R Is For Rubiks Cube, R2D2, Rainbow Loom & Ravensburger – Toy Industry A To Z
RUBIKS CUBE
One of the most iconic toys of all time, Rubiks Cube is reported to have sold more than 400 million cubes over time. Originally invented in the 1970s, the cube was brought to market by Tom Kremer (a true legend of the toy industry) and businessman Tibor Laczi. Generations of families have experienced the frustration of trying to solve the puzzles conundrum, and a much smaller number have enjoyed the sheer pleasure of getting those sides of the colourful cube to match up!
R2D2
While we cover Star Wars elsewhere in this series, we would be remiss not to mention perhaps the most impactful toy robot or ‘Droid’ to ever grace the toy aisles. When Star Wars first come to the fore, the most surprisingly love characters were the non-living characters like R2D2 & C3PO. For more than 40 years toys based on this much-loved droid have been selling well in the toy aisles. The more recent success of characters like BB8 owe it all to the granddaddy of them all, R2D2!
RAINBOW LOOM
Rainbow Loom launched one of the biggest toy trends the world has ever seen. The Loom Band phenomenon was just gigantic, with children across the world buying huge quantities of elastic bands & creating their own bracelets and other items. Rainbow Loom was created and brought to market by Choon Ng – you can find out more about his story on our PLAYING AT BUSINESS podcast episode, when we had the pleasure and honour of interviewing Choon, listen here:
RAVENSBURGER
Ravensburger has been in business since 1883, with the company being famous across Europe and beyond for puzzles and board games. Notable products from Ravensburger include the highly innovative Puzzleball brand, Gravitrax and Memory.
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