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Stick enters Toy Hall of Fame. No, a real stick.

By Allan Chochinov - November 10, 2008

in Design Business

Photo from AP: Chris Bensch, curator of collections, shows off the newest inductees into the Toy Hall of Fame, a stick.

Okay, technically, the Stick, Skateboard, and Baby Doll were inducted, but we're mostly interested in the stick part. You gotta hand it to those folks in Rochester for having the guts to do this, and to (sorry) draw a line in the sand with what any/every parent knows all too well:

"It's very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price--there aren't any rules or instructions for its use," said Christopher Bensch, the museum's curator of collections. "It can be a Wild West horse, a medieval knight's sword, a boat on a stream or a slingshot with a rubber band. ...No snowman is complete without a couple of stick arms, and every campfire needs a stick for toasting marshmallows."

Guts indeed, given the backlash they must've received from one of their 2005 inductees: the cardboard box. We have no pick for next year; the cardboard box and the stick are it.

Thanks tort!

o

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Concerned

16 years ago

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Just think of all the deprived children of the world who will never experience the joy of owning a stick. All the people who live in the Polar regions. The inhabitants of the Sahara, and so many others. What we need is " The give a Stick Foundation" to provide these poor children the chance to have a Stick of their own. Let's do it people, you know you have extra sticks just lying around waiting to be played with.
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mig

16 years ago

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this is fantastic. my wife and i, whom met in design school, both have discussed over and over how the stick is really the most successful toy out there as we have seen many kids enjoying it in every location we have traveled to and studied. no toy beats the combination of the imagination of a child and the vagueness of a stick; of course, not to leave out the ready availability of the stick.
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