See my comments about Whizzers in the Toy's of the 80's section

what ever happened to 'whizzers' that were centrifugal force spinning tops with the hole in the top for the plastic pieces that would do tricks.(like walk on string highwire trick) the bottom was a steel point surrounded by tough white rubber that you generated speed by arc motion rubbing it on the ground? remember those cool things? 1969-72 era...cant find one. they were fun and real durable.

I had a collection of these things-they came in different colors. These were soooo cool. I don't know what happen to them, but I would love to have one now.

My friends and I would try to stack these on each other. Eventually though as I got older the sound of these would send chills up the spine, like fingernails on chalkboard. Perhaps I scraped my knuckles on the cement one too many times with this toy...

I still have a car that you can one in and the car race across the floor.

I had really long hair in the 70's. I had Whizzers and was playing with one when the tip touched the end of my hair. Quicker than you could say "Bob's your uncle" it spun from the end of my long hair and wound itself to my skull. Had to cut it out. Ahhh, yeah...good times :-)

Still have one of my whizzers and some of the pieces that came with it. Ruined a piano bench winding one up one time. Left a big curved slash in the wood. They came from a Woolworth's over here.

I agree, whizzers were too cool. I had a bunch and my mom threw them out as JUNK when I was at college. Anyone remember the ones they made that were like soda cans? I had a Coke, Pepsi and a Dr Pepper I believe.

The expression on your moms face was "priceless" when you spun one of those tops on here tile floor. And yes, hair and knuckles were the painful end to most of our playing with those things.

I still have my "Bonehead" whizzer from 1970 when I was 6,Johnny my son 8 plays with it.I did have to replace the tip from newer model.

Yeah, I had a purple & black one. I put a whole bunch of deep scratches in my mom's hardwood floor with the metal tip, trying to wind it up. Other than that one negative experience, I had lots of fun with it. It's probably in a box somewhere in one of my mini-storage units now.

ugh, Cherrie, I feel your pain!! I too had long hair but my experience was slightly different. My brother wanted to watch the Whizzer on top of someone's head (I was the youngest & was the guinea pig) surprise surprise .. that Whizzer spun the hair on top of my head right into the top mechanism & I too got a lop-job with a bald spot to match on top of my head!

I recently found an unopened Whizzer Super Competition Set in a house that I was remodeling. Box is marked 1970. I used to have several individuals but no idea what ever happened to them. Might consider selling this cool find. Heckowie@aol.com

I stupidly stuck one in my sisters long hair! oppps she still hasn't forgiven me :)

My cousin stuck one in my hair when I was a kid and my Dad had to cut it out :-(

My mother in law just brought over a bunch of the hubby's childhood toys. One being the a WHIZZER. Just got through telling my 7 year old daughter about getting it wound up in my hair and having to get it cut out. Then I find this sight and find that I wasn't the only one! I'm in great company!

Those were the days before they put warnings on everything. I too had one wound up in my hair, and scraped knuckles from using it on the driveway. Funny it never crossed our minds to sue the company.

Some of them had a hold in the top that you could place a nub of a pencil in. Then when you would spin the tip you could get the top to spin on the pencil point and it would make neat scribble designs. My mother used to get mad at me and my brothers for breaking off the pencils in the house so they would be just long enough to use in the Whizzer tops.

Cool toy. My nephew was playing with beyblades which is popular tops for today's kids. This made me research whizzers from my generation. I remember good times like using them to do skin burns to my little brother, battling tops in the concave dish, having the tops drop from high distance to the floor and still stay spinning. My mom saved a couPle of em. The rubber was brittle and dry and disintegrated when I tried to spin it.

A marketing rep from the Whizzer's company came around to our house in Simi Valley, CA in the 70's with some free Whizzer toys for us, with the only requirement to fill out a survey on how we liked the tops. We wore those toys out and had a good time with them

My older brother and I had a blast with these things! I was thinking of them the other day because I found a "Wheelo" (remember those? same era and we loved them, too!) and it brought back the Whizzer memories. Does anyone know where I can get a Whizzer? Even an updated version or a used one? My 4 year old is a top fanatic and has been dying to get her hands on one since I told her about the cool trick tops Mom played with when she was little. Thanks.

I think it was 1968 and a friend had a birthday party and there was about 30 kids from the neighborhood that showed up,..all with b-day presents for albert. my mom and i couldent stay long so alberts mom told him to open my present first so we could leave. he ripped the package open and saw the new whizzer i got him. smiles were abundant when he wound it up on the fireplace hearth a few times. i hollered across the room to albert to try to balance it on his head. nobody had seen that done so albert stuck the whizzer on his head and emmediatly started screaming and spinning clockwise. the wizzer went from mach 4 to a dead stop in like 2 seconds! the screaming continued for awile. we heard albert crying as my mom drove us away. im 52 years old and to this day my mom still believes i did that on purpose, ha!

