Altogether I had three Etch-A-Sketches. I see that they are still currently available but I find it hard to believe that they have exactly the same construction. What happened to mine indicates what would surely now be considered series safety flaws.
Just in case there is anyone out there who hasn't heard of this toy, here's how it works. There is a flat screen which is covered on the inside with aluminium powder. Inside, on a system of wires, there is a pointer that moves to scrape off the powder, leaving a thin grey line. The pointer is controlled by two knobs on the front of the toy. One moves the pointer left and right, the other moves it forward and backwards. Using these knobs you can draw a picture on the screen. Turn it over and shake it, the picture is erased and you can start again.
Simple and effective. I used to play with it for hours when I was a kid. As I said before though, that should be "play with them" because none of them survived. What happened to them was family. What happened to the first one was my Granddad.
Before we remodelled our living room there used to be a set of wooden cupboards that separated it from the kitchen. They were an odd design with one cupboard that opened into the living room and one into the kitchen. The one that opened into the living room was always full of junk. My mother used to use it as a kind of hold-all for anything we had left lying around. One day she put my Etch-A-Sketch in there, on the bottom shelf. On the same day my Granddad, for reasons best known to himself, put a matchbox full of coins onto the top shelf. Later I opened the cupboard, the coins fell, the Etch-a-Sketch smashed. Specifically it smashed into rather a lot of razor sharp pieces of glass. Hence my suspicion that that the modern version must have a better design, or at least a more robust construction.
What happened to my second one was that I left it on the floor and one of us, I forget now it was me or my brother, trod on it. Lucky that whoever it was, was wearing shoes, though I can tell you that aluminium powder is a bugger to clean off the carpet.
I must have kicked up a fuss because I was bought a third one. I'm not at all sure what happened to that one but I suspect it was my mother. I think that she must have given it away to one of my younger cousins.
Anyway, the mysterious fate of Etch-A-Sketch number three notwithstanding, I remember it being one of my favourite toys which is peculiar because when you think about it, it's pretty naff. It's next to impossible to draw a curve and extremely difficult to draw a reliable diagonal. I have seen pictures drawn on them that were very good indeed but for the average kid, or even the average adult, getting anything that resembles something other than a series of square boxes is nigh on impossible. And in what way is it superior to, oh say for example, a pencil and a piece of paper?
I used to love it though and I see that should I want one I could still get it for under fifteen quid. It's tempting, very tempting.
Just in case there is anyone out there who hasn't heard of this toy, here's how it works. There is a flat screen which is covered on the inside with aluminium powder. Inside, on a system of wires, there is a pointer that moves to scrape off the powder, leaving a thin grey line. The pointer is controlled by two knobs on the front of the toy. One moves the pointer left and right, the other moves it forward and backwards. Using these knobs you can draw a picture on the screen. Turn it over and shake it, the picture is erased and you can start again.
Simple and effective. I used to play with it for hours when I was a kid. As I said before though, that should be "play with them" because none of them survived. What happened to them was family. What happened to the first one was my Granddad.
Before we remodelled our living room there used to be a set of wooden cupboards that separated it from the kitchen. They were an odd design with one cupboard that opened into the living room and one into the kitchen. The one that opened into the living room was always full of junk. My mother used to use it as a kind of hold-all for anything we had left lying around. One day she put my Etch-A-Sketch in there, on the bottom shelf. On the same day my Granddad, for reasons best known to himself, put a matchbox full of coins onto the top shelf. Later I opened the cupboard, the coins fell, the Etch-a-Sketch smashed. Specifically it smashed into rather a lot of razor sharp pieces of glass. Hence my suspicion that that the modern version must have a better design, or at least a more robust construction.
What happened to my second one was that I left it on the floor and one of us, I forget now it was me or my brother, trod on it. Lucky that whoever it was, was wearing shoes, though I can tell you that aluminium powder is a bugger to clean off the carpet.
I must have kicked up a fuss because I was bought a third one. I'm not at all sure what happened to that one but I suspect it was my mother. I think that she must have given it away to one of my younger cousins.
Anyway, the mysterious fate of Etch-A-Sketch number three notwithstanding, I remember it being one of my favourite toys which is peculiar because when you think about it, it's pretty naff. It's next to impossible to draw a curve and extremely difficult to draw a reliable diagonal. I have seen pictures drawn on them that were very good indeed but for the average kid, or even the average adult, getting anything that resembles something other than a series of square boxes is nigh on impossible. And in what way is it superior to, oh say for example, a pencil and a piece of paper?
I used to love it though and I see that should I want one I could still get it for under fifteen quid. It's tempting, very tempting.
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