# World's most dangerous toys **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049 "2008-11-30T14:20:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/61 "2008-12-02T04:39:07Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > It wasn’t technically a toy, but as teenagers we played tag with bb guns. We’d don several sweatshirts, gloves, goggles and a minibike helmet, load up, and run around the backyard firing at each other. Good times. We had a (routinely ignored) “no head shots” rule. And for pump guns a (routinely ignored) “one pump only” rule. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/62 "2008-12-02T04:39:47Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > When I was about 6 or 7 years old (around 1974) the kids who used to live upstairs had this game that was discontinued or recalled. The basic premise was that there was this arm on a spring that held a pie pan and it would pivot around the board and stop on someone and then “sproing!” release and hit someone in the face with a pie. Now, the makers of the game realized that you wouldn’t make pies all the time to play this game so they recommended you fill the pie tin with shaving cream in order to make it look like a pie. Pie Face from Ideal. [Here’s the commercial.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk2Fa_nXQV4) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/63 "2008-12-02T04:48:10Z")
> [@Race\_Bannon](#): > > Ah, yes, the Strange Change Time Machine. Similar to Creepy Crawlers, in that you could get 2nd degree burn fun, over and over. > [http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/str.html](http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/str.html) Thank you! Couldn’t remember for the life of me what that was called. I almost set the house on fire with that one when I put a cube in the oven dome and walked away. (I blame my 7-year-old attention span.) When I came back, the plastic bit had gone from cube to monster to smoldering smoking pile of goo on the verge of explosive combustion. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/64 "2008-12-02T05:22:01Z")
[Aurora’s Skittle Bowl](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/5346) It was a cross between tether ball and bowling with a hard wooden ball. I remember getting a bloody mouth from getting my head too close to the thing when the ball was in motion. It was rated the #12 [Game Where Someone Can Get Beaned in the Nuts](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/5346) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/65 "2008-12-02T05:30:07Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > [Aurora’s Skittle Bowl](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/5346) It was a cross between tether ball and bowling with a hard wooden ball. I remember getting a bloody mouth from getting my head too close to the thing when the ball was in motion. It was rated the #12 [Game Where Someone Can Get Beaned in the Nuts](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/5346) Both your links go to the same page. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/66 "2008-12-02T05:41:59Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Both your links go to the same page. Shows what happens the one time I don’t test out my links. [Games Where Someone Can Get Beaned in the Nuts](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/31256/item/652333#item652333) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/67 "2008-12-02T06:05:35Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > You guys were so lucky to have all those cool toys! All we had were aerosol cans, matches and gasoline. This. Even fireworks were banned here long ago. So us kids being of a mind to blow shit up, we had to come up with more inventive ways of doing so. This involved noxious chemicals used in inventive, experimental ways. Way to go, legislators. ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Matt\_Mason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Major\_Matt\_Mason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Matt_Mason)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/68 "2008-12-02T07:32:16Z")
My personal fave was the Mattel Hot Wheels Factory. I mean, a home injection molding set, for Ghu’s sake! How cool was that? Not only did you have hot lava plastic out of the injector, but sharp sheet metal band clamps to hold them together… Plus, you could cut the cars up and re-melt them, blending colors in a psychedelic manner until they all blended into a puke brown. I love the smell of melting plastic in the morning. It’s the smell of VICTORY. 😃 Say, how many folks here used a Strange Change Machine as a car crusher for those cheap little soft plastic cars that came a hundred to a bag for a buck? 😉 They didn’t spring back, but who cared? 🙂 As for guns, I had a “Johnny Thunder” lever action rifle. After the safety block broke off, it embedded ball point pens in the walls quite nicely, thanks… I was also one of the only kids in my block to play Cowboys and Indians with a realistic Luger cap pistol… And, of course, my namesake toy, with all those lovely sharp wires that would stick out when the arms and legs got torn off… 😉 -MMM- ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/69 "2008-12-02T08:12:18Z")
> [@chacoguy420](#): > > Remember those bow and arrow sets with the suction dart tip? How long did it take your older brother to figure out; that you could pull that tip off, and the sharpen the end with a pencil sharpener and go\*\* little brother hunting? \*\*:eek: Didn’t pay your little brother tax , hmmm. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/70 "2008-12-02T09:22:44Z")
