Well, This List Of The ‘Top 100 Toys Of All Time’ Has Sent Me Down Memory Lane

The toy store Hamleys is celebrating its 265th birthday with a nostalgia-filled look back at some of the most iconic toys ever.

The toy store has pulled together a list of the ‘top 100 toys of all time’ starring 80s classics like Care Bears, Cabbage Patch Kids and the humble Game Boy, as well as toys that any 90s kid will remember fondly. Think: Polly Pockets, Tamagotchis and Beanie Babies.

Throwing it back a cool 265 years, the humble hula hoop, spinning tops and marbles were among the first toys sold in the Holborn-based store back when William Hamley opened its doors to the public in 1760.

Since then it’s fair to say toys have evolved a bit – in fact, news broke earlier this year that AI-powered toys are coming to toy store shelves within the year.

Victoria Kay, head buyer at Hamleys (who chaired the top 100 panel), said of the final list: “Once you start looking at this, it turns rapidly into a nostalgia-fest – even for toys from four or five years ago.

“My personal favourites are Sindy Doll – I was always a Sindy girl as she was a cool British icon. I also adored Glo Worm, even though I was maybe a bit old for it and Simon felt like properly, cutting edge, advanced technology when it came out – it was literally the soundtrack of Christmas in the 80s.”