All language subtitles for Modern.Marvels.S22E01.Classic.Toys.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP.2.0.H.264-GNOME_track3_[eng]

Classic toys
like electric trains,

squishy colorful Play-Doh,
the pinball machine,

or even a Slinky are the kinds of toys

that stand the test of time.

It all evokes nostalgia and
memories of a simpler time

and are impervious to trends.

Last year, Americans spent
more than $25 billion on toys.

Toys are beacons of our childhood,

and that's why full grown
adults will spend

a whole lot of time

and even more money

trying to purchase a piece of their youth.

-I got my doll!

-Some of the most iconic
toy brands have been

in business for decades.

And today we've got all access passes

to one of the most iconic toys,

Play-Doh.

What is it really made out of?

And how do they make 108,000 cans

of colorful sweet-smelling
Play-Doh per day?

Plus, we'll see how a
plastic manufacturer prepares

classic toy soldiers for battle.

We'll also get an inside
look at pinball machines

and discover why they were once banned

in cities across America.

But all work and no play
make Adam a dull boy.

Today, I want to have some fun.

This is "Modern Marvels: Classic Toys."

Here at the Cartamundi Factory

in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts,

they're making something so special

that just mention its
name anywhere in the world

and someone is sure to crack a smile.

Play-Doh!

That crack and pop when
you open the canister,

that distinctive smell.

Oh man, even through the mask.

You can use it to make
a beautiful work of art

or a beautiful mess.

Believe it or not, Play-Doh
was actually in our homes

for decades before it was
ever seen as a play thing.

-So in 1933, Play-Doh
was actually developed

to be a wallpaper cleaner.

And then over the years,

the wallpaper technology changed so much

that Play-Doh was really not required

to be a wallpaper cleaner.

By 1956, Joseph
McVicker had re-imagined

the pliable cleaning substance.

-Thanks to his sister-in-law,

Kay Zufall who's a school teacher,

actually took Play-Doh to her classroom

and she was amazed with the way
children were using Play-Doh

and expressing their creativity.

And that's really how Play-Doh transformed

to being a toy that it is today.

-As of 2021,

the year that Play-Doh
celebrates its 65th anniversary,

they have sold 4.5 billion cans.

Last year alone, they shipped
the same weight in product

as the Statue of Liberty and
the Eiffel Tower combined.

We love it, we're familiar
with it, but what's in it?

How do they make Play-Doh?

Hey, Jeremy?

I got to tell you, I love the smell.

You walk into this room

and you're immediately
transported into your childhood.

-Yeah.

How many cans

of Play-Doh are you selling per year?

We're doing about
25 million cans per year,

108,000 cans per day.

And about 290 cans per minute.

That's crazy amounts that
we're doing right here.

-I'm trying to wrap
my head around this.

Look at this.

It's like if there was a
little Play-Doh village

and this is where they
all boarded the train.

Jeremy, please unlock the
secrets of my childhood.

Tell me how they make Play-Doh, please.

-First, we want to put
everything into the mixer

and we do that right here.

We have silos outside and we
get deliveries once a week

and we run about 10,000 pounds a day.

Just like any dough,

Play-Doh has dry and wet ingredients

that are fed through separate channels

down into a mixing chamber.

The ingredients are deployed

not only in specific measurements,

but in a specific sequence.

The order of deployment
is designed to ensure

that every ingredient
is distributed evenly

within the mixer.

And mixing up the secret formula

for today's batch is operator Troy.

-First step is flour
here, in our hopper.

Now, The flour going down.

it's all going down, we
use 615 pounds per batch.

-How many batches are you
going through in a day?

-We do about 18 batches a
day, about a ton and a half-

- Of flour?
- Yes.

-That much flour could make more

than 5,000 average batches of cookies,

which would amount to
more than 300,000 cookies.

Once the hopper empties all
of the flour into the mixer,

it's time to add the other ingredients.

That's incredible.

Is that suction?
- Yeah.

-I need those for
soil in my garden.

While Play-Doh is certified non-toxic,

it also contains chemical preservatives

and a high dose of salt.

It isn't intended to be eaten,

but it is still a wheat based dough

of infinite creativity waiting to happen.

Among the dry ingredients that are added

into the mixer are
cornstarch, dry pigment,

two types of salt, and some
top secret preservatives.

