The 1980s shelf
1980s things worth remembering.
Neon grids, arcade cabinets, and mixtapes.
46 catalogued finds
Nintendo Entertainment System
“nintendo entertainment system”
He-Man Action Figure
“he-man action figure”
Nintendo Game Boy
“nintendo game boy”
Jenga
“wood block tower game”
Koosh Ball
“rubber string ball”
Transformers Action Toy
“transformers action toy”
Rubik's Cube
“colored cube puzzle”
Speak & Spell
“orange spelling computer”
Teddy Ruxpin
“talking bear cassette”
Guess Who?
“face flipping guessing game”
Cabbage Patch Kids
“adoption doll craze”
Care Bears
“bears with belly symbols”
My Little Pony
“colorful pony toys”
Trivial Pursuit
“trivia wedge board game”
Chia Pet
“ch ch ch chia”
Frogger Mini Arcade
“frog crossing road game”
Cassette Bluetooth Player
“walkman style cassette”
Galaga Mini Arcade
“tiny galaga arcade”
Boombox
“big cassette radio”
Strawberry Shortcake Doll
“strawberry shortcake doll”
Pac-Man Mini Arcade
“arcade yellow guy eating dots”
Capri Sun
“silver pouch drink”
Micro Machines
“micro machines”
Ring Pop
“old candy ring”
Little Tikes Cozy Coupe
“red yellow toy car”
Big League Chew
“shredded bubble gum pouch”
Fun Dip
“flavored sugar dip powder”
Rubiks Snake Puzzle
“rubiks snake puzzle”
Fashion Plates
“fashion rubbing plates”
Plasma Ball
“electric lightning ball”
Bubble Tape
“six feet of gum tape”
Push Pop
“push-up lollipop tube”
VHS Tape
“black plastic tape”
Casio F91W Watch
“black digital watch”
Nerds Candy
“tiny crunchy candy”
Jelly shoes
“Translucent, jelly-bean-colored plastic sandals that squeaked with every step and left waffle-pattern tan lines all summer long.”
Scrunchie
“A fabric-covered elastic hair tie that ballooned out your ponytail, worn in stacks up the wrist between hairstyles.”
Cassette tape
“A compact magnetic tape cartridge used for music and mixtapes, rewound with a pencil when the tape deck ate it.”
Floppy disk
“A thin magnetic storage disk in a plastic sleeve, used to save and transport computer files back when 1.44MB felt like plenty of space.”
Laserdisc
“An early optical video disc format the size of a vinyl record, offering sharper picture quality than VHS but never becoming mainstream.”
Camcorder
“A shoulder-mounted or handheld video camera that recorded straight to tape, responsible for hours of shaky home movies and birthday party footage.”
Walkman
“A portable cassette player with foam headphones that let you take your music collection anywhere, one AA battery at a time.”
Suspenders
“Elastic straps clipped to the waistband and worn over the shoulders, alternately preppy or punk depending on what else you paired them with.”
Overhead projector
“A boxy machine that projected handwritten or printed transparencies onto a screen, the centerpiece of countless classroom lessons before digital projectors.”
Electric pencil sharpener
“A motorized desktop sharpener that ground a pencil to a point with the push of a button, replacing the hand-crank sharpener in most classrooms.”
Answering machine
“A cassette-based device that recorded phone messages while you were out, complete with a blinking light and a beep that meant someone had actually called.”