sports - Retroland

Playgrounds

Whenever the weather starts to warms up, playgrounds emerge from their wintery hibernation, filling up with the unmistakable sound of rambunctious kids laughing and screaming, just like they have for decades, if not centuries. There are swings and slides, merry-go-rounds and monkey bars, offering parents a well-deserved breather, while their kids burn off all of that pent-up energy. Playgrounds dot the landscape of every urban and suburban environment and are the source of many beloved childhood memories.

Mattel Electronics Football

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Prior to 1977, a football game was something a kid could only experience as an outdoor group activity. Can’t find enough kids to play? Weather uncooperative? Tough luck. It would take the advent of hand-held electronics games to bring the pigskin into the bedroom, the school bus and anywhere else where tackling each other was probably a bad idea. Today, we take a look at the game that started it all, Mattel Electronics Football.

Dodgeball

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Dodgeball is a game that kids either love or hate. It all depended on whether you perceived it as chance to prove your superiority, or simply as a brutal hour of being mercilessly pursued by flying rubber projectiles. Either way, we can all agree that it was one of the most memorable parts of gym class.

Lawn Darts

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Every once in a while, a toy is released with all of the good intentions of the world, and yet, no matter how popular it may become, an unforeseen safety issue arises which requires that it be removed from store shelves. Few, however, have the dubious distinction of being outlawed completely, which brings us to Lawn Darts - those popular ground-piercing projectiles that sent more than a few tykes to the emergency room back in the day. Let’s take a look.

Evel Knievel

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It was just about impossible to be a kid in the 70s and not know who Evel Knievel was. He was the iconic folk hero of a generation that grew up a little too late to catch the space race or Daniel Boone. Eyes were transfixed to television sets everywhere each time he would put on his helmet and propel his motorcycle towards a ramp that would send him flying over cars, buses, fountains, canyons, and anything else that seemed to have a need to be jumped over. Of course, part of the allure of these spectacles was that Mr. Knieval didn’t always make the most graceful landing.

Trac-Ball

Super Jock

Space Jam

Air Hockey

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Greatness is often found in simplicity. And when it comes to arcade games, there is no greater embodiment of simplicity than Air Hockey, a game that can be learned in less than a minute and is still played, over 40 years since its inception, all around the world. It came upon the scene in the early 70s, and soon after, the distinctive click-clack sounds of two players battling it out could be heard in every arcade across the country.

Nerf

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As any regular viewer of The Brady Bunch can attest, mom always said, “Don’t play ball in the house.” Well, over the years, technological strides were made, and thanks to an inventor named Reyn Guyer (who also gave the world the game of Twister,) we can finally throw out that old axiom. For he invented the Nerf ball and changed the world as we know it, allowing us to finally play ball in the house.