Q 01/05

What was Richard James's job in 1943 when a fallen spring's 'walk' gave him the idea for the Slinky?

A) Naval engineer

B) Toy-store clerk

C) Mattress salesman

D) Physics teacher

Answer · why

A) Naval engineer

Naval engineer Richard James was working on springs to steady ship instruments at sea when one fell and kept moving. His wife Betty found the name Sli...

Q 02/05

How long did it take the first 400 Slinkys to sell at their 1945 Philadelphia department store debut?

A) 90 minutes

B) 12 hours

C) 4 days

D) 3 weeks

Answer · why

A) 90 minutes

90 minutes was all it took once the Jameses demonstrated the toy on a ramp at Gimbels in the 1945 Christmas shopping season. Each Slinky cost a dollar...

Q 03/05

The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by a Hungarian sculptor and professor of what?

A) Art history

B) Mathematics

C) Architecture

D) Engineering

Answer · why

C) Architecture

Architecture was Ernő Rubik's subject at a Budapest design academy when he built the first cube in 1974. He called it the Magic Cube until Ideal Toy r...

Q 04/05

How long did it take Ernő Rubik to first solve his own cube?

A) A minute

B) An hour

C) A day

D) A month

Answer · why

D) A month

A month of trial and error is what it took him, and at first he wasn't sure it could be solved at all. The cube has more than 43 quintillion possible ...

Q 05/05

French electrician André Cassagnes first gave the Etch A Sketch a name meaning what?

A) The magic screen

B) The clever pencil

C) The picture box

D) The wonder board

Answer · why

A) The magic screen

The magic screen, or L'Écran Magique, drew little interest at the 1959 Nuremberg toy fair, and Ohio Art passed on it at first. As Etch A Sketch it bec...