1990s

For some, they resulted in broken ankles, legs, wrists. For others, the glittery, metallic, neon-colored or stickered Skip-Its were the best way to spend several hours (or a few minutes, depending on how fast you wiped out). Popular in the early 90s, the engineering feat that is the Skip-It was a quality way to spend recess or time after school, waiting for the ice cream truck to come by.

Forget trying good grades in elementary school, the key to anyone’s real success was beating out your arch enemy in the number of Skip-It successes – how many times you could jump over it without dying. The built-in counter determined popularity and introduced kids to manipulating tactics like remembering old scores to increase their current play and ‘accidentally’ stepping on others’ Skip-Its.

There were the brave few who could run and skip, and for that, they received wide-spread playground acclaim. For others, this led to first experiences in the emergency room, complete with casts in colors even brighter than those donning the plastic genius that was the Skip-It.

akalliso@syr.edu