Spirograph Commercial - 1973 - Spiromania

[Cabroni2]

Better than NeoCube ! :P

[yoyoyoy500]

I dont think I've seen a spirograph since the late 90's.Looking @ them now I cen see that they would be awesome 4 art stuff like draing fractal art.Does any1 know where u can buy some spirographs?.

[erikbear9]

I had a super-spirograph... My mom was an artist, so she would tell me that I had to practice to get it to look like they did on tv, so being stubborn like I was I did it over and over and over until it looked good.. then, I did the designs on aluminum foil and different types of paper, and for Christmas presents one year, I mounted them on cardboard and made ornaments. I wish I had some now. Thanks for sharing this! brings me back..

[Matt90o]

I fucking loved doing this, I think I still would =P

[clintonearlwalker]

I think my spirograph is still up in the attic. If I remember correctly most of my pictures didn't turn out very "groovy".

[zimolag]

@Davewise1965 @InserName125 @dabirdman - "Kids today have no imagination, no respect for their elders; the moral and intellectual decline of youth will doom civilization" - we have written examples of such hysteria at least from the times of Ancient Greece ffs.

[theantiquegarage]

Random hippie band intro FTW

[shinyglanz]

LSD not included

[Feisty1967]

I always wanted a Spirograph, but never got one.

[1dabirdman]

@Feisty1967 ME TOO!.there were some awesome toys in the 70s! you actually had to use your brain,creativity or you had to actually had to go outside and play! kids today are pale and zombiefied from only having media based activities.mom would make us, on most days,play outside after school,til supper was ready.then we'd go back out and play til it got dark.

[Davewise1965]

I remember Spirograph, i was 8 years old in 1973. Those were the days when children had respect for their parents and did as they were told.

[davidezell]

@Davewise1965 yeah, right

[chairmanofthebored1]

Spiromania; isn't that a Dario Argento flick?

[Dhfalcon62]

@chairmanofthebored1 Well, considering it was the early 70's...maybe it spiroagnewmania!! *cough cough*

[chairmanofthebored1]

@Dhfalcon62 Ha Ha, good one.

[wayneleon1000]

I used to be addicted to this. I would spend hours creating patterns. Hell, so easily amused back then, but I loved it. Been looking for the original Spirograph for years, ever since.

[bluecatky]

Groovy designs! I love the 1970's lingo and campy music.

[oneblackhorse]

Easily amused? No way -- this was fun and could still be fun.

[sr71ablackbird]

@oneblackhorse I still have mine.

[Idoljunky32]

I had a Spirograph when I was a kid!!! Awesome toy. Yes we were easily amused back then, but I'd take a Spirograph over a stupid video game system any day!!

[nolthria]

Kenner toys had the GREATEST toys, from spirograph to SSP cars, I wasn't born until 87 but I got to have spirograph and it was a blast, but the little gears would slip. Kenner should still be around, but no, they sold out to Tonka, and both Kenner and Tonka was sold to Hasbro which now produces annoying POS toys. BRING BACK SSP CARS AND HUGO AND SPIROGRAPH MADE JUST LIKE IT WAS BACK THEN! So my kids can enjoy them and I can too hehe =D .. And Polly pockets but that is whole nother toy company.

[cbettenbender]

'Spiromania' reminds me of 'pyromania'..... it seems like a poor choice of word combination.

[mistofoles]

Would I be correct in assuming this was a US commercial?

[grazlybear]

If you were a fan of this classic game and you now own an iPhone, you should check out the app called "Spiromatic"

[jengacrock]

This was a blast when you were stoned!

[wayneleon100]

I absolulely loved this. I had this when I was younger,many years ago. Spent hours and hours drawing patterns. This was ahead of its time, back in '73. I wish they would bring the original spirograph out again.

[robbiesyohn]

I always find those at Goodwill or some used toys section in a thrift store. Never can find one with all pieces together. I used to have one a long time ago but it broke.

[videoluvr4204]

super trippy designs, far out!

[TheAdultChild101]

Not a lot of people know this: Spirograph was an attempt by wealthy Buddhist Monks to enlighten Western Society. It didn't work.

[MattTheSaiyan]

I had something like this as a child in the 1990s. They might still make them for all I know.

[selloutasaurus]

my older sisters had this and they made nice designs. i had absolutely no patience with it and usually threw the pieces up in the air in total frustration. not too groovy.

