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he National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong recognizes toys Meyer. Convinced they could design and build a plaything employing
that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a this concept, they simplified and streamlined the idea, and reduced the
Tsustained period. In November of each year, the hall inducts light source to a 25-watt light bulb. Their design placed a perforated
new honorees and displays examples in the Toy Halls of Fame gallery. plastic panel in front of the bulb and covered the panel with a simple
Here are the winners from the past five years. sheet of black construction paper. When colored translucent plastic
pegs were inserted through the paper, they made an illuminated
picture. Truly unique upon its introduction, the toy recalled
2022 19th-century mosaic toys which provided colored marbles for children

to arrange in pleasing patterns and shapes.
TOP Lite-Brite evokes even more ancient artistic techniques. Roman

Ancient peoples of Greece and Rome amused themselves with toys
resembling the spinning tops we know today. Archaeologists have
found 5,000-year-old clay tops in Iraq and 3,000-year-old whip tops in
China. Native peoples of the Americas played with tops in the 15th and
16th centuries.

mosaics, still being uncovered today, decorated floors and walls of
homes and community gathering places. Islamic tilework, which
reached its peak in the 16th century, ornamented both the interiors and
exteriors of mosques and palaces. The Basilica of St. Mark's in Venice
features walls, ceilings, and domes decorated with tiny mosaic pieces,
many composed of pure gold under a layer of glass, to illustrate
religious themes but also to catch the light. An interest in mosaic work
and the effects of light upon it existed as early as the 9th century.
Top makers have formed their tops from clay, metal, stone, wood, Today, the toy resembles a flat-screen device like a laptop or
and, later, rubber, tin, and plastics. Shapes and types of tops also vary, television, lit by six LED lights inside the case and powered by three AA
leading to the different ways in which the tops are used and the batteries. Variants include a 3-D cube, an FX version that spins and
different skills needed to win spinning competitions. Gamblers and plays music, and both giant and small editions. Several websites host
bettors used carved wooden tops with four or eight sides, called virtual Lite-Brite games and adults can express their creativity with a
teetotums, in games of chance. Jewish children use a specialized Lite-Brite mobile app. Whatever their shape or size, Lite-Brite play sets
teetotum, a dreidel, in games played during Chanukah. have encouraged people to color and draw with light, applying
Twirling a top with a short stem between two fingers sends the toy 20th-century technology to ancient mosaic techniques. It’s a blank,
off for some distance and duration. A top that has a long stem can be black “canvas” that inspires illuminated designs for both young and old.
twirled using the palms, spinning the top much longer and farther.
Peg tops, on the other hand, spin when the string wound around the
top’s body is pulled away, sending the top spinning on its own. Modern MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
pump tops made of tin, metal, or plastic invite surface decorations
that deliver a variety of illusions not evident when the top is at rest.
It is these optical illusions as well as the spin of the top itself that
mesmerizes us.
In 19th- and early 20th-century cities, spinning competitions
occurred on the streets and in parks with the spontaneity of a current-
day sandlot ball game or a pick-up game of hoops.

LITE-BRITE
The story of Masters of the Universe begins in 1979 when Ray
In 1966, a New York City window display featuring hundreds of Wagner of Mattel formed a Male Action Team to explore the creation
colored lights inspired toy creators Marvin Glass, Henry Stan, and Burt
of the company’s next big action figure line. The company recognized

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