Lite-Brite

A 1980s Lite-Brite

A Lite-Brite (without black paper) spelling "hello"

Lite-Brite is a toy, created by Hasbro in 1967, which allows the user to create glowing designs. It is a light box with small colored plastic pegs that fit into a matrix of holes and illuminate to create a lit piece of art. Using the colored pegs the user can create designs from imagination or by following templates. There are eight peg colors: green, blue, red, yellow, orange, pink, purple and colorless clear.

Hasbro offered refills of the pegs for more color options or in case some were lost. Color-by-letter templates were sold with the set so that children could create characters including Mickey Mouse, Scooby-Doo, My Little Pony and more.^{[citation needed]}

Description and operation

Lite-Brite allows the artist to create a glowing picture by placing multi-colored translucent plastic pegs through opaque black paper. The light from an illuminated light bulb is blocked by the black paper except where the pegs conduct the light. When lit, the pegs have an appearance similar to that of LEDs.

Lite-Brite changes

Over the years Lite-Brite was offered in different forms including a flat-screen version, a 3D cube and a FX edition that spins and plays music. The Lite-Brite 3D cube was a 4-sided cube that allowed children to play with friends or save 3 of their designs.

The Future of Lite-Brite

With current technology Lite-Brite is now offered as an iPad app. The user picks what color peg they want and then every space they touch shows a dot in that color and makes a popping sound. The app has many more dots than the original.

There are also various websites online that host virtual Lite-Brite games

See also

• Dot-S

External links

• Hasbro's Lite-Brite
• Lite-Brite Simulator
• IllumiPeg Lite-Brite designs for the Cube, Flat-Screen, and Classic models