The Toys That Built America

In 1983, underdog company Tonka sets out to bring a game-changing toy from Japan to America: the transformable robot.

Before World War II, board games are mostly simple, but postwar peace and prosperity reveals a demand for more challenging pastimes.

Thanks to the industry-defining innovations of three men, Nintendo goes from a struggling playing card company to a video game juggernaut.

In the 1970s, the board game industry is aimed almost entirely at children, until a literal game changer comes along in Trivial Pursuit.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles high kick their way into the action figure market in the late 1980s, opening the door for a new kind of martial arts toy.

As toys become increasingly complex in the early 1970s, two unconventional inventors risk their homes and careers to bring revolutionary twists to classic games.

Two chance discoveries in the 1950s turn mundane industrial materials into legendary toys. Etch A Sketch and Play-Doh will rake in billions for decades to come, but not everyone will reap the rewards.

Santa Claus is one of the most beloved figures—and famous faces—on Earth, a symbol of hope and goodwill for all. But how did this third-century saint become the Santa we know today?

It was a decade where old school toys like Beanies Babies went head-to-head with high tech wonders like Tamagotchi, and desperate parents would do anything to get their hands on them.

Whether you wear them, ride them, push them or drive them, some of the most fun toys of childhood are built on wheels.

For six decades, two silly but savvy entrepreneurs—S.S. Adams and H. Fishlove—turned their love of a good joke into a booming prank toy industry.

From Lionel Trains to video games, for the right collector our cherished childhood toys can be worth millions.