Chapter 1 A Whole New Ball Game Playing ball indoors can lead to broken lamps and upset parents But not with Nerf balls Nerf balls are designed to be played with indoors They are made of soft lightweight material This makes them safer for indoor play than heavier harder balls Nerf balls were invented by Reyn Guyer in 1968 Guyer was born in 1935 in St Paul Minnesota He was inventive from a young age At 12 years old Guyer modified the board game Monopoly He drew new paths in marker across the board This created new possibilities for players After high school Guyer studied English at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire Two weeks after graduating he married a g young woman named Mary y The Guyers had their first T child in 1958 c 4
Reyn Guyer says his Nerf balls broke the common parental rule of no throwing balls in the house Guyer returned to Minnesota after college and worked for his father Guyer’s father owned Reynolds Guyer Agency of Design The company provided marketing services to a variety of companies Guyer respected his father’s work But he dreamed of creating his own toys and games In time he would do just that In fact his Nerf ball would change indoor play forever 5
Chapter 2 A Twist of Fate Today Guyer is known for inventing Nerf balls But he also helped invent the popular game Twister In 1965 Guyer was working with his father Their client SC Johnson wanted help promoting its shoe polish Guyer had an idea The idea was that customers who bought the shoe polish could receive a game All they had to do was mail the company one dollar and a box top from the shoe polish package Now the Guyers just needed to create a game Guyer worked with a salesman named Chuck Foley and an artist named Neil Rabens Together the men developed a game that used people’s feet This was so the game would remind players of the shoe polish Twister was born 6 A Twister spinner
Twister was originally called Pretzel Milton Bradley changed the name before the game was released Twister turned people into game pieces Players had to place their hands and feet on certain areas of a giant game board Guyer pitched Twister to toy company Milton Bradley but many there were skeptical Twister broke social rules about personal space Its players ended up in very close contact But Milton Bradley eventually accepted Twister and released it in 1966 Players loved the game and it became very popular Guyer believed Twister was successful because it pushed boundaries He realized he wanted to take more risks with games Guyer wanted to dedicate all his time to making toys In 1968 he stopped working for his father Guyer started his own business called Winsor Concepts 7