And some of the key wet
ingredients include

liquid pigment, hot water, and of course,

the element that takes us
back to our childhoods.

-This is the ingredient
that every child loves it.

Once they open it up, you
know, the can of Play-Doh,

this is what they smell here.

-That's it.

Wait, wait, wait one second.

Oh, it smells delightful.

Wait, is that little
tiny cup of fragrance?

-Yep, gives you all
the smell you need.

Beautiful, isn't it?

-That's crazy.

This sweet, flowery,
vanilla-like fragrance

has slight overtones of cherry

and the natural smell
of a wheat based dough.

And it's added purely for fragrance

because that is what helps identify

and distinguish the iconic Play-Doh.

Now the dough is ready to be mixed.

-I'm going to start back.

Now it's coming down for 15 minutes.

-15 minutes and Play-Doh is
gonna pop out on that line?

-Yes.

No way!

What do you think it is about Play-Doh

that makes it so timeless?

-I think it's that
it's adaptable.

It's up to your creativity
to do what you want with it.

If it's up for the kids to
make up their own mind with it.

Play-Doh isn't alone

in inspiring kids to
use their imagination.

There is another classic
toy that allows us

to build whatever we imagine,

from cherished monuments to entire cities,

one block at a time.

-Lego got started
in the early 1900s

in a carpentry and woodworking shop

owned by Ole Kirk Christiansen.

Christiansen named his company

by shortening the Danish phrase Leg godt,

which means play well.

When he finally
got a hold of plastics,

he realized that he could
mold them into shapes.

-And then in 1946,

he bought his first
injection molding machine.

By 1958, the first Lego
bricks were released.

And all these years later,

the original 1958 Lego bricks will connect

to any of the bricks that are made today.

That accuracy
in manufacturing is

what makes Lego one of the
most classic toys ever.

It also means they can be handed down

from generation to generation.

-Between 1958 and 2008,

they made 400 billion bricks of Lego,

which means 10 people can
actually make Lego towers

that are 40 billion pieces
from here to the moon.

Legos recently
released their largest set

to date, the Lego Art World Map.

With over 11,600 pieces,

it's 2,500 more pieces

than their previously largest
set, the Architect Colosseum.

One of the largest Lego
structures ever built is

a full scale Legos Star
Wars X-Wing Fighter model.

It took 32 builders more than 17,000 hours

to put together over
five million Lego bricks.

That's close to two years.

This life-sized replica
is 42 times the size

and weighs than 45,000 pounds.

That's more than some
actual fighter jets weigh.

From Lego roller coaster
sets to Lego space shuttles,

there is an entire universe to re-imagine.

And there's another classic
toy that can make us believe

we are our own heroes of the battlefield.

Little plastic soldiers have
existed since the late 1930s

and allowed kids to feel

like they were their
own World War II heroes,

defeating the enemy

and conquering make-believe battlefields.

-I'm Jeff Imel and I'm
the president of BMC Toys.

We make new toys from old molds

and bring them to a whole
new generation to enjoy.

Little green army men were inducted

into the National Toy
Hall of Fame in 2014.

If you say little green army men,

everybody knows what you're talking about.

It's just become a
ubiquitous part of childhood

and our pop culture.

In the 1990s,

BMC Toys acquired molds
from the 50s and 60s

to produce these historic
plastic army sets.

BMC Toys then teamed up
with Northeast Plastics

to operate the mid century molds.

-Everything that you're
seeing on the shelf right now

is going to be original
dyes made for army figures,

vehicles, things of that nature

from the 50s, 60s, and
a little bit of the 70s.

The molds are owned by BMC Toys.

They have over 70 molds with us currently.

And it's still here, living
and breathing and functioning,

is pretty impressive, you know.

They were making stuff back then

that really stood the test of time.

This is the injection molding departments.

This is where we're
manufacturing the plastic parts.

We run over 70 molds of
different army configurations,

20, 30,000 shots of this a year.

But those molds
from the mid century

never included plastic army women.

That is, until Jeff Imel and
BMC Toys decided to do it

in 2020.

-Soon after I began
selling plastic army men,

I got a letter from a little girl saying,

"Hey, why don't we make girl army men?"

-About 18 months later,

BMC Toys released a
new line of army women,

featuring a female captain

holding a handgun and binoculars,

a kneeling female soldier
calling in an airstrike,

among 30 other poses.

