Recently this little mystery rolled into our shop and while it has all the hallmarks of a classic 90s toy (package design, font choice, colors, actually mentioning the 90s..., etc.) this is not something either of us was familiar with.
And though we are well-versed in many toys and brands from around this period, to the point where we can tell a toy's era just based on feel of plastic or design choices, it's not uncommon for us to be introduced to something neither of us has ever seen before.
But Gutt-Ball is something new, for you see - there was virtually no information online about this product, or it's manufacturer; 'Toys, By George!'. Which, as of this writing, is quite odd for any item of this time period. Even the most obscure toy has devoted followers who have, at some point, posted about their beloved toy line on the internet with photos and at least a brief description or look into the toy's history.
You would think with the box present, and the company info listed, that this would at least lead to a very small Wikipedia page about this company. Usually you'd find the Wikipedia page for a small toy company like this and you'd see that they actually made some other very famous toy that you didn't realize was also made by the makers of 'Gutt-Ball' and that company was later bought out by a slightly larger company, only to eventually be bought out by Hasbro or Mattel at some point in the late 90s / early 2000s.
But nope. No mention of 'Toys, By George!' exists online, until now. So welcome, weary traveler; for you have found this refuge of confusion on your journey to locate more information about Gutt-Ball and it's maker. You at least have this to look at.
So let's dive in a little more and speculate about Gutt-Ball and Toys By George!.
And though we are well-versed in many toys and brands from around this period, to the point where we can tell a toy's era just based on feel of plastic or design choices, it's not uncommon for us to be introduced to something neither of us has ever seen before.
But Gutt-Ball is something new, for you see - there was virtually no information online about this product, or it's manufacturer; 'Toys, By George!'. Which, as of this writing, is quite odd for any item of this time period. Even the most obscure toy has devoted followers who have, at some point, posted about their beloved toy line on the internet with photos and at least a brief description or look into the toy's history.
You would think with the box present, and the company info listed, that this would at least lead to a very small Wikipedia page about this company. Usually you'd find the Wikipedia page for a small toy company like this and you'd see that they actually made some other very famous toy that you didn't realize was also made by the makers of 'Gutt-Ball' and that company was later bought out by a slightly larger company, only to eventually be bought out by Hasbro or Mattel at some point in the late 90s / early 2000s.
But nope. No mention of 'Toys, By George!' exists online, until now. So welcome, weary traveler; for you have found this refuge of confusion on your journey to locate more information about Gutt-Ball and it's maker. You at least have this to look at.
So let's dive in a little more and speculate about Gutt-Ball and Toys By George!.
Taking a look at the blurb here on the back of Gutt-Ball (now spelled differently than the logo), we can ascertain that Gutt-Ball was a product attempt at a sort of homemade bit of fun. So someone - who we will refer to as 'George' from here on out, saw an opportunity to cash in on a trend that was on an uptick and I'm guessing as most trends to, fizzled out the moment someone tried to capitalize on it.
The blurb mentions the sunny beaches of California. That's a very large stretch of land, and I assume this trend only occurred in one small localized area where a group of friends created some sort of fun activity using a ball (most likely a tennis ball based on Gutt-Ball's size and bounciness) affixed to a string. The packaging states that theses originated in Hermosa Beach (produced in Taiwan), so let's assume that this was happening there, and maybe stretched a bit north and south to surrounding areas.
Speaking of the string, I'd assume the strings on the homemade versions were poked through the middle of the tennis ball rather than tied to it, because tying a string around a ball gives you about four seconds before the ball bounces out from it's very loose restraints, and tying a string around a ball so that it stays (looped on all four hemispheres) would severely negate the ball's ability to bounce, as contact with whatever surface would most likely hit a the string, than the ball itself.
So now we have people poking holes through tennis balls, shoving an elastic string or cord or something through it, tying it off on the end so the string doesn't come loose back through the ball, and doing... something with it.
But what?