[WKRPinCINN]

i had Spirograph when i was a kid, i never made "groovy" designs. "super" designs yes, "groovy" no. i may have a lawsuit against Milton Bradley for false advertising.

[ronnied828]

i had one of these, could never control the damn gear right......always looked like shit when i was done.....are these games worth anything today ?

[IIIIdepechemodeIIII]

my sister and I had one of these when we were real little. I loved throwing the spiro chips at my cats lol.

[bobo784]

oh wow..

[TXRider]

These were fun...but I had a short attention span! :D

[Synthetrix]

I loved my Super Spirograph in the 70s. I have been tempted to buy one again. Even though you can do perfect ones on the computer, there is something about doing it this way that is so fun and satisfying!

[machopi]

idiotic!

[VirtualStreaker]

Pyromania, pyromania, pyromania

[allsetnow1]

A very psychidelic game for children.

[Sikandra00]

I liked this toy except for the wheel not staying within the circle.

[lisamaria1972]

I had a spirograph when I was little in the late 70s! I loved it

[Jiltedin2007]

I remember having a Spirograph back in the Late 60's. How I loved drawing!

[lazyel]

You are so right! Spirogragh and Lite Bright , just hours of endless fun. Before that it was Silly Sand.

[thegirl44]

I didn't have the patience for Spirograph. I'd run the pen so hard that it would skip teeth and rip the paper.

[sonick808]

ohhhhhhhh snap. I think i'm gonna get my spirograph out right now! I think i'll try the rectangle thing again that's impossible to keep from skipping teeth! Or the football with the same problem! LOL

[utzworld]

Spiro-mf'ing-GRAPH! I had one!

[robertabramson]

One of my favorite toys as a kid. Spent a lot of time with my dad doing these drawings. Awesome memories.

[deussolinvictus]

Spirograph and Lite Brite were both pretty cool.

[clintonearlwalker]

Yes they were. I'm pretty sure I still have at least 2 lite brites, with an accessory refill pack. :)

[thenevereverboy]

Aaaw - I loved spriographing! Is that a proper verb? Spirographing - to spirograph. Hmm?

[dvgale]

Yes - and one who "Spirographs" is a "Spirographer" - which rhymes with "stenographer" - of course! :)

[funkmike]

Groovy designs!

[zolluuu]

Like a lot of toys/games back then, this one required some effort on the kid's part. My older cousin had one of these when I was really little and I was so frustrated because I couldn't get the thing to work right. Of course, I never bothered reading the instructions.

[concertobub]

I just bought one at one of those discount stores (not the original). Never played with one when I was a kid - but that's not stopping me at 37 haha.  I like the mathematical aspect of it.

[Rayman0616]

oh so thats that those things were....

i use the little gears to throw at my cousins :)

[Mandolinpossum]

Good lord, I miss my spirograph now. I must've gotten one in the dying days, cos I believe shortly after they dropped out of favour for who knows what fad. Ah, I miss the 90s.

[Tcc80s]

WOW, I LOVED this!!!!!!!!!!!

[mlweiland]

I had one of these and had a lot of fun with it. But what I remember about this ad was my elderly grandmother - born on Romania - who wanted to know why they were singing about Romania in this jingle.

[DianaDeLuna]

Wow. First instance of the phrase "Get the fever"?

[bluenoserr]

Wow, did we ever have long attention spans back then. Imagine today trying to sell a kit that only draws spirals! :-D

[DianaDeLuna]

Yeah but they were *really fancy* spirals. ;o) It took me a long time to develoe the hand-eye coordination to make a good one, especially with the pieces that weren't round.

[asnierkishcowboy]

well i think that the whole spirograph concept was just ingenious.why shouldnt it be successful anymore?

[Tamaslammer]

I remember the other spirograph commercial but not this one..

[shawnlalanne]

I always had problems with the gear teeth slipping out of mesh thus making a mess out of the "design".

[CrashingCrockery]

YES, me too (and I am a professional artist!). I hated it, HATED it, and THREW it one day in disgust. Plastic wheels and pens and cardboard went everywhere, and after my little tantrum I LEFT IT THERE. I suppose mom cleaned it up...

[loknloll]

@shawnlalanne yeah, right at the crucial moment, when it was perfect and almost done!!! Doh!!!