They come in three colors,
classic army green,

tan, and pink.

Classic toys, like
little plastic soldiers,

are not gender specific or era specific.

Every new generation of
kids inspires a love

of classic toys.

Some are so popular, they
have their very own day,

like Play-Doh.

Every year on September 16th,

Americans celebrate this classic toy

that has reportedly sold
upwards of four billion cans

since its debut in 1956.

And we're at their
manufacturing facilities

in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

They're cranking out the colorful dough

to keep up with the continued demand.

All right, how does it go from being made

to coming to our store?

-So shortly, it's going to
be coming through our mixer

out onto this first conveyor.

That's where our quality
assurance comes into effect.

And they're going to take
the temperature on that,

make sure we're hitting the right marks.

-What is the ideal temperature
for freshly mixed Play-Doh?

-It's warmer than your
average hot shower.

-Why?

-The mixer doesn't bake it,

it's the hot water that makes
it go through the process

to turn it into dough.

-So it's residual heat
from the hot water.

-Yeah.

Got it.

So as you can see here,

you can see the batch of dough,

the bright blue that we mixed.

-And it's steaming,

I can see the smoke coming off of it.

-Yeah, and that's going to
go into our first hopper,

which is our sheeter.

That's where we want to
get that steam out of there

and that heat.

The sheeter
takes clumps of dough

coming from the mixer and thins them out

into one inch thick sheets
to help cool them down.

Yeah, the sheet's going in the funnel.

Then what?

-That's an extruder,

so that's going to push the dough through.

It's kind of like a little wheel in there.

Think of like a mill on the river,

turning and bringing the water around.

So it pushes it through
and then a knife cuts it

and it turns into a
little four ounce slug.

Those four
ounce chunks of Play-Doh,

a perfect amount for
young imaginative hands,

then need to be canned.

-So that's where all
our cups are going

to meet the dough right now.

-Amazing, amazing.

Now we're meeting the cans, the dough,

and the lid to make
that full can of dough.

But the lids are loaded by hand, right?

Yep.

-So if you take
some Play-Doh home

and it's not getting
everywhere and you put it away,

that lid, courtesy of Gavin.

So thank him, America.

-Do it.

And for taking this selfie,
he gave me a surprise gift.

It's still warm.

It's still warm!

It almost makes it more,
more gooey and pliable.

That is amazing.

This was flour and pigment and salt

and cornstarch just moments
ago, right up there with Troy,

and now I can do anything with it.

Once they're filled and capped,

these cans of Play-Doh magic
are sent through machines

that check that they each
weigh the standard four ounces

and that they don't contain any metal.

Cans are set onto a pallet

and need to wait 24 hours
to undergo another QC check

to make sure they're chemically stable

and meet the food grade nontoxic standard.

After that, it's time to
divide the cans into sleeves,

joining various color
varieties into an assortment

of bold and vibrant colors.

-Once we have all
three of those sleeves,

we have a couple of robots,

we call them the Three
Stooges, Larry, Curly, and Moe.

These Stooges are no joke.

Larry and Curly work to pick
up the sleeves of Play-Doh

and place them on the
conveyor to feed Moe,

who puts them into cartons.

When we first started,

it felt like they were knocking heads

and that's why we started joking

about having the Three Stooges.

They're acting up all the time.

-I love it.

In recent years, Play-Doh
sales are reported

to have increased 20% per year.

To meet that rising demand,

there are several Play-Doh
factories around the globe.

At this factory, one batch

of their average 108,000 cans a day

have now been packed

and are ready to ship to retail stores.

But not all the Play-Doh made
here ends up with consumers.

Misfit chunks that don't
meet Hasbro's standards

are tossed out and you'll
never guess their fate.

No, what?

So now why is this in here?

-Well, so this one was
from our weigh scale.

This one was probably only
2 1/2, maybe three ounces,

so it didn't hit our specifications.

So we can't go and just
put that back in the hopper

and re-run that.

Right.

-We go to a renewables company

and they'll create
renewable energy from it.

- Is that right?
- Yup.

Looking down at this glorious,
colorful mass of Play-Doh,

there's one thing I must
do before I say goodbye.

I'm glad I didn't wear a watch today.

This is every bit as awesome
as I thought it would be!

Yes.

Oh.

