Michelle Greenlee

Growing up in a time before the first <a id="4120265c-9eee-3321-a643-d9120017dc46" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/revisiting-launch-apple-first-iphone-2015-9?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> iPhone </a> release meant most interactions with friends were in-person or on the phone using a <a id="e1077d22-0e09-3fa0-a789-38558735b2a2" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/modern-evolution-of-the-phone-photos-2016-10?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> landline </a> . Plans to meet had to be made in advance, and there were no real-time text updates leading up to the appointment.

Everything seemed to move a little slower. New <a id="861dfcef-2884-30a6-a442-2f8521581c4a" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-music-artists-of-all-time-2016-9?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> music </a> wasn't available for immediate download with one click. <a id="facc717c-4af4-36b2-a37d-a115e21d42d8" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tv-shows-canceled-finished-2017-list-2017-12?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> TV shows </a> played on the network's schedule. Movies were available in theaters and at the local movie rental store. Toys and games required a visit to a shop to acquire.

Times have changed, but iconic products from innovative brands will live on in the memories of those who grew to love them in childhood.

Here are 8 things you loved as a kid that don't exist anymore.

Introduced in 1972, these branded playgrounds were part of the McDonald's experience that included the iconic Happy Meal. New locations are often built <a id="bf069ba3-7aa2-38b7-afa0-2a6c2cbfe68a" href="https://www.eater.com/2017/4/17/15222432/fast-food-playground-safety"> without a playground </a> .

<h1> The Sony Walkman cassette player </h1>

The original portable music player, the Sony Walkman, was popular during the 1980s. The first model was met with "lackluster sales" of 3,000 units in its first month of release in <a id="8f9a1c9a-d4b6-3dc9-a6c9-0a1cc1e9c9f7" href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-sony-walkman-goes-on-sale"> 1979 </a> . Clever marketing on the streets of Tokyo <a id="fba9106c-ed0e-3d76-a53a-cd3c7780c4af" href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-sony-walkman-goes-on-sale"> saved the personal cassette player </a> , and sales soared the very next month. <a id="6b87c330-4eef-3606-a2a8-c6a9e0d6c3c3" href="https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/22/an-era-ends-sony-stops-manufacturing-cassette-walkmans/"> Sony stopped producing new Walkmans in 2010 </a> after a successful 30-year run.

<h1> Choosing a movie at Blockbuster </h1>

Blockbuster Video was once one of <a id="da7e9e8f-dcb6-3b9d-a97f-3ab1df60aa18" href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-blockbuster-store-opens"> America's most popular video rental stores </a> . Walking the aisles searching for just the right title often took more time and effort than tapping away on a keyboard does today. All but <a id="d702d4ac-198f-34ba-ad7d-586e017dc0cc" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/last-blockbuster-in-america-debuts-beer-2018-8?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> one location </a> in the U.S. is closed.

Toys "R" Us was quite popular during the early 1980s and was <a id="f954189b-d961-3832-a402-6ec7c23dbd77" href="https://www.history.com/news/toys-r-us-closing-legacy"> worth $12 billion </a> by 1990. The superstore filed for bankruptcy in 2017. <a id="eace697b-fedb-31ac-a009-315d5ef25033" href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/06/25/news/companies/toys-r-us-store-closings/index.html"> Toys "R" Us closed for good </a> in June 2018 after 70 years in the toy business.

<a id="38ced5eb-1cfe-35f2-ae6a-452ec91081e9" href="http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/4007/Atari-PONG/"> Atari released "Pong" in 1972 </a> , thereby creating one of the first commercially successful video games. "Pac-Man" would later become <a id="766988fc-1cf1-337c-aa37-442f273303b9" href="http://pacman.com/en/pac-man-history"> the most successful coin-operated arcade game of all time </a> . <a id="d463bed1-9cf7-38e4-a6d3-29cfc3fbc12c" href="https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3740422/the-life-and-death-of-the-american-arcade-for-amusement-only"> Console gaming </a> grew alongside the arcade business following "Atari," but the market eventually shifted away from arcade gaming. Los Angeles’s last mall arcade <a id="31444f51-518e-3b77-aa61-37a669bbd78f" href="https://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-la-areas-last-mall-arcade-is-closing-its-doors-7405677"> shuttered in 2016 </a> .

Founded in 1980, <a id="a09426bc-9d1c-39be-afc9-984ac62d154f" href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40425172/robots-pizza-and-magic-the-chuck-e-cheese-origin-story"> Showbiz Pizza </a> featured an animatronic stage show along with a selection of arcade style games in a family-friendly restaurant concept. Showbiz Pizza was the best-performing knock-off of another animatronic pizza chain called Pizza Time. In 1985, Showbiz Pizza Place and Pizza Time <a id="26fc366b-2259-35b8-a073-9ccd080d7ce6" href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40425172/robots-pizza-and-magic-the-chuck-e-cheese-origin-story"> completed a merger to become Chuck E. Cheese </a> .

The iconic <a id="fb2ed965-57d2-3198-ad00-a8d0c7215045" href="http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/4033/Nintendo-Game-Boy/"> Nintendo Gameboy was released in 1989 </a> . The small monochrome screen and modest onboard power didn’t stop this predecessor of the Nintendo 3Ds from <a id="5cd438c9-23f1-381b-ae87-65f08fb8c3f6" href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/30/nintendos-game-boy-turns-25-a-look-back-at-the-bus.aspx"> outselling </a> its better equipped competitors. The original Gameboy was <a id="114d059c-32c7-3ebd-a60e-765c32e8b0d7" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/21/nintendo-game-boy-25-facts-for-its-25th-anniversary"> discontinued </a> in the early 2000s.

Screenshot via the Internet Archive

The <a id="0132266b-6d19-37a0-a1f9-555c6f59c1f9" href="https://www.format.com/magazine/features/design/you-have-died-of-dysentery-oregon-trail-design"> 1985 Apple II version of "Oregon Trail" </a> is considered the original by many who have played it. But thetrue original version of the game was <a id="3cb8992c-9c99-331b-aa90-94f5b5093733" href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/523694/sally-died-dysentery-history-oregon-trail"> released in 1971 </a> for Teletype machines. Production of the popular video game ended years ago, but the gameplay lives on in a <a id="a971f2c2-a014-3355-a68c-b7b643cac7a3" href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/oregon-trail-card-game-simple-repetitive-and-youll-die-of-dysentery-a-lot/"> new tabletop card game </a> and online at the <a id="dc45ecc8-f885-3ef5-abf9-6b3a5c555b57" href="https://archive.org/details/msdos_Oregon_Trail_The_1990"> Internet Archive </a> .

<ul><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/products-seem-like-they-wouldnt-work-actually-do-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">10 products that seem like they wouldn't work, but are actually great</a> </li><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-changes-to-compete-with-amazon-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">Amazon and Walmart have been battling for retail dominance for 15 years — and there’s no end in sight</a> </li><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/family-dollar-store-tour-2018-8?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">We visited Family Dollar, the store that analysts say is becoming Dollar Tree's biggest problem. Here's what we found.</a> </li></ul>

SEE ALSO: 10 products that seem like they wouldn't work, but are actually great

8 things you loved as a kid that don’t exist anymore

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Michelle Greenlee

Articles written by the author

8 things you loved as a kid that don’t exist anymore