that when Twister first came out in 1966, critics denounced the game as “sex in a

box”? Boy, with criticism like that, it's a wonder it ever caught on. Teenagers around

America were like, "I can get sex in a box!"

Anyway thats the first of many toy facts I'm gonna share with you today.

While 30-year-old Eleanor Abbott was recovering from polio, she kept herself busy by inventing

something that would benefit bedridden kids: Candyland.

By the way in case you don't remember, Candyland involves abosolutely no skill which means

your four year old can literally beat you at it's completely unfair, which is why I

only play Risk with four year olds.

In addition to every amazing thing he ever did, in 1996, Mister Rogers poured the wax

that made the 100 billionth Crayola crayon.

Alright, A few toybox names you probably didn’t know: the original Hungry Hungry Hippos were

named Happy, Henry, Harry and Homer. It’s rumored that Homer is blind, but some people

think that’s just folklore.

The Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots were Red Rocker and Blue Bomber.

If you want to call G.I. Joe by his full name, you should call him Government Issue Joe.

But in a casual setting, I think he’d just prefer Joe.

Koosh balls were named for the sound they make when they hit your hand.

And the Slinky is one of two toys to receive an “Official State Toy” status. It presides

over Pennsylvania...

...While the Teddy bear is the official state toy of Mississippi. Legend has it that in

1902, Teddy Roosevelt was on a hunting expedition in Mississippi when he came across a helpless

bear and refused to shoot it, saying that it would be unsportsmanlike. The media grabbed

onto that story, and a New York toy company started calling their stuffed toy bears “Teddys.”

It's a lovely story but we all know it's not true because Teddy Roosevelt never saw an

animal he didn't kill.

Toy companies failed to duplicate the success of Roosevelt's teddy bear with William Taft's

"Billy Possum.” And yes, that is a true story.

In 1999, a man in Minnesota was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for selling counterfeit

Beanie Babies. He also had to pay $150,000 for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. I don’t

know if you remember this about the nineties, but we took our Beanie Babies VERY seriously.

Thats why we like to keep Meredith's baby Mere-cat or as we like to call "Mer-cat" in

a jar.

Before they took off as stuffed animals, Care Bears were merely illustrations whipped up

to sell American Greeting products. And now you're a real live plastic toy, funshine bear.

The somewhat-terrifying Teddy Ruxpin was designed by a Disney engineer who used the same technology

you see in animatronics at Disneyland. Which is weird because the Country bears aren't

at all terrifying, Hall of President's though, I do see it a little bit.

Have the urge to adopt a Cabbage Patch Doll? You should Head to Babyland General Hospital

in Cleveland, Georgia. It’s situated on about 650 acres of land where Mother Cabbage

gives birth to babies every hour beneath the Magic Crystal Tree, which is pollinated by

a bee-hybrid called “BunnyBees.” Meredith, what am I even talking about?

As a child I was terrified of Cabbage Patch Kids, and with good reason, like the "Snacktime"

Cabbage Patch Kids had mechanical jaws so they could chew. Unsurprisingly, this was

a disaster. Mattel offered refunds after complaints that the dolls had chewed on and pulled out

kids' hair.

Let's move on to toys from a simpler time

The Radio Flyer wagon is a strange name for such a straight-forward toy, but there’s

a reason for that. Its creator, Antonio Pasin, felt that humans flying and radio were two

of the greatest human achievements ever. With our third best achievements apparently being,

wagons. Now of course if Antonio Pasin were inventing the wagon, he would call it the

Chipotle iPhone wagon.

The first toy ever advertised on television was Mr Potato Head. and he was also the first

toy to feature real produce. That’s right - the original Mr. Potato Head was actually

a potato. Kids jammed eyes, ears, and accessories into a real vegetable. His buddies included

Katie Carrot, Pete the Pepper, and Cooky the Cucumber. Why do they all get names but Mr

Potato Head doesn't?

Mr. Potato Head is also the official travel ambassador for Rhode Island, where Hasbro

is headquartered. And where nothing else happens.

