WHAT ARE CLACKERS AND WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?”
The term clackers refers to a vintage toy which was briefly popular in the early 1970s. Its name refers to the fact that its point was to have the two balls of which the toy consisted of clicking against each other. It was similar to the actual Argentine weapon known as bolas. They are formed out of two hard plastic marbles, each about two inches in diameter, attached to a ring with sturdy string. The player puts his or her finger in the ring, allowing the marbles or balls to hang below. Through a gentle up-and-down hand motion, the two balls swing apart and together, making the clacking noise that give the toy its name. After a little practice, it is possible to get the marbles swinging so that they knock together above the hand as well as below. Clackers were eventually discontinued after children got injured whilst playing with them: besides being fairly heavy and fast-moving, the spheres, being made of hard acrylic plastic, could shatter upon striking each other, presenting a safet
Clackers are the toy with a jillion names. It was essentially two large marbles attached by a sturdy string with a ring in the center. You would put your finger in the ring allowing the marbles or balls to hang below. Here is where the fun starts. The idea was to get the two balls tapping (or clacking if you prefer) against each other by pulling up on the ring lightly. Once you got the hang of it, you could get them going faster and faster until they were smacking each other above and below your hand in a stunning arc. These toys are now legendary. They started finding their way into the schoolyards in the early seventies and in 1971 were yanked from shelves because kids were suffering eye injuries when the fragile, glass-like balls were shattering from the violence of contact with their mates. I believe a plastic version may have been released after the original and the more menacing version was pulled, but I don’t think that it enjoyed the same popularity. One of the main obstacles i