[jmad627]

@shawnlalanne Me too! These commercials made everything look so easy, LOL.

[tranurse]

@shawnlalanne me too

[ThisIsBilbo]

I had spirograph but I don't remember the commercial at all

[happycat2010]

I used to have one of these. I thought I was hot crap when i was able to make good pictures LOL!

[lifer4164]

me and my brothers never fought over this eithr. We were too busy with our big wheels hahah

[Minxcomix]

This was the one toy Big Bro and I didn't fight over because there were enough parts to share.

Tho I do have a faint recollection that when one of the favorite 'outer circles' snapped, I think we did beat each other up over it, blaming the other for it breaking

(any excuse for a fight)

[bombsiteweed]

Never quite as easy as it looked and we got tired of it pretty quickly

[WETNWILD85]

WTF? I remember these. I used 2 have 2 or 3 of these in the early 90's. I couldn't draw anything 4 shit. This brings back so many memories. I LOVE classic commercials. HATE todays commercials.

[PeaceChick07]

Groovy! lol...memories...My Mom made me buy this for my friends birthday & I didn't understand it? hehe

[gibbzy]

I remember spirograph. Unfortunately I moved to another country and was only able to get ahold of Spirostart, which is pratically the basic version. I still have everything!

[pazvato]

I actually had one of these as well. I grew tired of it in a couple of weeks and ended up just using the pens and paper and drawing my own stuff. Probably part of the reason why I ended up becoming a cartoonist.

[brabon1]

cant believe my mom bought it for me...i could never make the really good pictures

same with the etch a sketch

i was a stupid kid

[chrisman737]

My sister had one of these. At the time I was so impressed -- it looked so complicated and amazing, and drew great pictures that looked very neat and intricate.

[mginsel]

God we were once easily amused.

[VioletScrap]

in my country it never came and actually i AM amused!

[Gaus212]

@mginsel We are still easily amused, but we are not satisfied with a sheet of paper so we mess up some poor farmers field of crops & call it Crop Circles...Ooh the aliens did it ! NOT :-)

[InsertName125]

@mginsel

Imagine what it was like when kids had to use their imaginations!

[cosmicblak]

at .10sec the singer yells out "pyromania!!"

[beenie3]

I had one of those! It was a very cool toy.

[discomusic]

Wow i didn't know there was a super-spirograph? I want one!!!!!!great memories!

[jpowell180]

Sometimes I think this toy was designed to subliminally promote the use of psychadelic substances to the youth of America... ;)

[Treemeadow]

I never got the hang of my Spirograph- I was just in kindergarten

[lsdmadman]

you wankers can keep your hell-spawned f-ing computer related hijinx...heaven can be created with some interestingly shaped pieces of plastic and a flipping pen, o jesus the mercy and then some....

[moonsista]

Calm down!

[lsdmadman]

i'm sorry,,,i'm just very pro lo-tech art and very anti computer-related art...my rant is just feisty adoration for the wonders and SIMPLICITY of the wacky spirograph concept

[DrummerGrrrl]

Yikes, buddy. Lay off the meth-amphetamines, will you? It's just a retro commercial. Jesus.

[penjo]

Indeed, I mean this was "hi-tech' at them time, sure someone railed against plastic toys and such.

[Mike1964]

I had Spirograph....i could do a lot more with it now but, it's long gone.

[JoKKeSvin]

Pyromania! Pyromania! :p

[murielsartre]

Isn't there an ad from the 70s where some kids sing, "I just don't believe it, I don't believe it, the things I can do with a Spirograph..." or some such? That's the one I know.

[happycat2010]

Yes, I remember that commercial as well.

[FunnyMusicProject]

Oh my god, I can still smell the pens. Those hexagonal ball-point pens with the weird smelling ink.

[TheSanityInspector]

The coolest toy to come out of the Sixties.

[StratomasterT]

Far out.  That was really groovy!

[EdMajinLee199999]

i could never make the complicated spirographs like on the box, but this was definately one of my favorite childhood toys

[DevSodDribble]

Spirograph: When the Etch a Sketch gets a little too complicated. :D

[heine71]

Late 1960's-1970, not 1973.

[gbrdaisy]

Spirograph was one of the best creative toys! I loved mine. That Super Spirograph looks cool.