Apart from my own siblings, I have been unable to find anyone who recalls my family's two favourite toys. We spent hours fiddling with the "Baffle Ball", a clear plastic ball containing a small black ball and 8 numbered cups. The object was to flick the little ball into each cup. Unfortunately the thing was dropped so many times that eventually there was more glue than plastic. My brother was the Baffle Ball king.
The other favourite was "Tug-a-Bug" which consisted of a square cage with an opening on each side and a "bug" made of plastic but looked like it had been manufactured by Meccano - holes all over it. Four players, each armed with a long hook, tried to get the bug out of the hole on their side of the cage. It usually ended with one or more of us helpless with laughter, long before the target of "10 bug extractions"! I even wrote to Parker Bros when all four hooks and the bug finally gave up the ghost, but the game had been discontinued.
By the way, I love the new look "broadsheet" style for the Bazaar Times.
Yours faithfully,
Miss Lorrie Crofts