We have Captain Kangaroo to thank for the success of Play-Doh. When it was just a fledgling

company with no advertising budget, inventor Joe McVicker talked Captain Kangaroo into

featuring it on the show. He offered Keeshan a portion of sales for promoting it to the

kiddies, so naturally, Captain Kangaroo started promoting it three times a week.

Also before it was eaten by kids in classrooms everywhere, Play-Doh was just like wallpaper

cleaner. People wishing to clean the soot and dirt from their patterned walls would

just roll the ball of goop across the surface. It only came in off-white. althought the flavor

was still delicious.

In 2000, Fisher-Price attempted to update the classic Chatter Telephone pull toy for

toddlers by adding push buttons and lights to resemble more modern phones. Nostalgic

consumers were outraged, and the rotary dial was back the next year. Off topic, but can

you imagine if this happened with real phones? Like we all went to the Apple store and complained

because our iPhones are so nice and they don’t have rotary dials.

Onto the Magic 8 Ball. The die that holds all of the “mysterious” answers is called

an icosahedron, for you D&D fans it's basically a 20 sided die, ten of the answers are versions

of yes, five are versions of no and 5 are wishy-washy. So if you learn anything from

todays Mental Floss episode, it's that you should always ask the magic * ball questions

that you want it to answer yes to.

Nerf sold their first-ever foam ball product in 1970 with the slogan: “Nerf: You can’t

hurt babies or old people!” You can of course hurt babies and old people, just not with

Nerf. Ronald Howes was inspired to create the light

bulb-powered Easy-Bake Oven after observing how New York City food vendors kept their

pretzels and chestnuts warm. Because if there’s anything we should look to as a model of food

safety for our kids, it’s New York City street vendors.

Ernie isn’t the only one who loves his rubber ducky. According to the BBC, none other than

Queen Elizabeth the second keeps a crown-adorned rubber ducky in her bathtub. Don't worry rubber

ducky, you could always marry in to royalty.

Troops stationed in Iraq use Silly String to find tripwires in the dark. Before entering

buildings, they’ll spray the area from at least 10 feet away to see if the Silly String

catches on any barely-visible wires, which are usually connected to bombs.

Another unlikely military tool is the View-Master. Slides of specific enemy ships, planes and

artillery were inserted in the View-Master so military personnel could flip through them

like flashcards to learn how to spot them. of course after the war the slides were more

likely to feature like vacation destinations.

James Wright hoped his invention would have a military use. In 1943, the GE engineer combined

boric acid and silicone oil and produced a totally sci-fi substance. It could bounce

and stretch, had a high melting temperature, and didn’t collect mold. Mark, he invented

Flubber? Oh no he apparently invented what he called “Nutty Putty,” The government

didn't have any use for Wright's "Nutty Putty" so he slapped it in some plastic eggs because

it was close to Easter and sold it as a toy. We’re still buying it today as Silly Putty.

The Pet Rock was such an intense fad in 1975 that, at $3.95 each, its inventor became a

multimillionaire in about six months.

Remember Sugar Ray? From the Scooby Doo movie with real people? And also from songs they

sang? Anyway Until Milton Bradley threatened to sue them, the band’s name was “Shrinky

Dinx.”

Finally, I return to my salon to tell you that Sea Monkeys were not in fact monkeys,

nor did they live in the sea. They’re just brine shrimp, which Harold von Braunhut became

fascinated with when he learned that they could survive the salt lakes of Utah. Those

lakes have a tendency to evaporate, brine shrimp developed the ability to fall into

a state of “cryptobiosis,” meaning they could sort of fall into suspended animation

until they were reintroduced to water. Problamatic as non-sea non-monkeys might be,

it's still better than Ant-farms, because my son's ant-farm just recently arrived, with

a bunch of dead ants in it.

And that happy note wraps up this toytastic episode of mental_floss, which is brought

to you with the help of these lovely people.

Every week we answer one of your mind-blowing questions. This week’s question comes from

Katie Douglas, who asks, “Is there a word for a person who loves music?”

The answer, Katie, is no. unless toy just take out the space between music and lover

and just make it musiclover Anyway you might also want to try the French word, “mélomane.”

I probably mispronounced that.

If you have a mind-blowing question, leave it below in comments and we’ll try to answer

as many as we can. Thanks again for watching and don’t forget to be awesome.