Original monkey sketch for Barrel Of Monkeys beside the game's original test links.
|
Original monkey sketch for Barrel Of Monkeys beside the game's original test links.
|
My Barrel of Monkeys Link: |
|
I always knew my grandfather was an inventor of Barrel of Monkeys. To be honest, though, that's about all I knew. So, when someone asked me why my grandfather, Milton Dinhofer, wasn't on the game's Wikipedia page, I wondered the same thing. And so began our bringing the game's page into the 21st century. Over the course of months, Grandpa recounted the details of how Barrel of Monkeys came to market. He shared his original drawings, original game links, prototypes, press and biz docs, which had all been kept in a dusty box for too long. This was 2015, and quite serendipitously the year also happened to be the game's 50th anniversary. The Toy Book (the leading toy industry magazine) published my story , a first-time telling of how the game's 1965 launch. You can read it here.
Amazingly, Hasbro (the game's current parent company) had not been aware of the game's 50th either. When we notified them, they did a birthday shout out . My grandfather's alma mater followed with an article about him and his many other cool inventions (including the first patented twisted straw). And, yes, we also updated the game's Wikipedia page. To see the many ways people are still inspired by Barrel of Monkeys, you can check out my Pinterest page. Grandpa passed 10/12/2024. He was 101. I'm eternally grateful to have heard the story from him, directly and to have shared so many special moments with him. -Tracy |
|
|
|