-Like a kid in a candy shop.

-Just one souvenir.

-We'll get you a bucket to go.

- That's all I need.
- Yeah?

-Classic toys like
Play-Doh are blank canvases

for the imagination to create
infinite possibilities.

But some classic toys
have only one objective,

to score big.

The pinball machine.

Over the last decade or so,

interest in this classic
toy has skyrocketed

with a growing number of players
and competitions worldwide.

And while the demand rises,

there is still only one manufacturer

that stands high above the rest.

Now, while versions of
pinball have existed

since Ulysses S. Grant was
President in the 1870s,

today Stern is the world's
oldest and largest manufacturer

of arcade quality pinball machines.

And in recent years,

Stern's revenue has seen year
over year growth of up to 40%.

Here at their 110,000
square foot facility,

they do it all, from designing the game

to play testing the final product.

Each of these machines is a work of art.

So to find out how they've managed

to marry cutting-edge technology
with nostalgia and fun,

I'm going to talk to the
founder and CEO himself,

Gary Stern, to find out
how they have become

the pinball wizards.

-My father started
as a game operator

in the 30s in Philadelphia, and
in 1947, he came to Chicago.

For four decades,

the Stern family worked with
another famous pinball maker,

the Williams Company.

And in 1986, Stern branched
off into their own company,

which Gary continues to run to this day.

-Pinball machines became
extremely popular in the 1930s.

-The pinball machines
were being made in Chicago.

About 140 different companies
were manufacturing these

and they eventually got associated with

the Chicago Mafia.

Part of the issue was that
they'd spit out payouts

for the highest scoring players,

and so it was considered gambling.

-In the 1940s in the US,
people started to be worried

about children playing pinball.

And Fiorello LaGuardia
in New York declaimed

against the robbing of
schoolchildren's' pocket money

that should be used for buying
lunch was going to pinball,

so they were banned.

The bans on
pinball didn't stop people

from playing.

Much like prohibition,

speakeasy type play areas
were established underground

for pinball to continue.

-The ban that kept pinball
machines underground

was finally lifted in 1976
when an expert pinballer

by the name of Roger Sharp,

in front of the entire
New York City Council,

Sharp pulled the plunger
on a pinball machine

and pointed down the middle lane.

He said that because
there was skill involved,

he knew that he could get the ball

to go down the middle lane.

-He hit it on the first time

and after that it was a six-O vote

and pinball machines were legal again.

-So that's really
the one pinball game

that made the industry possible today.

And long after that saving,

the demand for this classic
toy continues to rise.

New machines from Stern can run a tab

between four and $10,000.

They're using some of
the latest technology

to keep the fun of this classic toy

both challenging and nostalgic.

To make a pinball machine,
Stern starts here,

with a piece of wood, the play field.

Stern veteran Kenny will
show us how it's done.

-Basically we start with a
two by four piece of plywood.

We take it over to our CNC machines

that are, you know, programmed,
and this is the output.

-So this thing makes every cut

that will be on the
play field in one pass?

-Your ramps, your ball guides,

light fixtures, or your inserts.

My holes are off a little
bit, it's never gonna work.

-I see, so you have to treat
these two by four pieces

of plywood with the utmost precision.

-Absolutely.

If the slightest
angle or hole is off

during this process, the
entire gameplay experience

and assembly could be compromised.

After a board has been
precisely cut and sanded smooth,

the inserts are installed.

These are the colored
coverings that illuminate

once the lights have been
connected under the board.

-This is a play field
that we routed over there,

cleaned up all smooth
and ready to be inserted.

These here are the inserts that we use.

-Well, those orange and those
red look virtually the same.

How do you tell which is which?

-Actually they use a light
table that we have over here

for inspecting the boards.

Wow.

These color inserts are
what flash and light up,

hinting to the player where
to aim and how to score big.

But the flashing lights are also the thing

that attract a person to insert the coin.

But not all classic toys
require flashing lights

to be entertaining.

Some are just as amusing
and just as classic

using only one long metal wire.

Classic toys
often do not need batteries

or bells and whistles to
tantalize young or old minds.

In fact, there's one
toy that has been around

for over 75 years with
over 300 million sold.

And it's only made up of one part.

-This is where we
make the Slinky,

along with the Shrinky
Dinks, and the spinwheels.

