Toy marketed in 1967
Lite-Brite
A Lite-Brite (without black paper) spelling "Hello"
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Type
| Arts and Craft
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Inventor(s)
| Burt Meyer
[1]
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Company
| Hasbro
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Country
| USA
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Availability
| 1967?present
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Slogan
| "Lite-Brite, making things with light,
What a sight, making things with Lite-Brite!"
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Official website
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Lite-Brite
is a toy that was originally marketed in 1967. It consists of a light box with small colored plastic pegs that fit into a panel and illuminate to create a lit picture, by either using one of the included templates or creating a "freeform" image on a blank sheet of black paper.
[2]
History
[
edit
]
Lite-Brite was invented by Burt Meyer,
[1]
Dalia Verbickas,
[3]
and Joseph M. Burck at Chicago toy and game design company
Marvin Glass and Associates
, which licensed the invention to
Hasbro
. Meyer led the project, Verbikas posited the idea of using a translucent material to direct colored light, and Burck designed the toy itself. Lite-Brite was named one of the top 100 toys of all time by
Time
magazine
[4]
and was inducted to the
National Toy Hall of Fame
in 2022.
[5]
Description
[
edit
]
Lite-Brite allows the artist to create a glowing picture by punching multicolored
translucent
plastic
pegs through
opaque
black
paper
.
[6]
Using a standard
light bulb
, the light is blocked by the black paper except where the pegs conduct the light. When lit, the pegs have an appearance similar to that of
LEDs
.
There are eight peg colors: red, blue, orange, white (clear/colorless), green, yellow, pink, and violet (purple). In the event that pegs were lost or damaged, Hasbro provided refills and/or new colors.
[
citation needed
]
Because punching the pegs in punches out the letters, each sheet can be used only once. Color-by-letter templates were sold with the set so that children could create characters from licensed works including
Mickey Mouse
,
Scooby-Doo
,
My Little Pony
, and
Transformers
among others.
[
citation needed
]
Blank black sheets were also available for those who wanted to create their own image.
Changes
[
edit
]
Over the years, Lite-Brite was offered in different forms including a flat-screen version, Lite Brite touch version, a
3D
cube
,
[7]
and an FX edition that spins and plays music. The Lite-Brite LED Flat Screen currently sells at MSRP $10, comes in several colors, is LED lit, and is portable, running on three AA batteries.
[
needs update
]
The Lite-Brite 3D cube (called the Four-Share Cube) is a LED-lit four-sided cube that allowed children to play with friends or save three of their designs. The FX Edition is no longer on Hasbro's website. The website has SUN 'N NITE BRITE Sets priced at $10 MSRP and running on three AAA batteries.
[8]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Lite-Brite
.
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Intellectual
properties
currently
managed
by Hasbro
| | |
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Distributed
worldwide
by Hasbro
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Subsidiaries
and brands
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Other media
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Conventions
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See also
| |
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- 1
(U.S. and Canada)
- 2
(except Japan and parts of Asia)
- 3
(except U.S., UK, France and Germany)
- 4
(except Japan)
- 5
(except Japan and parts of Asia)
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