Nerf
It started with a dream - a dream of breaking one of the
biggest no-no's in the world: No playing ball in the house.
Inventor Reynolds Guyer (creator of Twister) had a means to attain
that dream, and that means was polyurethane.
From that synthetic foam came the first Nerf ball, and from
that first Nerf ball came a line of balls, bows, bats and more
that continues to expand today. Guyer's first Nerf ball rolled out
to the public in 1969. With the promise that "You can't
damage lamps or break windows. You can't hurt babies or old
people" (and no, that's not a challenge!).
Nerf was safe enough for indoor play, but its squishy
portability made it an ideal take-anywhere toy. By the end of its
first year on the market, over 4 million Nerf balls had been sold,
and a new toy superstar was born.
In the wake of the Space Race and moon madness, Nerf was nearly
dubbed the "Moon Ball" by its inventor. In retrospect,
the made-up word "Nerf" was a much better idea. The
original ball would likely have been a success either way, but
Nerf had bigger and better things in store than a single, smallish
"Moon Ball."
Throughout the 1970's, the Nerf line expanded through nearly
every sport involving a ball -soccer, golf, ping pong, baseball,
basketball (the ever-popular Nerfoop) - and even a few with no
ball relationship whatsoever (Frisbee, darts, etc.).
But the jewel in the Nerf crown was clearly the Nerf Football.
Debuting in 1972, this oblong mass of foam soon came to dominate
backyard tackle ball, street ball, kill the man with the ball, and
intramural flag football games everywhere.
While the Nerf Football continued its reign, over 50 new kinds
of Nerf products were introduced in the 80s, including; Nerf
Soccerball (1980); Nerf PingPong (1982); Nerf Boomerang (1983);
Nerf Indoor Golf set (1986); and Nerf Blast-A-Ball (1989).
The balls were designed to be used indoors (as it would be nigh
on impossible to actually break anything with a Nerf ball) but
they were more often than not played with outside where they would
invariably get waterlogged, filthy and chewed by dogs. In purple,
orange or lime green, everything would stick to these balls -
grime, fluff, cat hair, cats . . .
Starting with 1990's Blast-a-Ball, Nerf unleashed an assortment
of toys that fired soft, safe projectiles at unsuspecting friends
or family members. The Nerf Bow and Arrow was an early favourite,
and the line has grown to encompass everything from Crossbows to
Gatling-style rotating guns to the motorised "Ballzooka."
TRIVIA NOTE - The Nerf Ball was used by astronauts on
the space shuttle to demonstrate the effects of gravity and
inertia.
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