We still use some of the older equipment

we used back in 1945.

Let me show you around.

This is our spool of wire.

They put 1,600 pounds on a spool,

which makes approximately 3,200 Slinkys.

At Slinky's sole
manufacturing facility,

they're making approximately
25 to 30,000 Slinkys daily.

-The yearly production
is probably close

to around two million.

After we set the spool in place,

the wire's fed up through the machine

and then right through the straightener.

Then it goes up to the flattening mill,

which is where the magic happens

and that's where we give it its coil.

-There's a lot of classic toys

that were born completely by accident.

Slinky is one of them.

-Richard James was in the Navy

and he had springs on a table,

which were designed to keep
equipment from breaking.

Well, one of those
springs fell off the table

and then it just like
dropped down onto a book

and then onto the floor.

And he thought, that's pretty amazing.

By the 1945 holiday season,

Slinky was introduced at
Gimbels department store.

-When it debuted at the

department store in Philadelphia,

it was a huge hit.

They sold 400 units,

every one they had in
less than 90 minutes.

Back then, a Slinky cost $1,

about $14 in today's value.

-This is where the
Slinky gets cut here

into a specific length.

It comes down the strip.

Then the operators put the crimp on it.

The cramp is there for safety reasons.

Once an hour, we pull
Slinkys off the belt,

and then we make sure it stands up

and we check the crimp to make
sure the crimps are tight.

You stretch it out, it's
about eight feet long

and there's 81 feet of wire here.

We have to make sure we hear
the sound of the Slinky.

Every hour,

approximately 1,500 Slinkys
travel down this conveyor belt

to be boxed.

That means every 2.4 seconds,
a Slinky slides into its box.

Along with the classic Slinky,

they also produce the Giant
Slinky, which is 30% longer,

the Junior Slinky, which is
25% the size of the classic,

and the neon multicolored Slinky.

They also make that familiar happy face.

-This is Slink.

He's the dog we have in Toy Story.

After his debut, Slink became very popular

and sales went into the millions.

I think the biggest draw
towards the Slinky is

it's just an interesting toy.

That was a good one.

While this
classic toy maker uses

tens of thousands of
miles of wire per year,

the classic pinball machine is jam packed

with a quarter of a mile worth of wire,

hidden underneath each of the
artfully designed play fields.

What are these called?

It's a harness of cables.

A harness of cables.

-Yeah, it's roughly 30
to 50 of these per game.

-Is each bundle, each harness,
is that for a specific game

or can they be used interchangeably?

No, they're specific games.

-So each time you
develop a new game,

this whole process starts all over again.

- Oh, yeah.
- Oh my gosh.

-Anywhere from three
to 500 lines of wire.

So this particular is a work instructions

for the Avengers back panel.

This is where you start.

And then the numbers correspond

to everything on the board over here.

So it says start at
one, which is over here.

So we got the blue and white over here.

- Can I give it a shot?
- Yep.

So we've got terminals
two, three, and four.

-So it means it has to
at least make it around.

-Yes, spin it a couple
of times so it stays

and that's good, like two, three times.

And so we have to go to two,

then bring it back down, go
to three, bring it back down.

After that, you can use a zip tie gun,

we zip tie the cables
together, cut the cables,

and we're good to go.

By using some of
the latest technologies

and wiring systems, Stern has been able

to enhance their machines with
increasingly more features,

like LCD displays, LED
lighting, and new challenges.

But some classic toys
are just as entertaining,

requiring not much more than two disks

and a string wrapped around an axle.

-Some of the oldest
toys in history

happens to be the yo-yo.

It's the only toy I know of
that dates to 500 years BC.

Fast forward to the 1700s,

we have King Louie pictured

playing with a yo-yo.

-The yo-yo of today
was brought to the US

by a Filipino immigrant
in the 20s, Pedro Flores.

And he was hand carving these things.

-He started peddling
his handmade yo-yos

to the kids around the Los Angeles area

and the goal was, is
to get his own factory.

And he sold enough yo-yos to the kids

to where he got his factory.

And within one year, he was producing

300,000 yo-yos a day.

And it drew the attention
of Donald Duncan.

And so Donald Duncan of
the Duncan Toys Company

ended up purchasing the rights to yo-yo.

I mean, back in the day, you
know, walking the dog was fun,

but I mean, these guys
put five on a single hand.

