Latest news with #NationalToyHallofFame
Boston Globe
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Labubu not the first toy craze, and certainly won't be the last
Cabbage Patch Kids Cabbage Patch Kids began as chubby-faced dolls with yarn hair that came with adoption papers. During the 1980s the dolls were so popular that parents waited in long lines at stores trying to get a hold of them. More than 90 million Cabbage Patch Kids were sold worldwide during their heyday. Cabbage Patch Kids, which were created by Xavier Roberts and initially sold by Coleco, were relaunched in 2004, looking to take part in the successful return of other popular 1980s toys including Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears ,and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Advertisement A Cabbage Patch Kid museum named BabyLand General Hospital still exists in Cleveland, Ga. The dolls entered the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2023. Beanie Baby Beanie Babies captivated consumers in the mid-1990s. The cuddly $5 toys were under-stuffed for maximum hug-ability, stamped with cute names on their Ty Inc. tags, and given limited edition runs. Advertisement Many people collected, traded, and sold the toys with the hopes that their value would just keep going up at the dawn of the e-commerce age. It made some people money, and the founder, Ty Warner, a billionaire in three years. In 2014 Warner learned that he would not go to prison for hiding at least $25 million from US tax authorities and instead received two years' probation. Warner, one of the highest profile figures snared in a federal investigation of Americans using Swiss bank accounts to avoid US taxes, had pleaded guilty to a single count of tax evasion. Tamagotchi Looking for a pet without the real-life responsibilities? Well then the Tamagotchi electronic pet from Bandai was for you. Consumers were hooked on the egg-shaped plastic toy that first launched in Japan in 1996 and became a craze worldwide in the late 1990s and 2000s. Users were tasked with taking care of their virtual pet by pressing buttons that simulate feeding, disciplining, and playing with the critter on screen. If a Tamagotchi is neglected, it dies. In 2013 Tamagotchi was reborn as a mobile app, duplicating the experience of the plastic handheld toy. The toy was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in May. Fidget spinner Fidget spinners — the 3-inch twirling gadgets that took over classrooms and cubicles — were all the rage in 2017. The toy was considered somewhat of an outlier at the time, given that it wasn't made by a major company, timed for the holiday season, or promoted in TV commercials. Fidget spinners were more easily found at gas stations or 7-Eleven than at big toy chains. Advertisement Fidget spinners had been around for years, mostly used by kids with autism or attention disorders to help them concentrate, but they became more popular after being featured on social media. While hot toys are often made by one company, fidget spinners were made by numerous manufacturers, mostly in China. The toys were marketed as a concentration aid but became so popular among children that many schools started banning them, saying that they were a distraction. Labubu The In 2019 Lung struck a deal with Pop Mart, a company that caters to toy connoisseurs and influencers, to sell Labubu figurines. But it wasn't until Pop Mart started selling Labubu plush toys on key rings in 2023 that the toothy monsters suddenly seemed to be everywhere, including in the hands of Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, and NBA star Dillon Brooks. K-pop singer Lisa of Blackpink began posting images of hers for her more than 100 million followers on Instagram and on TikTok, where Labubu pandemonium has broken out. Labubu has been a bonanza for Pop Mart. Its revenue more than doubled in 2024 to $1.81 billion, thanks in part to its elvish monster. Revenue from Pop Mart's plush toys soared more than 1,200 percent in 2024, nearly 22 percent of its overall revenue, according to the company's annual report.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘You can't do that!' — How Uno became the game that brings out everyone's inner tyrant
Each set of Uno cards that have been produced for more than five decades comes with written rules on how to play the game. But that doesn't mean everyone who plays Uno plays by the same rules — which has caused plenty of disagreements over the years. Uno was invented in 1971, and for the past 54 years, friends, family members and lovers have been quarreling over how to play. Can you play a +4 on a +2 and make the next person draw six? Can you play double cards if they are the same number and color? If you get skipped, can you play a skip on top of it, therefore skipping the person next to you instead? The drama has been so intense that Uno has entered the chat, posting the original rules on social media. Still, some people don't buy it ... Despite the drama of it all, people can't stop playing, and in 2018, the colorful numbers game was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, alongside pinball and the Magic 8 Ball. Invented by an Ohio barber named Merle Robbins after a dispute with his son over the rules to Crazy Eights, the game has taken many forms since its conception: Uno Elite, Uno Attack, Uno Show 'Em No Mercy, Giant Uno, etc. It doesn't matter which one is played; tears are still shed. When the +2 gets played against you for the fifth time, it starts to get personal. I recently sat down to play the game ('High School Musical' edition) with family members ages 37, 13, 9 and 4. The first argument concerned the number of cards each person receives. Seven or five? The youngest started. After a reverse card was played, the question was asked if someone who was two turns away could play their reverse card of the same color on top of it, even though it wasn't their turn yet. 'No, that's not how it works,' the 9-year-old said. But the 13-year-old quickly rebutted that: 'Yes, it is. You can stack.' The 37-year-old agreed that yes, you can stack, but the reverse won't apply to the person whose turn it actually is. The 13-year-old didn't agree with that. 'We all have to agree upon the rules before we proceed,' the 37-year-old said, not even three minutes into the game, followed by the 9-year-old slamming their cards on the table, saying with sass in their tone that they no longer wanted to play. It seems only natural that the game fosters family hostility, since that's what led to its creation. When asked how the game affects their own lives, one person told the Deseret News that her boyfriend gets so frustrated playing that they had to stop because she was losing 'attraction' to him. Another said she liked to play, and is even 'passionate about the rules,' but only 'when it benefits me,' she said. 'I play dirty.' Ray Adler, vice president and global head of games at Mattel, Uno's owner, told The Wall Street Journal that the game's paradox of rivalry and simplicity is what maintains its popularity. 'Best friends become merciless. Seven-year-olds turn strategic,' he said. 'This is what makes Uno special — universal accessibility meets authentic emotions disguised as family fun.' If you actually want to know the rules of the original game, you can find them here. Just don't forget to say, 'Uno!'
