Vintage Toy Fun: Astrolite by Hasbro 1969 #Toys #Adafruit @Hasbro @adafruit
The Astrolite by Hasbro, introduced in 1969, allowed one to build cities or robots of light. Clear plastic parts were lit up using a light bulb with a color wheel that could be turned for special effects. toynfo.com describes the Astrolite:
What happens when Erector Set meets Lite Brite during the height of the space race? Hasbro’s Astrolite! This great toy from 1969 features a variety of clear plastic tubular connectors which you use to construct space bases on top of a plastic platform. Once your space station is done just plug in Astrolite and turn off the lights and your creation lights up with red, green, yellow and white lights! Spin the wheel on the base and the colors pulsate eerily through the plastic tubes. For extra fun pick up a handful of MPC spacemen and stand them around on the platform. Wow!
Astrolite was an easy way to pretend you were in the world of the Jetson’s cartoon series of the time!
Today, Astrolites are plentiful and affordable on sales and auction sites. You can find them boxed and often in good working condition with most of their pieces for well under $50. Sometimes you need to replace the 40 watt light bulb but other than that they are almost always still fully functioning.
Below see the Adafruit build of Astolight. The set can be lit now by NeoPixels and programmed with the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express.
