The Toys That Built America

As the post-war baby boom creates unprecedented demand for toys, Ruth Handler turns her greatest gamble into the most recognizable toy in the world. Meanwhile, rival Merrill Hassenfeld, at the reigns of a company that will one day be one the most famous brands in the world, tries to capitalize on Handlers success to launch a military doll for boys--which is brilliantly rebranded as the worlds first "action figure," and eventually spawns a tv series and a movie franchise. For decades, these two companies battle each other to dominate the toy industry. But when the cultural landscape shifts, they are forced to make desperate choices that ultimately earn their toys immortal status.

After failing to make a living selling lithographs, Milton Bradley creates one of Americas first board games, which will go on to become one of the biggest of all time. But the Parker brothers threaten Bradleys reign. But its a game about Monopoly that will upend the business. And in its earliest days, it might have been pirated from its true creator, who has been largely lost to history--until now

Defense contractor Ralph Baer invents the worlds first home video game console. But it is soon eclipsed by a new table tennis game that becomes one of the most famous video games of all time. And when a third pioneer, Jerry Lawson, creates a console featuring swappable games, the fledgling video game industry explodes into an epic contest for control of what will become a multi-billion dollar market.

At the height of the industrial age, as Americas cities go vertical for the first time, a Yale educated medical doctor and Olympic gold medalist turns his attention to toys. Leaving his profitable magic business behind, he goes all in on his revolutionary steel building toy that will inspire generations of Americans to build bigger. Creating the first-ever national ad campaign for a toy, hell go head-to-head with a British rival who sells a remarkably similar building kit. But after decades at the top, a struggling Danish Carpenter emerges, whose passion for innovation leads him to a new building material--plastic. With it hell create the biggest toy empire the world has ever seen.

In the midst of the 1970s folk art movement, art student Martha Nelson creates a one-of-a-kind doll to sell at local Kentucky craft markets. She has no idea that a visionary young entrepreneur will use her artwork as inspiration for a mass-produced doll that will spark a multi-billion-dollar toy craze. They will make him rich, but first he must fend off challenges to his empire from Nelson... and from a baseball card company looking to lampoon his dolls to make a fortune of their own.

After the U.S. videogame crash of 1983, a Japanese electronics company single-handedly resurrects the industry with a game featuring a jumping plumber. But a rival rises to challenge their dominance, setting off a two-way war between video game superpowers. In the process, the two companies will humiliate a third, transforming the fight from a two-player matchup into a three-way brawl...that will change the video game industry forever.

Gross-out humor is as old as human society itself, and so are the toys designed to capitalize on it. From a 1st century Roman Emperor who created an early version of the Whoopee cushion, to cutting edge, modern materials that emulate human body fluids, gross equals big bucks for toymakers. These are the stories of Americas most innovative, groundbreaking, and profitable toys designed to shock--and how they grew to claim a bigger piece of the 100-billion-dollar toy industry than you would think.

Before World War II, board games are mostly simple, but postwar peace and prosperity reveals a demand for more challenging pastimes. After decades of struggle, three different innovators break the mold to release games that combine fun with an intellectual challenge: Scrabble, Clue and Yahtzee.

In the 1970s, the board game industry was aimed almost entirely at children, until a literal game changer came along in Trivial Pursuit; redefining the possibilities for adult fun, it opened up a whole new genre.

As toys become increasingly complex in the early 1970s, two unconventional inventors risk their homes and careers to bring revolutionary twists to classic games; together, Uno and Connect Four unleash a wave of family-friendly games.

Santa Claus is one of the most beloved figures -- and famous faces -- on Earth, a symbol of hope and goodwill for all; this is the story of the creative minds, brands, and major events that shaped the image of jolly ol St. Nick.

From the velocipede to the Schwinn Stingray, or even pedal cars to Power Wheels, viewers will roll their way through the history of the hottest toys on wheels and the surprising stories behind their creations.

From Lionel Trains to video games, for the right collector our cherished childhood toys can be worth millions! Over the last three decades, people have paid some truly outrageous prices to get their hands on that elusive toy they always wanted.