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With a bedtime of around 8pm you're life seemed pretty limited as a kid in the 80s... until Lite Brite came on the scene! Because even with the lights off it meant you could have hours more fun, creating dazzling displays that lit up your bedroom like a very small disco. The famous Lite-Brite commercial jingle begins: "Lite-Brite, makin' things with light. Outta sight, makin' things with Lite-Brite." Another jingle featured "Lite-Brite, Lite-Brite, turn on the magical shining light!" Another popular jingle included the lines: "We're making things with light. Lite-Brite makes them glow so bright! A steamboat, a chicken, a tropical fish. A lemonade sign or whatever I wish!"By day, the Lite Brite would seem like a simple transparent plastic box with rows of holes in it. But behind the holes was a light source, which when you plugged the supplied coloured pegs into the holes, would light them up so they looked like little LEDs. Using blue, clear, green, orange, pink, purple, red and yellow pegs you could mastermind quite a colourful scene without feeling your creativity was being stifled by Milton Bradley (owned by Hasbro) who, incidentally, launched the toy in 1967. Though a bout of artist's block could easily be overcome with a helping hand from the pre-marked guide sheets that came in the box. These pre-marked sheets were sold separately, too (of course), comprising all the usual 80s themes: Scooby-Doo, Mickey Mouse, My Little Pony, Star Wars and even Mr Potato Head. One artist form Denver has no problem in this department, going on to produce the world's largest ever Lite Brite in 1999, which set a Guinness Book World Record.Nowadays, Lite Brite is more advanced, though seeing as most kids have computers there isn't as much call for it.
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