It was always a slow Sunday at Grandma’s if the Mastermind had to come out. Invented in 1970 by an Israeli postmaster (aren’t they all?), the 1973 Game of the Year was more famous for its box than the contents. Sporting the mantra “Easy to learn. Easy to play. But not so easy to win”, the cover photo of later editions featured a wise old sage and his white-dressed assistant. Little did we know the sage in question was a Leicester hairdresser called Bill Woodward. ... more>>>

Of all the toys in the catalogue, this is the one we can guarantee they’ll never bring back. The kid’s-plaything equivalent of a CFC-coolant fridge or leaded-petrol engine, the Mercury Maze was so-called because it contained a measured blob of everyone’s favourite poisonous liquid metal. ... more>>>

Concealed inside a thin card wallet bearing the illustrative image of the professorial titular “uncle”, these budget-priced kits generally strove to adhere to the notorious adage about “making learning fun”, more often than not involving 3D plasticine pictures from Aesop’s Fables, or a selection of to-be-coloured-in fact sheets about dinosaurs. ... more>>>

We figure that, if we’re going to count the Mecury Maze as a toy, then this iconic puzzle has to be listed in the catalogue too. For a start, it was one of those so-easy-to-manufacture products that blokes with suitcases down the precinct would have countless knock-offs for sale at pocket money prices. Hence, we don’t think we ever knew anyone who owned a branded version and, naturally, that’s what we really wanted. ... more>>>