The blurb mentions the sunny beaches of California. That's a very large stretch of land, and I assume this trend only occurred in one small localized area where a group of friends created some sort of fun activity using a ball (most likely a tennis ball based on Gutt-Ball's size and bounciness) affixed to a string. The packaging states that theses originated in Hermosa Beach (produced in Taiwan), so let's assume that this was happening there, and maybe stretched a bit north and south to surrounding areas.
Speaking of the string, I'd assume the strings on the homemade versions were poked through the middle of the tennis ball rather than tied to it, because tying a string around a ball gives you about four seconds before the ball bounces out from it's very loose restraints, and tying a string around a ball so that it stays (looped on all four hemispheres) would severely negate the ball's ability to bounce, as contact with whatever surface would most likely hit a the string, than the ball itself.
So now we have people poking holes through tennis balls, shoving an elastic string or cord or something through it, tying it off on the end so the string doesn't come loose back through the ball, and doing... something with it.
But what?
Well the packaging has that part covered too. You simply loop the elastic string around your index finger... and get hopping!
Oh! Of course! Why didn't we think of- wait. Wait. What? Get hopping? So, we did this. We looped the elastic string around our fingers, and what comes next is in no way intuitive. Do you throw it and catch it when it bounces back? Do you play with it like a yo-yo? Was it some sort of fitness thing that was also fun? So like run with it? Or do you play with more than one person?? These ancient texts are NOT enough to go on.
Oh! Of course! Why didn't we think of- wait. Wait. What? Get hopping? So, we did this. We looped the elastic string around our fingers, and what comes next is in no way intuitive. Do you throw it and catch it when it bounces back? Do you play with it like a yo-yo? Was it some sort of fitness thing that was also fun? So like run with it? Or do you play with more than one person?? These ancient texts are NOT enough to go on.
There's a bit more to be revealed here on the box. There's an actual address for George.
But the inclusion of a suite number leads us to believe that this will either be an apartment complex, or an office building. I can tell you, before googling it, that it's most likely not an office building for one main reason - a city called 'Hermosa Beach' most likely doesn't lend itself to real estate that would house an office building three stories tall. Communities like this have strip malls at most, and you'd need to travel 20-30 mins inland before you started finding depressing multi-level office buildings like that.
But the inclusion of a suite number leads us to believe that this will either be an apartment complex, or an office building. I can tell you, before googling it, that it's most likely not an office building for one main reason - a city called 'Hermosa Beach' most likely doesn't lend itself to real estate that would house an office building three stories tall. Communities like this have strip malls at most, and you'd need to travel 20-30 mins inland before you started finding depressing multi-level office buildings like that.
Aaaaaand yep. It's a condo structure. I'm sure 'The Gallery at Playa Pacifica' didn't look like this in the late 80s / early 90s, but I'm assuming it wasn't too far off. And George resided in unit 368. George must have had some money based on residency and the fact that he was able to afford to have a factory produce an item like Gutt-Ball once he noticed folks enjoying their homemade versions. I'm guessing George's main source of income would have been something he was doing for quite some time, possibly a family owned business that he was now in charge of, and willing to use some of it's capital to fund ideas like Gutt-Ball.
But that's enough speculation about George. Especially since the search using the address and his name didn't turn up anything other than the residence itself. Let's take one last look at The Happy Fun Ball, er, Gutt-Ball.
But that's enough speculation about George. Especially since the search using the address and his name didn't turn up anything other than the residence itself. Let's take one last look at The Happy Fun Ball, er, Gutt-Ball.
So this little mystery will remain in our shop (and currently listed on our eBay store) for the time being. Hopefully we stumble upon more of it's origins and the original fad that brought this product to life.
For the time being, we are just happy to give people a place to land, when looking for more information if they were to also stumble upon a Gutt-Ball in the wild and begin their online search for more about this relic of our collective past.
For the time being, we are just happy to give people a place to land, when looking for more information if they were to also stumble upon a Gutt-Ball in the wild and begin their online search for more about this relic of our collective past.
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