Playset

Playsets are themed collections of similar toys designed to work together to enact some action or event. The most common Toy Playsets involve plastic figures, accessories and possibly buildings or scenery, purchased together in a common box. Some sets during the 60's and 70's were offered within metal "suitcase" containers that also functioned as part of the playset.

First pioneered by metal figure manufacturers around the turn of the 20th Century, usually as military "play" figures with simple accessories, the concept of the playset was further developed by companies like Marx Toys, Superior Toy, Remco, Deluxe Reading, Multiple Toymakers (MPC) and others throughout the Baby Boomer era. Several manufacturers continue to produce playsets today.

Several popular playsets by Marx were-

• Fort Apache (1951)
• Battle of the Blue and Gray (1958)
• Battleground
• Desert Fox
• Ben-Hur
• The Alamo
• The Guns of Navarone
• Johnny Tremain

Popular playsets based on television series were-

• Roy Rogers Mineral City (1952) (the first "branded" playset)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)
• Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion
• Daktari
• Daniel Boone
• Davy Crockett
• The Rifleman
• Jungle Jim
• Johnny Ringo
• Gunsmoke
• Rin Tin Tin
• The Untouchables
• The Gallant Men
• The Flintstones
• Tom Corbett
• Zorro

References

• Levinthal, David Small Wonder: Worlds in a Box Zzdap Publishing (1997)
• Playsets at Marx Toy Museum
• Custom Built Kits Playsets

Further reading

• Playset Magazine