Hobbies And Interests
Magic Shot Shooting Gallery
The Magic Shot Shooting Gallery by Marx Games was an enclosed, tabletop shooting range. It consisted of a magnet-tipped pistol--the only component that was not enclosed--and a plastic box with a window at one end that allowed you to see inside, where the targets and ammunition (steel balls) were. To play, you touched the gun to the window, near one of the steel balls, and the magnetic force pulled the ball to the window. You would then slide the pistol and ball up the window, take aim at one of the targets at the far end and pull the trigger. A spring inside the pistol released when the gun was "shot," launching the pellet toward your target.
U-Drive-It
Just when it seemed like the nearest you'd ever get to driving a car was rolling your Hot Wheels around on the shag carpeting, the U-Drive-It came along and brought the dream of driving one step closer. The toy, produced by Schaper, consisted of a tabletop landscape and magnetic cars that you drove over a bridge, around obstacles and through traffic cones. But it was the attached dashboard console and foot pedal that made the experience all the more realistic. The console had a steering wheel, gear shift, speedometer and oil gauge. You'd turn the key in the ignition, shift into drive, step on the accelerator and go. The board was reversible, so you had two landscapes to navigate.
Magnetic Batman and Robin
Beginning with G.I. Joe in 1964, action figures remained a popular toy, and in the 1970s, the industry leader was the Mego Corporation. Their Magnetic Batman and Robin figures stood out for several reasons. To begin with, these figures were 12 inches tall, a departure from Mego's usual (and standard-setting) 8-inch action figures. Further, they had magnets in both their hands and feet, making it possible to manipulate them into scaling vertical facades, hanging from beams and standing upside-down on surfaces--as long as the facades, beams and surfaces were made of steel.
School Days Desk
The School Days Desk by Fisher-Price, intended for children ages 3 to 8, was essentially a plastic carrying case with a magnetic chalkboard on one side. A storage area inside held the toy's accessories: chalk, an eraser, plastic-covered magnetic letters and numbers and several activity cards. The activity cards had stencils of simple words that you could place on the magnetic chalkboard to guide you in your spelling.
Classics
There were several magnetic toys--like the Whee-Lo, Wooly Willy and Tickle Bee--that originated in earlier decades but were still popular with kids in the '70s. The Whee-Lo by Maggie Magnetic Inc. of New York was a red plastic wheel with a magnetized axle that you could spin back and forth on a bent steel wire. Wooly Willy consisted of the face of a hairless man and loose iron filings behind a plastic bubble. You used a magnetic wand to move and drop the filings to give Willy different mustaches, beards, sideburns and hairstyles. Tickle Bee was a dexterity game for preschoolers. Using a magnetic wand, you would move a bee along a track, returning it to its hive. But you had to be careful not to get too close or the bee would "sting" (jump from the track and cling to the wand).