MAIN Home Life Holidays Christmas

Most Popular Toys in History

What stood the test of time and remained hot with American consumers over the last five...30...50...100 years? If you're thinking Scrabble, then award yourself points for Christmas consumer smarts. Lincoln Logs? Honest. Lionel Trains, you say? You're on the right track...

Lionel Trains

By far the most enduring kid's Christmas favorite, the very first electrical Lionel trains were designed in 1900 to lure window-shopping New Yorkers using the magic of animated display.

The rest, as they say, is history. Lionel was named from its founder's middle name: Joshua Lionel Cowen. Since then, Lionel has sold more than 50 million train sets and today continues to produce more than 300 miles of track each year. Today, Lionel Trains are hot...again..

Lincoln Logs

Another retro-favorite dating back to 1916, Lincoln Logs were designed and developed by John Lloyd Wright, son of one of America's most famous architects, Frank Lloyd Wright.

The younger Wright conceived the idea for Lincoln Logs when he was traveling in Tokyo. He became inspired by the interlinking construction techniques used in the foundation of the earthquake-proof Imperial Hotel designed by his father. Among the first advanced educational toys, Lincoln Logs were an improvement over old-fashioned building blocks and were an instant hit with kids and parents, and remain so today.

Scrabble

This year, popular toymaker Hasbro is celebrating Scrabble's 55th anniversary. Even though it's a word game, the real story about Scrabble is in the numbers: one hundred million sets have been sold worldwide and between one and two million continue to be sold each year in North America. Of keen interest to the legions of passionate players are the more than 147,000 words used in the scoring (and overzealous players report lots more if they get creative.)

COMING UP: Most Popular Toys in History II

also see in Shopping -> Most Popular Toys

The Chiff.com Toy Guru Reviews

Crayola Crayons History & Fun Facts