Twist it! Pull it! Bop it! If you’ve ever played with a Bop It, then you know exactly how each of those commands sound in your head. The electronic toy has been telling kids (and adults, let’s be honest) what to do since 1996, and doesn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon. What you probably don’t know about the Bop It, though, is the interesting story of how it came to be in the first place. Let’s dive into the tantalizing tale!
Back in the ‘80s, a designer named Dan Klitsner was creating the toilet bowl cleaner bottle design that we all know and love — you know, with the ergonomic necks that curve up into the porcelain and make it so the cleaner covers the whole bowl? Yeah, that was him, he designed those. But designing consumer product packaging for toilet bowl cleaner bottles wasn’t exactly giving him the creative satisfaction that he was looking for. So, he switched gears and took a job at Discovery Toys designing preschool toys that were sold at parties like Avon or Pampered Chef.
After getting that toy experience going, he ended up doing some freelance industrial design for Memorex working on universal TV remote controls, and he thought, “what if I do a toy-like universal remote for kids?” He made a few different versions of these, including ones that looked like a pizza, with the toppings being the buttons you’d push on the remote. He called these remotes “Remote Out-Of-Controls.” The remote that would go on to inspire the Bop It was one he called the Channel Bopper, where kids would literally have to hit the remote like a hammer to change the channels on the TV. The higher ups weren’t so sure of it and one of them said “maybe it’s not a remote,” and that got Klitsner thinking.
Someone once said to Klitsner — “Watch the kid, not the toy” — which to him meant, have the toy control the kid rather than the other way around. That’s basically what inspired him to create the Channel Bopper in the first place so, he took that a step further and created a prototype for what would become the Bop It out of foam. Klitsner met with Bill Dohrmann, who worked at Milton Bradley (and was the person who discovered Twister and the Nerf ball), and presented him the foam Bop It coupled with a sample of the audio commands we’ve all come to know and love/hate. Dohrmann became a big cheerleader of the Bop It, and was a large reason why the company agreed to move forward with making it.
The rest, as they say, is history. The Bop It was released in 1996 and had strong sales pretty much immediately. Everyone told Klitsner that the toy would likely have a short shelf life, but those prognosticators turned out to be wrong — the Bop It performed even better in its second year on the market. Soon enough, Klitsner was working on a follow up with the Bop It Extreme, which came out just two years after the release of the original. It added the actions of flick it and spin it, and saw a 50 percent increase in units sold even though it cost $5 more. These days, Klitsner is the founder and creative director of his own toy inventing and licensing firm called KID Group LLC, trying to recreate the magic of the Bop It with new toys for the next generation.
Did you love the Bop It, or was it more of a love/hate relationship? Let us know in the comments, but first check out this compilation of commercials from the ‘90s to get you in the nostalgic spirit:
- Since the original Bop It was released in 1996, there have been lots of different versions including Bratz Bop It, Bop It! Tetris, Bop It! Smash, and many, many more.
- Since 2008, the voice of the Bop It toys has been Bobby Rubino — he compares the recording performance to his natural cadence, just after 10 energy drinks.
- When Klitsner originally designed the Bop It, he used Homer Simpson’s “D’oh!” as the example of the losing sound effect. He told Matt Groening about that later, and Groening went on to include a parody of the Bop It called “Bonk It” in an episode of The Simpsons.
- Since its release, there have been approximately 30 million Bop It units sold.
- There are different game modes you can play on the Bop It — the primary game mode is the Vox Bop, a multiplayer game where the Bop It will tell you to “Pass it!” at certain points.
- Since the original Bop It was released in 1996, there have been lots of different versions including Bratz Bop It, Bop It! Tetris, Bop It! Smash, and many, many more.
- Since 2008, the voice of the Bop It toys has been Bobby Rubino — he compares the recording performance to his natural cadence, just after 10 energy drinks.
- When Klitsner originally designed the Bop It, he used Homer Simpson’s “D’oh!” as the example of the losing sound effect. He told Matt Groening about that later, and Groening went on to include a parody of the Bop It called “Bonk It” in an episode of The Simpsons.
- Since its release, there have been approximately 30 million Bop It units sold.
- There are different game modes you can play on the Bop It — the primary game mode is the Vox Bop, a multiplayer game where the Bop It will tell you to “Pass it!” at certain points.