Funnest part of Whizzers was the look on your mom's face after putting a bunch of curvy scrapes into the kitchen floor right after she buff-waxed it. Those WERE the days :)

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I have been searching for the name of these things for ages... at last..!! mine was bright yellow and green but wasn't round more sort of upside down geometric pear shape, there was also a small thing which fitted on the top so it could balance on a pencil or go along a piece of string..!!

Mattel's Whizzers were sort of like the Duncan Yo-Yo of spinning tops. Made starting in 1969, these had disappeared and reappeared into at least the 1990s. Various styles, color patterns and new accesories were introduced each year. I have an early TV commercial that aired on the "Sky Hawks" cartoon show (10/11/69), part of ABC's Super Saturday!

I am over 50 and I still have my awesome Wizzer (there is no 'h' on the name. I have had three kids and have had a lot of joy whooping their fancy Beyblade butts....lol. Mine is yellow and green and I hide it from the kids, who are kind of grown up now....but I guess I haven't. I would love to have another one, but I can't imagine that it would be made with such durable parts anymore.

To Roberta: If there are any high-volume antique dealers in your area, try them if you're seeking more Wizzer tops (especially the early ones from 1969 or '70). Also try Googling. There may be an online collectible toy dealer that sells them. Plenty of Wizzers were made, so they should be inexpensive. A loose top from 1970 should be about $10 to $15. In original box with instruction sheet, about $20 to $30.

Every time I think about these things I get a flashback to the horror of trying to spin one on top of my head. Glad to see I'm not the only moron.

Got one today as part of a showbag at a local carnival. The sellers were out of showbags with the Wizzers in them, but they wholeheartedly gave me their display copy, so that works all well in my books.

I just found mine today in the basement. What a quality toy this was, aside from the fact that it mauled so many long-haired girls and boys in the 60's and 70's.

Great memories! I had two Wizzers. After scratching the floors powering the things up, my dad went to the basement and brought up a leftover floor tile for me to use. I recall playing with the things a good bit.

I had 2 in the late 60s early 70s, fantastic fun ! My friend and I whizzed them to high speed and dared each other to get as close to our long hair with them as possible without getting it caught up, had to have them cut out a few times...good old days ! Simple toys but played with them for hours trying different tricks. I want one again.

still have one in the box

This was one of my favorite childhood toys! Mine was purple and yellow with flames...I had other ones but the purple one was the coolest looking one.I remember how the tip would get super hot if you ran it on the lino really fast...fun to torment the little brow with it...ah the good old days. I really want one again too!

From the 1970 J.C. Penney toy catalog: Several small play sets were offered. First, the Trick Tray Set (one Wizzer included) for $2.66. Second, the Twirlin' Twosome set (came with two Wizzers and some cheap, plastic components) for $1.98. Third, an unnamed game set (had better components, plus two Wizzers) for $3.66. Also, the customized Wizzers, two sets of three tops, each set was $3.44. Among these, the forementioned Bone-skull designer. Sets were named Custom Wizzer Whirlers.

Christmas 1970 me and my two brothers got them. Mine was little, black on the bottom and looked whitish on top but actually glowed in the dark. It came with stickers and I chose the skeleton head. One day I accidentally left it in my folks room, and my mom woke up, saw this little glowing skeleton head smirking at her and screamed so loudly the neighbors across the hall heard her!

I bought a red/white one from the Gemco store with my weekly allowance. It was fun to play with... until I discovered my dads stash of hard porn. Afterwards, I only would play with myself.

I have a hand full of original Wizzers. All of which have hard/cracked rubber tips. I have been unable to find a source of replacement rubber tips for these jewels. Can anybody offer any suggestions? Any information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, bjbls1@yahoo.com

Brent: Those rubber tips become brittle with age, and Wizzers went out of production over 40 years ago. If there is a machine shop in your area, ask if they can make tips. Show them one, or get the dimensions for a prototype. If it can't be made from rubber, try vinyl or another material, such as nylon, PVC or a rubber-like plastic. Nothing of this sort should be impossible. Unfortunately, Mattel has no spare parts department for obsolete toys. Good luck!

Never put Wizzers in hair.

Every year for Easter, my brothers and I got one of these in our baskets! We were always so excited to get them and our silly putty. I wish the toys from back then, I'm 59 now, we're a part of today's kids life. Electronics unfortunately took over the great toys like these tops!

I just spent 3 hours on the internet looking for these because my husband and I couldn't remember what they were called. Just bought 5 of them from Amazon for my 6yo grandson. I'm so excited I can't wait for them to come.

another company has started making them again https://superimpulse.com/wiz-z-zer/

I have two - a Pepsi and a Hawiian Punch Whizzzer. Anyone interested? overholt4@hotmail.com

My brother and I would battle with our Wizzers and have marks all over the floor. We'd spend hours with those things. I played with mine so much that the rubber tip wore off. What did I do? I had my mom take me to Toys R Us and I bought another one with my allowance. I miss those days...