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Data types | Fact sheet
Chronologies and timelines: Sample
This sample is intended to show the structure of our chronology entries. If you are interested in subject-specific data, you may also like to view the chronology samples for a particular subject.
Chronology of toys and games
c. 400 BC Greek scientist Archytas of Tarentum invents the kite. Kites also appear in China about the same time.
1120 Backgammon is played in England. Walter of Gloucester's set is found on the site of Gloucester Castle, discarded in a cesspit there when he decided to become a Augustinian monk to show his renunciation of gambling.
1299 Italian tarot cards are first mentioned in a manuscript. They are used both for gaming and fortune telling, and the modern pack of playing cards derives from them.
1472 German master Ingold's Das guildin Spil is the earliest handbook on card playing.
March 1497 During carnival, the followers of Italian reformer and Dominican friar Giralomo Savonarola burn games and ornaments in the city-republic of Florence, which he has controlled since leading a revolt against the ruling Medici family in 1494.
c. 1500–c. 1600 A state academy for the board game go is established in Japan.
1766 The English toy manufacturer John Spilsbury produces the first of his jigsaw puzzles. A hand-coloured map of Europe, it is created to help learn geography.
1901 Frank Hornby develops the children's building kit Meccano in Britain.
1904 The first teddy bears appear in Britain, made by Stieff in Germany.
1918 The US cartoonist John Gruelle creates the Raggedy Ann doll character in stories and drawings. It is quickly merchandized.
1919 The US inventor George B Hansburg invents the pogo stick.
1925 The card game of contract bridge is developed by the US railway heir and yachtsman Harold S Vanderbilt while on a cruise. By the early 1930s it will virtually replace auction bridge.
1931 Alfred Mosher Butts of Rhinebeck, New York, invents the word game Scrabble under the name Criss-Cross. The first sets do not go on sale until 1946, under the name Lexico. Two years later the name Scrabble is adopted.
1938 Beton Toys in Carlstadt, New Jersey, begins to manufacture plastic toy soldiers.
1948 The British solicitor's clerk Anthony Pratt develops the board game Cluedo. It is later marketed in the USA under the name Clue.
1949 The children's novelty 'Silly Putty' is invented in the USA by James Wright of General Electric when a chemical process goes wrong. It is sold through bookshops for $1.
13 November 1950–16 November 1950 In Bermuda, the USA wins the inaugural World Bridge Championship.
1957 US building inspector Walter F Morrison develops and manufactures the Frisbee after seeing Yale University students throwing around Frisbee Pie Company tins.
1958 The hula hoop is developed by the Wham-O Manufacturing Co. of San Gabriel, California.
1959 The Barbie doll, designed by Californian entrepreneurs Ruth and Eliot Handler, is launched in the USA.
1961 Mattel Toys launches the Ken doll, a boyfriend for Barbie, in the USA.
1961 The British toy company Pedigree launches the Sindy doll, as a competitor to the very popular Barbie.
1964 The US toy company Mattel produces the G I Joe action figure for boys, an early version of Action Man.
1972 Magnavox develops Odyssey, the first video arcade game.
1973 Israeli postal worker Mordecai Meirovitch invents the board game Mastermind, which is launched in the UK and USA by Invicta Plastics.
1978 Texas Instruments launches 'Speak and Spell', the first electronic toy with digital speech synthesis.
15 December 1979 The Canadian journalists Chris Haney and Scott Abbott invent the board game Trivial Pursuit; after initial commercial reluctance, a breakthrough comes when they sign a deal in 1982 with Selchow & Richter, the developers of Scrabble. This earns them an estimated $200 million.
1982 Time magazine's 'Man of the Year' is 'Pac-Man', a character from a computer game that sweeps the USA in 1982.
1983 The popularity of Cabbage Patch Dolls in the USA is so great that a black market emerges. Sales will peak in 1985 at about $600 million.
1986 Nintendo video games, including Super Mario Brothers, are launched and quickly gain worldwide popularity. Sophisticated programming and graphics ensure their success and by 1990 sales exceed $3 billion.
1987 A US toy manufacturer who mass-produces dolls of Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, regarded in some circles as a hero for his illegal activities in support of the Nicaraguan Contras, suffers severe losses.
1991 British-manufactured miniature Polly Pocket dolls become the most popular toy in Japan.
1991 Japanese electronics companies Sega and Nintendo compete for the lucrative console games market. Sega's 'Sonic the Hedgehog' is matched against Nintendo's 'Super Mario Brothers'.
1991 The first Toys R Us superstore opens in Tokyo, Japan.
1991 The US toy manufacturer Larami introduces the Super Soaker water gun which can shoot jets of water 90 ft/25 m, and Tiger Toys launches the action figure Captain Planet, based on the US television series.
December 1992 A talking Barbie doll that says 'Math class is tough', released in October, is withdrawn after protests about the bad example it sets to girls.
1995 The US electronics companies CyberMaxx and Virtual 10 launch virtual reality headsets for home use in the USA.
1995 The Walt Disney film Toy Story, the first full-length film made entirely with computer animation, is released in the USA. The Buzz Lightyear toy featured in the film is a huge commercial success.
1997 The Tamagotchi toy, a pocket-sized electronic (or virtual) pet that requires daily attention from its owner to continue to function, is launched in Japan. It quickly becomes very popular worldwide, both with children and adults.
1998 Yo-yos re-emerge as a popular toy worldwide. Sales climb to 150,000 a week, and more than 3,000 Internet sites are devoted to them.
October 1998 Furby, a furry Gremlin-like toy manufactured by Tiger Electronics that can talk, sing, purr, snore, and burp, is pitted to be the best-selling Christmas toy in the USA and the UK.
May 1999 The fortune of US businessman Ty Warner, creator of the popular cuddly toys Beanie Babies, is estimated at £4 billion. His company Ty Inc has an annual income higher than Hasbro and Mattel put together.
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