So, you know, it just goes to show you

the imagination that we have,

and that really relates to the fact

that toys can really help us learn

and we can have fun at the same time.

Classic toys conjure the wistfulness

of some of the happiest days of life.

But a celebration of classic
toys wouldn't be complete

without the one that sells
100 units every minute

and more than 55 million per year.

Whether you own one yourself

or just practice experimental make-overs

on one of these models,

Barbie is a legend created by
one of the founders of Mattel.

-So, the founder of
Barbie is Ruth Handler

and Ruth was inspired by
her daughter, Barbara.

She watched her daughter
play with paper dolls

and imagined that there
would be a more inspirational

or aspirational way for her

to imagine a world of possibilities.

And in 1959, Barbie was born.

Barbie was an instant hit,

selling more than 300,000
dolls in the first year.

The first dolls cost $3 each
and clothes cost one to five,

but Barbie of today has come a long way

from the Barbie of 1959.

Over the years, Barbie has
held more than 200 occupations.

-Barbie has evolved
over the years

the way women have evolved over the years.

She's always a perfect
reflection of what's happening

in the time that she's living.

With over 24 different ethnicities,

multiple different
hairstyles, body shapes,

and providing choice for
girls and boys to play

and inspire and imagine
a world of possibilities.

As Barbie continues to endure,

there's another classic toy
maker that's just as persistent,

advancing the thrills and
delights of the play field,

Stern Pinball.

Before the toys and parts can be assembled

onto a play field, they're
inspected here by Andrew

and the quality assurance team

to ensure each one brings the wow factor

that is unique to pinball.

-So this is one of those
3,500 parts that we inspect

for every single game.

-I just recognized this guy.

This is from the Jurassic Park game.

-This is.

So what we're going to look
for is cosmetic damage.

And you know, if it's
missing paint on the teeth,

that's something that people would notice.

-I never even
thought about that.

-And it's the same idea is
with these spaceships back here,

if one of the wings is a different shade,

then it's just going to
look weird on the game.

-Are you kidding?

-I can say that
when you're playing

and you notice a little
difference in color,

you never unnotice that.

So the last thing that
we want is for someone

to buy a machine from us
and see that little scratch.

Then every time they go back to play,

they can't focus on anything else,

even though there are flashing lights.

It's these
parts that peak curiosity

and draw people to put the quarter in.

These details are important

because Stern isn't only
focusing on making machines

to be housed in dark arcades.

They're manufacturing machines
for personal consumption too,

which reportedly
encompasses an estimated 45%

of all pinball machine sales
in the last two decades.

Stern Pinball manufactures
three to seven new titles

or themes of machines annually.

With each new line design,

they're using the newest
technological advances

to incorporate new
features and challenges.

In order for any of these things to work,

every component needs to be
executed exactly as designed,

down to the smallest of holes

where the wires and
parts will be attached.

Once a play field is
dressed with its graphics,

additional holes are
pressed where all the wires

and attachments will be connected.

-Ready to press?

- Let's press this guy.
- Let's press this guy.

-Go for it.

-And then you have to remove it.

-Oh, but now I see
these little tiny holes.

And that's the guide hole
for different screws and?

-Yeah.

After the press,

we're going to have to
drill every single one.

-The attention to detail has
to now happen on both sides

for it to finally come
together as a machine.

Once the connecting
holes have been drilled

into the play field, it's moved here,

where the computer systems

and electronic wirings are attached.

I never in a million years thought this is

what the underside of a
pinball machine looked like.

This complex entanglement
of three to 500 wires

is hidden beneath the play field,

but so exact that game
play can be seamless.

With 15 different themes
in Stern's current lineup,

Javier and the assembly team
are up against the demands

of cranking out thousands
of machines per year

with exacting accuracy

so the player can focus on
the challenges of the game

and scoring big.

Now that the play field has been confirmed

to operate as designed,

these pinball machines await
the gleeful challengers

hoping for high scores.

Across 30 countries and
in every American state,

there are reportedly some
6,000 tournament style

pinball competitions held every year.

Classic toys are the ones

that can withstand the test of time

and the rough and tumble of
childhood's raucous good times.

And there's one classic toy

that has withstood 12
decades continuously,

taking a child's and adult's
wonder to far off places.