My older brother and his friends made blowdarts out of large sewing needles and regular thread, shooting them through soda straws at their chosen targets. The thread was repeatedly looped through the eye of the needle then snipped in half, creating a fan effect. I was especially impressed with one dart made from red and white thread - it looked so dapper sticking out of my shoulder. I enjoyed watching them get thrown to the ground by an exploding can of WD-40 sometime later during their experiments with flame throwing technology. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/71 "2008-12-02T10:15:45Z")
Pikers. A few years ago, I came across a history of Ideal, Georgia. It mentioned that during the holidays, the local youth liked to entertain themselves by making balls out of rags soaked in pitch (which I believe is turpentine) then setting fire to them and tossing them back and forth. Kind of a “hot potato” thing. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2008, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/72 "2008-12-02T11:12:43Z")
My annoying cousin that became a even worse adult, almost killed himself, filling a milking machine [teat cup](http://classes.ansci.uiuc.edu/ansc438/Mastitis/milkmachine.html) with gunpowder and setting it of. Metal shrapnel went everywhere. He did this by his self, and everybody in the house came running outside from the party. I have to guess that those cups hold at least a pint inside. On a farm the equipment laying around becomes your toys. We used plastic syringes from disposable mastitis treatments as squirt guns. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2008, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/73 "2008-12-02T11:13:58Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Pikers. A few years ago, I came across a history of Ideal, Georgia. It mentioned that during the holidays, the local youth liked to entertain themselves by making balls out of rags soaked in pitch (which I believe is turpentine) then setting fire to them and tossing them back and forth. Kind of a “hot potato” thing. Think of tar when you say pitch. ---
**Author:** ![HerbalTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@HerbalTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HerbalTea)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/74 "2008-12-02T12:40:34Z")
I grew up with just the lame plastic toys and stuffed animals. I’m jealous. I’m just curious. Despite playing with these dangerous toys, you’ve all obviously lived to tell the tale, but would you let your kids play with these things now? ---
**Author:** ![JustThinkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@JustThinkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustThinkin)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/75 "2008-12-02T12:59:01Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > \On a farm the equipment laying around becomes your toys. Ah. The most wonderfully dangerous toy of all — a whole farm and all the attendant equipment, buildings, and other accoutrements. Haystacks, barns, combines, farm animals, trucks — the list goes on. I was driving (by myself) by the time I was 9 or 10. Now THERE’S a fun toy for a kid!! ---
**Author:** ![laserfuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@laserfuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laserfuzz)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/76 "2008-12-02T13:21:43Z")
You know from the parents who think real guns might be too dangerous. My friends and I would dress up in heavy coats and wear goggles and go shoot the crap out of each other in the woods. Bottles and cans just didn’t do it for us. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/77 "2008-12-02T13:47:58Z")
> [@Gwyen](#): > > Heh, this past 4th of July my SO and his brother, ages 33 and 34, both stood on the deck and shot bottle rockets and m 80’s AT THEIR OWN KIDS. Nobody got hurt, their defense was that they did it to each other as kids. 😕 That would be my BIL’s too. This past 4th had them on an upper deck throwing lit packs of firecrackers up into the air until I reminded them that if the breeze were to pick up they just might have a face full of exploding firecrackers. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/78 "2008-12-02T13:49:13Z")
I had click-clacks as a child. That was before migraines ensued. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/79 "2008-12-02T13:52:07Z")
To whoever asked upthread: When a roman candle ball gets caught in the hood of your sweatshirt, you lose a slight bit of hair just behind your ear. Then you worry if your mom will notice. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049/80 "2008-12-02T14:27:04Z")
> [@HerbalTea](#): > > I grew up with just the lame plastic toys and stuffed animals. I’m jealous. > > I’m just curious. Despite playing with these dangerous toys, you’ve all obviously lived to tell the tale, but would you let your kids play with these things now? Sure! My kid’s 29 now, and if she hasn’t learned basic safety by NOW… Seriously, I would have let her play with some of this stuff when she was a child, with proper supervision. I did let her cook easy things when she was quite young, while I watched and gave advice. Later on, she cooked whole meals by herself, no supervision necessary. Now that she’s moved to another state, I really miss her cooking. I had a combination Vacuform and Fun Factory, with the Creepy Crawlers and Fun Flowers plates. Those were lots of fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-dangerous-toys/475049.md?page=5)