80s Toys
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50 free 80s Toys trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The 1980s were the decade when toys became events. Saturday-morning cartoons doubled as half-hour commercials, parents queued for hours to land the must-have Christmas present, and a twisting color puzzle ended up in homes all over the world. This quiz covers the decade's best-loved playthings: Transformers, G.I. Joe and Masters of the Universe figures, Star Wars collectibles, plush toys that talked, glowed or folded up, doll lines that began on greeting cards, hit board games, and the Nintendo hardware that revived home video gaming. Questions ask about the characters, the companies and inventors behind them, and the odd stories of how they reached the shelves. It is written for anyone who grew up in the eighties, for parents and collectors who remember the toy aisle, and for quiz hosts who need a nostalgic round. The early questions are friendly to casual players, while later ones reward the fans who kept the boxes.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which electronic toy is built into the alien's communicator in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?
Speak & Spell
Speak & Spell came out of Texas Instruments' research into speech synthesis, on a starting budget of just $25,000. A tie-in module later had players spell words such as creature and universe.
Q 02Which dolls, sold with adoption papers, sparked violent riots in American stores at Christmas 1983?
Cabbage Patch Kids
Cabbage Patch Kids were so scarce that shoppers shoved, trampled and even swung baseball bats to get one. The maker shipped 3.3 million dolls that year and still could not meet demand.
Q 03Which country was home to architecture professor Ernő Rubik, whose cube puzzle went worldwide in 1980?
Hungary
Hungary first knew the puzzle as the Magic Cube. Rubik invented it in 1974 and patented it at home before Ideal Toy released it internationally in 1980.
Q 04Which car did the yellow Autobot Bumblebee turn into in the original 1984 Transformers toy line?
Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle was Bumblebee's disguise among the first Autobot Mini-Cars. The 2007 live-action film turned him into a Chevrolet Camaro, and the 2018 film Bumblebee gave him his original shape back.
Q 05Which Soviet-made puzzle game was packed in with Nintendo's Game Boy for its 1989 North American launch?
Tetris
Tetris was chosen over Super Mario Land after rights holder Henk Rogers argued that Mario appealed mainly to young boys, while the falling-block puzzle would appeal to everyone.
Q 06Which talking bear, a best-selling toy of 1985 and 1986, told stories from a cassette deck in his back?
Teddy Ruxpin
Teddy Ruxpin moved his mouth and eyes as the tape played. The character was created by Ken Forsse, and later versions swapped the cassette for a digital cartridge.
Q 07Which board game did two Canadian journalists create in Montreal in 1979, selling 20 million copies by 1986?
Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit was the work of photo editor Chris Haney and sports editor Scott Abbott. Most versions of its origin story involve the pair sitting down to a game of Scrabble.
Q 08Which Autobot leader was killed off in the 1986 animated Transformers film to make way for new toys?
Optimus Prime
Optimus Prime's death shocked young viewers far more than Hasbro had expected. The screenwriter had advised against it, and the hero was later revived in the TV series.
Q 09Which plush characters began in 1981 as American Greetings card artwork, each with a symbol on its tummy?
Care Bears
Care Bears were painted by artist Elena Kucharik for greeting cards before they became plush toys and TV stars. Each tummy symbol stands for that character's personality.
Q 10Which blue-skinned Mattel villain was He-Man's archenemy, forever scheming to seize Castle Grayskull?
Skeletor
Skeletor believed the fortress held the power to conquer the planet Eternia. Mattel's Masters of the Universe line gave him a crew of henchmen called the Evil Warriors.
Q 11Which plush dogs of the mid-1980s came in a doghouse-shaped carton with their own adoption certificate?
Pound Puppies
Pound Puppies were created by Mike Bowling in 1984 and first sold by Irwin Toy in Toronto. Tonka then took them to the United States, where more than 2.5 million found homes in 1985.
Q 12Which tiny doll, first sold by Bluebird Toys in 1989, grew from a figure housed in a powder compact?
Polly Pocket
Polly Pocket's concept dates to 1983, when Chris Wiggs's design firm mocked up a miniature world inside the makeup case. Bluebird, of Swindon in England, was bought by Mattel in 1998.
Q 13Which block-stacking game did Leslie Scott create from wooden bricks her family bought at a sawmill in Ghana?
Jenga
Q 21Which sketch-and-guess party game did Robert Angel publish in 1985 after inventing it with his roommates?
Pictionary
Pictionary started with a first print run of just a thousand copies, paid for with $35,000 that Angel and his two business partners gathered.
