# Did you draw with a Spirograph? Would kids today play with one? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 18, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208 "2011-03-18T23:56:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/41 "2011-03-21T13:20:56Z")
I looooved my spirograph. I found a vintage one at a garage sale some time back, only missing one piece and I have no freakin’ idea what happened to it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/42 "2011-03-21T13:54:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’d be interested in the Calculus of Spirograph. curves are hypotrochoid, hypocycloid, epicycloid, epitrochoid ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/43 "2011-03-21T14:58:36Z")
I loved the IDEA of the Spirograph. Once I went through the motions of setting up a piece of paper, and tacking the cogs down and then trying to draw the picture without moving one of the cogs, while correctly rotating the one my pen is in… meh it was never as fun to me as it seemed like it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/44 "2011-03-21T15:17:57Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > It seemed like all to often that I’d be almost done with the pattern, my hand would slip, and I’d wind up with a single errant pen-line completely ruining the geometry of the drawing. Yeah, that was me. Or else the opposite–the pen would lift off the page at some point, and you’d have an epicycloid with blank spots in it. I came to hate my Spirograph as emblematic of my lack of mechanical and artistic ability, and stopped using it. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/45 "2011-03-21T17:48:03Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > I had a love/hate relationship with my Spirograph. I played with it all the time, yet I suspect that my success rate was somewhere around 33%. It seemed like all to often that I’d be almost done with the pattern, my hand would slip, and I’d wind up with a single errant pen-line completely ruining the geometry of the drawing. > > But then I’d go right back to it the next day, after sulking for a while. ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!. This was me. I loved it but I sucked at it. My Whee-lo on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/46 "2011-03-23T12:46:59Z")
I only did it a few times. My older sisters had one and they played with it. My problem was my older brother ‘accidentally’ bumping me while I was doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/47 "2011-03-23T13:54:48Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > Speaking of which, why ISN’T there a virtual Spirograph? One of you guys needs to make me one! 🙂 I downloaded one for my andoid phone for free. ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/48 "2011-03-23T22:48:53Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > I loved the IDEA of the Spirograph. Once I went through the motions of setting up a piece of paper, and tacking the cogs down and then trying to draw the picture without moving one of the cogs, while correctly rotating the one my pen is in… > > meh it was never as fun to me as it seemed like it should be. This was me. I was a great color-er and loved repeating patterns, etc. But my Spirograph was more fun in theory than actual practice. ---
**Author:** ![Labor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Labor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labor)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/49 "2011-03-24T14:03:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’m intrigued by this persistent belief among many people that children today don’t like toys. I assume the assumption is that kids now only like video games. > > It is complete nonsense. Kids love toys, they love simple toys, and any good toy will appeal to a lot of kids - not all, since every kid has their own tastes, but a lot of them. > > Of course Spirographs would appeal to many kids. It’s a great toy. I am completely in support of this statement. My daughter will play with anything that we can do together. When the weather does not lend itself to outdoor activities the spirograph is a great way to spen dtime together. She has a hard time with the coordination but loves to fill the spaces in the spiral designs with color. It’s also a great to for days when she is in a funk or a bit sick but needs something different to do. A college friend will come over for dinner some times and spirograph with us. Its a great deal of fun, drink a bit, talk a bit, be a little creative. I think its a great toy. You will be the most popular relative ever if you spirograph with the neice/nephew. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/50 "2011-03-24T15:46:40Z")
I loved mine so much I bought another one in college. It was even more fun stoned. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/51 "2011-03-24T16:39:01Z")
I liked it. I just wish they would have come up with a clamping system instead of those lousy pins that would eventually move all over the place and your drawing would be wreaked. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/52 "2011-03-24T16:46:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Amazing all the patterns you could draw with those plastic circles. > [http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/socaldevgal/WindowsLiveWriter/Spirographs\_8D1C/image\_3.png](http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/socaldevgal/WindowsLiveWriter/Spirographs_8D1C/image_3.png) The royal “you”, I’m sure - all my spirographings looked like shiite. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/53 "2011-03-24T18:12:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [Virtual Spirograph](http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=virtual+spirograph&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) Hated it. I think 95% of the fun was playing with the little wheels and handling the pens and positioning the paper just so. There was something horribly unsatisfying about clicking on a bunch of settings and getting that so-called instant gratification of seeing the pattern right friggin’ now. The other 5% of the fun was watching the pattern emerge from my fingertips. A mouse click was so… anticlimactic. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/54 "2011-03-25T02:13:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [Virtual Spirograph](http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=virtual+spirograph&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) Well, that kinda takes the fun out of it. _I_ wanna play, not watch the computer create one. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/55 "2011-03-25T13:09:22Z")
I have to admit I was excited starting around 1982 when I first could write a program that plotted out math formulas to a graph. Oh look at what that draws and how changing the formula changes the plot. A modern day simulation of a Spirograph does not sound fun or does my past plotting of formulas with what computers can do today. The paper and pen Spirograph would still be fun. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/56 "2011-03-25T13:28:17Z")
I was given a Spirograph as a sort of joke present when I was in my 30s; I had a lot of fun with it. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208/57 "2011-03-25T15:47:37Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I liked it. I just wish they would have come up with a clamping system instead of those lousy pins that would eventually move all over the place and your drawing would be wreaked. Yeah, that would have been great. I’d like an old-style Spirograph even now, not a modern one with only a few gears and cogs. I like to use those ultra fine pens they have today, and I bet they’d work very well in an old Spirograph. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-draw-with-a-spirograph-would-kids-today-play-with-one/575208.md?page=2)