Followers of this blog or our social media may know that we have a Flow Circus Skill Toy Museum. It's not a physical location, but a collection of vintage skill toys that we have collected over the years by keeping an eye on Ebay and various auction sites. The pieces range in age and how much information we have about them. We're hoping over time to be able to fill in more of the story as we add more items and details.

Paul recently found two interesting novelty cup and ball toys. Not very old, but an interesting merging of play and advertising. The one on the left may be a little older and says "Drink Coca Cola in bottles" along the lip. Coca Cola is written in the company's signature trademark font. The one on the right is translucent plastic that reads on the outside "Don't play with inferior products. Use MT. HAWLEY GOO." We haven't been able to find any information about the company or product.

We assume that these were giveaways that the companies used to generate interest in their products, engage kids while talking to parents, or maybe have a contest to make customers feel the rush of success and associate that good feeling with their product. Whether a gimmick or something more, we now have late 20th century commercial versions of cup and ball toys to go along with more vintage ones that we already have in the collection.

What's the Santa doing in the picture, you ask? Well, since it's December we thought he should make an appearance in a post about toys. He's one of several pieces in a British game called Hoko made around the 1920s. Similar in style of play to the cup and ball games, the goal is to catch the ring on his nose.

What was your favorite toy or game that you remember playing with as a child?