I loved those things, spent hours building the models on the sheets that would come with the set of Tinker Toys, my favorite being the oil rigs. Tinker Toy used to have a contest for coming up with a different design using their toys. The winner got like a $1000 savings bond. In 1970 my folks submitted an idea in my name for a unicycle. Although I technically didn't come up with the idea, my kid brother put the basics together, my mom finished it off, and they sent it in like I said in my name since they were my Tinker Toys. Ended up being the "winner" from my state for that year and got a plaque in the mail for that. Was a minor celeb for a short time. I've always wondered though if anybody that sent in a design was considered a winner and we all got plaques, I don't know, I've never run into anybody else that ever got this kind or award, so maybe it was really a big thing back then. :)

The roots of Tinker Toys goes back to 1914, named after one of the company co-founders, Gordon Tinker. Consisting of all-wood pieces early on, Tinker Toys served as a replacement for metal toys during both World Wars. In 1964, Tinker Zoo, a set with flexible plastic pieces for making toy animals, was introduced. Despite limiting its marketing/advertising strategies, Tinker Toys, now owned by K'Nex, celebrates 100 years of success.