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1965
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Stanley Weston creates a doll for boys based on a new television show called The Lieutenant. The doll, G.I. Joe, proves more popular than the TV series, to the surprise of many toy manufacturers who had assumed for years that boys wouldn't play with dolls. Interestingly, a female G.I. Joe doll introduced years later was a flop.
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1966
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Elliot Handler, one of the co-founders of Mattel, Inc., invents Hot Wheels when he decides to add axles and rotating wheels to small model cars. His gravity-powered car with special low-friction styrene wheels reaches 300 miles per hour.
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1969
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Parker Brothers markets the first Nerf ball, a polyurethane foam ball that is safe for indoor play. By year's end, more than four million Nerf balls are sold.
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1972
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Magnavox introduces Odyssey, the first video game machine, featuring a primitive form of paddle ball. Other companies soon invested in the video game business and, by 1976, hockey, tennis, and squash were available.
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1973
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Dungeons & Dragons is invented by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. The game creates a whole new fantasy/adventure category of toys, which has become a $250 million market.
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1976
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Nolan Bushnell sells his video game company, Atari, to Warner Brothers. Atari's popular Pong and Super Pong video tennis games soon gave way to a home video cartridge system that ran full-color games, from baseball to Pacman. By 1982, Atari was making $2 billion a year, but lost its business just as quickly through over-licensing. In 1983, Atari sent thousands of cartridges to Texas to be used as landfill.
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1977
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Kenner Toys introduces a line of Star Wars action figures, capitalizing on the popularity of George Lucas's blockbuster film. They dominate the action figure market.
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