What's the best toy ever made? There's more than one way to answer this - you could go for the best-selling toy of all time, or perhaps one that has been a perennial favourite for generations of children. You could even stage a poll and let the majority decide the argument.
I favour a more personal approach, and when I think of the best toys of all time a few favourites from my own childhood put their hands up for recognition - so my shortlist inevitably includes Action Man, LEGO and toy soldiers.
But the winner? The winner is a toy that nobody else I know has ever even heard of. I'd never heard of it myself when I ripped the paper off a satisfyingly big box one Christmas morning and wondered what on earth it was.
It didn't take long for me to catch on, though. Sky Battle, by Ideal, was a World War I flying aces game with two plastic bi-planes at each end of a curved cardboard sky. Underneath each plane was a ball-bearing gun, much like those used in Crossfire, which you used to shoot out the supporting struts underneath the wings of your opponent's plane, causing it to go into a nosedive. Then it was home in time for tea and medals.
Simple, addictive and with a surprising level of skill involved, Sky Battle remained a favourite toy for years. Like all of the best toys from your childhood, I have no idea where it disappeared to, but I do know that finding another one will be difficult when nobody else seems to have heard of it.
Movie legend has it that when the cast and crew of Casablanca were making the film, they thought they were just churning out another B-movie that would soon be forgotten. They had no idea it would be hailed by many as the best film ever made.
I wonder if the creative department at Ideal knew that when they were churning out yet another game back in the mid '70s, they were actually making the Best Toy Ever? In my opinion, anyway.
David Smith is the editor of ToyTalk, your online source for toy news, reviews and features.
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