The Syco-Seer attracted the attention of Cincinnati store owner Max Levinson, who turned to his brother-in-law Abe Bookman to help with production. Thus inspired, in 1944, a grown-up Carter completed his version of a fortune-telling tool called the Syco-Seer, a liquid-filled tube with a window allowing a view of two floating worded dice. When someone asked a question of the “other world,” Mary would reveal the answer on the Psycho-Slate, as if the spirits scribbled it down themselves. Carter’s mother, Mary, would often use the fortune-telling invention the Psycho-Slate - a small chalkboard sealed inside a container - with her clients. Carter, was the son of a Cincinnati clairvoyant, and completely fascinated by her work. Since the 1950s, the Magic 8 Ball has been a consistent source of advice for all of life’s problems. Today, more than 300 million Slinkys have been sold, enough to circle the globe 150 times if stretched. In 1995, the Slinky Dog became a hot ticket item after it was featured in Pixar’s Toy Story, with 800,000 Slinky Dogs selling that year.

The Slinky toy line expanded through the decades with plastic Slinkys and Slinky animals. She reintroduced the Slinky at a 1963 New York Toy Show. Betty took over the business, even mortgaging her home to keep it afloat. However, in 1960, Slinky sales began to decline when Richard left his family to become a missionary in Bolivia. Priced at $1, the Slinky was an immediate hit, with 400 Slinkys selling out in just 90 minutes. The toy was introduced during the 1945 Christmas season at a Gimbels department store in Philadelphia. Richard soon took that idea and designed a machine to coil 80-feet of wire into a 2-inch spiral, which Betty named “Slinky,” inspired by the flowing movement and distinct sound of the spring in motion. James told the story to his wife, Betty, who wondered if the industrial spring could be transformed into a toy. One day, Richard knocked a spring off a shelf and watched as it gracefully “stepped” from a stack of books to a table and then to the floor, where it landed upright. James was searching for a way to use springs to help sensitive equipment hold up in turbulent seas. In 1943, while stationed at a Philadelphia shipyard, U.S. Kind, driven and inspired, his voice will be missed.As the famous jingle goes: “What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkity sound? A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing! Everyone knows it's Slinky.” But did you know the beloved toy was created by accident? “Through his endless curiosity, he was able to translate that sight into remarkable technology that ignited the modern video game industry. “Ralph was a man who truly saw beyond his time,” said Chris Melissinos, a strategy and business development director at Verizon Communications and a game historian. His family moved to Holland and later to the U.S. He was born in Germany in 1922, but his family fled from the Nazis two months before the Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, when they attacked Jewish businesses and homes. He also created the interactive memory game, Simon.

He invented toys such as the light gun, a peripheral for video game consoles. Bush in 2006 for Baer’s work in starting the video game industry. But Baer’s passing is also a a clarion call for preserving the industry’s history and honoring its professionals while they’re still alive.īaer earned the National Medal of Technology - the nation’s highest honor for inventors - from President George W. It’s a reminder for us all that the video game industry is still pretty young, and many of its pioneers are still alive.

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