Q 22Which Hasbro toy horses of the 1980s had colorful bodies and manes and a unique symbol on their flanks?
My Little Pony
My Little Pony grew out of My Pretty Pony, a horse figure introduced in 1981. The first line then ran in the United States until 1992.
Q 23Which freckled doll with scented hair had dessert-named friends such as Huckleberry Pie and Orange Blossom?
Strawberry Shortcake
Jenga takes its name from kujenga, a Swahili word meaning to build. Scott was born in what is now Tanzania and grew up speaking both English and Swahili.
Q 14Which fictional terrorist organization served as the nemesis of Hasbro's G.I. Joe team from 1982?
Cobra
Cobra's schemes filled a long-running comic series written by Larry Hama. The 1982 relaunch also shrank the heroes to 3.75 inches, following the success of Star Wars figures at that size.
Q 15Which silent G.I. Joe commando of 1982 was molded in plain black plastic to save Hasbro the cost of paint?
Snake Eyes
Snake Eyes needed no paint at all: the first figure was cast in black plastic, and the mask meant the head needed no detail either.
Q 16Which Mattel heroine, the twin sister of He-Man, headlined the Princess of Power toys and a 1985 cartoon for girls?
She-Ra
She-Ra was meant to interest young girls the way He-Man appealed to boys. The name grew out of a Mattel executive's joking suggestion of Sheila.
Q 17Which Cincinnati toy company, then owned by cereal maker General Mills, made the first Star Wars action figures?
Kenner
Kenner took its name from the Cincinnati street where its first offices stood. General Mills spun it off in 1985, Tonka bought it in 1987, and Hasbro took over in 1991.
Q 18Which Star Wars bounty hunter's mail-away figure lost its promised firing rocket over safety fears?
Boba Fett
Boba Fett was the first new mail-away figure created for The Empire Strikes Back, and he arrived with the rocket fixed in place. A rocket-firing prototype sold at auction for $16,000 in 2003.
Q 19Which Galoob line of toy vehicles from 1987 was advertised on TV by fast-talker John Moschitta Jr.?
Micro Machines
Micro Machines were made slightly larger than N scale and came as vehicles and miniature playsets. Galoob, the company behind them, is now part of Hasbro.
Q 20Which toy robot did Nintendo bundle with the NES in 1985 so wary American shops would see a toy, not a console?
R.O.B.
R.O.B., the Robotic Operating Buddy, only ever worked with two games, Gyromite and Stack-Up. After the 1983 video game crash, it let the NES be sold as a sophisticated toy.
Strawberry Shortcake began on greeting cards before the first doll appeared in 1979. That first toy was a rag doll designed by Muriel Fahrion and made by her sister.
Q 24Which Hallmark heroine of 1984 rode a horse named Starlite and led the Color Kids?
Rainbow Brite
Rainbow Brite started her story as a girl named Wisp, who earned the new name by freeing the Color Kids and bringing color to a gray land. Mattel made the dolls.
Q 25Which pajama-clad Hasbro toy of 1982 lit up its vinyl head from within when a child squeezed it?
Glo Worm
Glo Worm hid a battery-powered light inside its plush body. It sold so well that Hasbro followed it with a musical version and a Glo Bug in 1984.
Q 26Which American Greetings plush creatures of 1986 could tuck into a pouch on their own backs to form a ball?
Popples
Popples were made by Mattel between 1986 and 1988. The idea is said to have come from rolling up a pair of socks.
Q 27Which infrared toy gun game did Worlds of Wonder launch in 1986, around the same time as rival Photon?
Lazer Tag
Lazer Tag was such a hit that its maker's sales force used it as leverage to get the Nintendo Entertainment System into reluctant American stores.
Q 28Which trading-card company had cartoonist Art Spiegelman dream up the Garbage Pail Kids stickers of 1985?
Topps
Topps saw the idea begin as an unreleased sticker for its Wacky Packages line. The full series that followed was Spiegelman's brainchild.
Q 29Which little-known toy company launched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures in 1988 after bigger rivals passed?
Playmates
Playmates insisted that a cartoon series be made before it would risk the toys. It then produced around 400 Turtles figures between 1988 and 1997.
Q 30Which comic-book publisher developed the story concept behind Hasbro's Transformers robots in 1984?
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics had already produced a successful tie-in comic for Hasbro. The robots themselves were rebranded from two of Takara's toy lines in Japan.