Yo-yo at the top of the list for all-time toys

They say walking the dog is easy. It's nearly impossible for me.

It's simple, yo-yo enthusiasts say. You throw a fast spinner, gently lower the yo-yo to the floor, or ground, and allow it to walk a short distance in front of you. Give a little slack and the yo-yo returns to your hand.

OK, so you mastered walking the dog. How about walking the dog and jumping him through a hoop?

The yo-yo will jump up behind you, through the hoop, over your arm, down in front of you, then back to your hand.

Simple, huh!

Not bad for a couple pieces of wood or plastic put together on an axle.

The yo-yo tops the list of the "All-Time Top 10 Toys," taking its place ahead of the Barbie doll, Slinky and Hot Wheels.

Almost every young lad and lassie have tried their luck at walking the dog, rocking the baby or looping the loop with a yo-yo.

The yo-yo has always been in the price range of most youngsters. Even today, some of the fancier yo-yos are available for less than $10.

Of course, you can go high-price too, up to $89.95. Or somewhere in the middle.

Just recently, I came across an unused Roy Rogers and Trigger yo-yo, still in the original wrapper, for $29.95.

The Rogers yo-yo, manufactured during the 1940s, featured art of Rogers and Trigger on one side and is now a great addition for a vintage toy collection.

The yo-yo made its first big splash in the United States following the Civil War. Some were carved from a single piece of wood.

It wasn't until the late 1920s that Donald F. Duncan saw the potential of the toy, and founded the Duncan Co., which produced as many as 15,000 yo-yos an hour.

In 1962, Duncan sold a record 45 million yo-yos, many of them plastic yo-yos that we see today.

Duncan quit business in the mid-1960s, but the "Duncan" name still is found on the 11 different models produced by the Flambeau Plastics Co., and June 6 has been named National Yo-yo Day in honor of Donald Duncan Sr.'s birthday.

Nobody quite knows how many yo-yos are around today. But it tops the list of the 10 most thought-of and played with toys of the century, as reported by the Toy Industry Association (TIA).

Starting this year, the TIA is conducting a "Toy of the Year" selection. Voting will continue through Dec. 31. All U.S. residents, young and old, can vote. Ballots are available at a number of retail outlets or at the TIA's Web site, www.toy-tia.org.

The toy industry is a $23 billion-a-year business, with more than half of the sales coming the final quarter of the year. The TIA estimated that an average $350 is spent each year on each child for toys.

Following is the All-Time Top 10 Toy list.

1. Yo-yo

2. Crayons

Over the past 97 years, more than 100 million Crayola crayons have been made. Crayola products are sold in more than 80 countries. They're packaged in a dozen languages, including Japanese, Finish and Dutch. The scent of Crayola crayons is among the 20 most recognizable to American adults. Coffee and peanut butter are first and second. Crayola crayons are 18th.

3. Barbie

Barbie celebrates her 42nd anniversary this year. Since 1959, more than a billion Barbie dolls and members of the Barbie family have been sold in more than 140 countries around the world.

Every second, two Barbie dolls are sold somewhere in the world. More than 105 million yards of fabric have gone into making Barbie doll and her friends' fashions.

4. Lionel Trains

The first electrical Lionel train was designed to become a window-shopping display for New Yorkers. Lionel has sold more than 50 million train sets since its humble beginning in 1900, and today produces more than 300 miles of track each year.

5. Play-Doh

When Play-Doh first debuted in 1956, it was available in only one color (off-white) and size (one-pound). Introduced originally to school, kindergartens and nursery schools, it was first demonstrated and sold in the toy department of Woodward and Lothrop Department Store in Washington, D.C. Since then, more than 700 million pounds of Play-Doh have been sold.

The formula for the original Play-Doh compound still remains a secret.

6. Gilbert Erector Set

A.C. Gilbert was mesmerized by the sight of steel girders being used to construct buildings and thought children would feel the same way.

In 1913, he introduced the "Erector Set" to American families. More than 85 years later, the success of the erector and Erector Play System brands of construction toys have proven that Gilbert was right.

7. Frisbee

Two men held a circle of plastic over a heater in a San Luis Obispo garage in 1948, trying to mold a lip onto the disc's down-turned edge. For decades kids have played catch with metal pie tins. The sport grew in popularity during the Depression, and soldiers spread it across the country during the war. The game had a few drawbacks. The tins made a shrill noise, and if people didn't catch them just right, they stung. After a few crash landings they could crack or develop sharp edges that cut fingers. The first plastic disc was a Flyin' Saucer in 1948, then the Frisbee. People have purchased more than 200 million Frisbees in the last 50 years.

8. Lincoln Logs

Lincoln Logs were designed and developed in 1916 by John Lloyd Wright, son of one of America's most famous architects, Frank Lloyd Wright. The younger Wright conceived his idea for Lincoln Logs when he was traveling with his father in Tokyo, and became inspired by the construction techniques used in the foundation of the earthquake-proof Imperial Hotel, which his father designed.

9. Slinky

Betty James took a struggling company in 1945 and produced what would become one of the country's true classic toys -- the Slinky. During her more than 50 years as president and CEO of James Industries, she developed brand extensions of the Slinky toy, as well as expanding her company to include a variety of traditional children's playthings. James was recently inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame.

10. Hot Wheels

The story started with one man's idea to speed up the industry. In 1967, Elliot Handler, one of the original founders of Mattel, decided to add axles and working wheels to the static wheel diecast model cars of the times. What developed was prototype gravity-powered car that could run at record-break "scale speed" of 300 mph downhill. The secret of such high performance racing action was low-friction wheels made of styrene that were hung on torsion bars and soon to be patented by Mattel. Handler took a look at this new ultra-fast car, and exclaimed, "Wow, those are hot wheels." Thus the name of the new products.

Old-fashioned toys are riding a wave of nostalgia, reaching new generations of children. Etch-a-Sketches are doing well in sales. And some of the old favorite toys still on the market include Silly Putty, Mr. Potato Head and Rubik's Cube.

This year will be no different with such items as new video games, merchandise spun off from Harry Potter and other movies, Pokemon and Nutcracker Barbie.

B. Ray Owen is the business editor for the Southeast Missourian.