Toy trains got their
start in Europe in 1860,

but Lionel's realistic model
trains caught the eyes of

consumers and set them apart
from other toy train makers.

The original Lionel train was
made to showcase batteries

in a window display,
but it awed the public

and became the focus.

With the public demanding
this new high tech train

for their homes,

the Lionel Manufacturing
Company was founded

to meet the demand for this new toy.

-You think about controlling
an electric toy train

in a home in 1900, when many
homes didn't have electricity.

That was highly innovative.

The company
experienced rapid growth

over the decades and by the 1950s,

Lionel was the largest toy
train manufacturer in the world.

In subsequent decades,

with the rise of
computers and video games,

Lionel is working to
integrate today's technology

with their toy trains.

-One of the big things
we've done is put Bluetooth

in every single locomotive.

So now you can run your
locomotive with your phone.

-Go forward.

You're now playing the role of conductor.

All aboard.

All aboard.

As you're a child playing on
the floor with your toy train,

you're not in the living room anymore.

You're climbing the mountains.

You're going into grand central station.

You're picking up people
and dropping off freight.

-It's truly innovative

when you think about
where this all started

back 120 years ago.

To this day,

there are still millions
of train enthusiasts.

In fact, Neil Young is such
a big fan of model trains

that he was once part
owner of Lionel Trains.

And Rod Stewart's model train wouldn't fit

in most living rooms.

His set up includes

an elaborately designed
23 by 120 foot layout

that'll take you back to the
1940s cityscapes of Chicago

to New York.

Back at Stern,

I've been taken into a
different world of play

with a different classic toy.

Now that we've seen a pinball
machine come together,

it's time I step up to the play field

to see if I can meet the challenge.

In a competitive battle
for the highest score,

who will reign supreme?

I, Adam Richman, or one Gary Stern,

owner of one of the most
impactful pinball manufacturers

in the world?

-We're going to play for beer.

It'll be great.

I'm twice your age.

-And your name
is on the machine.

This is your, you build them.

What are you saying, twice my age?

You're Gary Stern!

I mean, come on.

-Player one, you're up.

It says it right there.

-Yeah, just...

This is embarrassing.

In the last decade or so,

interest in pinball has skyrocketed.

And while Stern's ratio of personal sales

have reportedly increased from
35 to 60% over three years,

most buyers still prefer the
coin operation feature anyway.

-Oh, I'm getting, I'm
being hustled here.

In search of that authentic

and classic pinball experience.

-You're taking
advantage of an old man.

Okay.

Now the pressure's on
because I'm old and slow.

It's been a while since I've
played this game, let's see.

Oh, I can't see a thing.

The force is strong with this one.

The key to pinball is

controlling the metal ball

that weighs almost half
as much as a baseball

against a complex backdrop of obstacles.

-Oh, I didn't pay attention.

I almost missed that.

-Yeah, you didn't pay attention,

you only got a million points that ball.

But to master this craft

of juggling a chaotically
careening ball is

to thoroughly enjoy the
catching, the aiming,

the scoring, and ultimately
the glory of endless fun.

Oh no, no!

Just passed me, I can't believe it.

Look at this score!

To play with this toy is
to drift into nostalgia

that can only be created by classic toys.

Oh my God, it is as close as close can be.

I had 7.4 million, he had 7.7.

-Well, thank you very
much for the game.

-Honestly, thank you.

-And the beer that
I'm about to have.

-Yes, exactly.

If I'm going to be beaten by anybody,

let it be by one of the greats.

Much like these exquisite
pinball machines themselves,

underneath the glittering,
colorful, fantastical exterior

of any toy lays a whole lot
of intricate technology,

incredible engineering, and
a whole lot of hard work done

by a whole lot of hardworking people.

Like the toy engineers at Lionel Trains,

who are using the
advancements of our generation

to take a 120 year old
classic into the 21st century.

Or the collaborative
teamup between BMC Toys

and Northeast Plastics,

who are finding new ways
to adapt vintage mechanics

so that boys and girls
alike can enjoy recreating

their own stories of heroism.

And like the makers of Slinky,

who are continually
re-imagining a coil spring

to give it personality and life.

Sure, we all know the
value of working hard

and handling our responsibilities,

but it's the stuff that makes us smile

that makes the living worthwhile.

So go out today, make
some time to go play.

As for me, I'm going
to go buy Gary a beer.