story of Iran-Contra from the point of view of the
independent counsel who conducted the crimi-
nal investigation from 1986 to 1993.
Larr y HaapanenSee also Foreign policy of the United States; Iran-
Contra affair; North, Oliver; Poindexter, John; Rea-
gan, Ronald; Reagan Doctrine.
Toys and games
Definition Recreational products, introduced in
the 1980’s, that had major economic and/or
cultural significance
The 1980’s saw a series of new toy and game brands that
had unprecedented popularity, many becoming cultural
icons.
Several factors contributed to the toy industry of the
1980’s. New technologies allowed for the develop-
ment of a wide range of electronic toys. The oil crisis
of the late 1970’s caused an increase in the cost of
plastic, which, in turn, inspired toy manufacturers to
pursue less expensive ways of making plastic toys as
well as to increase the use of other materials, such as
die-cast metal. These experimentations with new
technologies and materials led to new product de-
signs and gimmicks.
Meanwhile, many companies tried to imitate the
success that Kenner had with its toys based on the
Star Warsfilms from 1977 to 1983, using elements of
the company’s formula: action figures with vehicles
and play sets, figures that were based on “good ver-
sus evil” archetypes, and cross-merchandising. This
trend was compounded when the Federal Commu-
nications Commission (FCC) lifted its restrictions
on tie-ins between children’s programs and toys.
The rise of national retailers such as Toys “R” Us
and Wal-Mart created opportunities to sell toys year
round, not just on holidays and birthdays. Cable
television broadened opportunities for advertising,
allowing fads to spread more quickly than before.
This led to the creation of an annual tradition: the
“must have” toy that parents were expected to buy
for Christmas, leading to long lines and waiting lists
at department stores.
Games The first fad toy to hit America in the
1980’s was the Rubik’s Cube, a puzzle that had been
invented in 1974. The puzzle was a cube with nine
colored squares on each side, in six different colors.
The objective of the puzzle was to get all the same
color on each side. Consumers of all ages spent
hours trying to solve the puzzle. At the height of the
fad, there were books being published about how to
solve the cube as well as similar puzzles and replace-
ment stickers to put on an unsolved cube.
The other craze in 1980’s games was trivia. While
television game shows were on decline in general,
syndicated evening versions ofJeopardy!andWheel of
Fortunebecame national phenomena, spinning off
various board game and electronic versions. Trivial
Pursuit was released in 1982 and had become a fad
by 1984, spinning off dozens of sequels and varia-
tions. It was an easy game for large groups of people
to play at parties, and similar kinds of “guessing
games” came to be released by the end of the de-
cade, such as Pictionary (and its television game
show spin-offWin, Lose or Draw), Scattergories, and
Outburst.Electronics The early 1980’s saw the rise of popu-
lar video games, such asPac-ManandDonkey Kong,a
new medium that changed the cultural landscape.
Children, teenagers, and adults alike would gather
around home computers and home video game con-
soles. Stand-alone arcade machines became fixtures
at restaurants and other gathering places. Video
games would increase in popularity and technology
throughout the 1980’s and beyond, eventually over-
whelming the market share of traditional toys.
Advances in electronics created more than video
games. Electronic games such as Simon were re-
leased in the late 1970’s, but their popularity and
proliferation grew in the 1980’s. While remote-
controlled and radio-controlled toy vehicles had
been around for decades, refined technologies led
to a new wave of popularity in the 1980’s, and many
other toy lines began incorporating motorized com-
ponents. Meanwhile, some companies began to pro-
duce dolls, action figures, and vehicles with built-in
voice recordings.
Other toy lines capitalized on advances in laser
and infrared technology to make a new kind of toy
gun: Lazer Tag and Photon lines were games in
which players used special light guns and “body ar-
mor” to shoot at each other and score points based
on hits recorded by the armor. A similar idea was at-
tempted, unsuccessfully, in Captain Power, an actionThe Eighties in America Toys and games 979