably hated them, but hey, don’t judge the rest of us. It’s Nerf or nothin’.