Village Elementary students got quite a timely treat on Friday with a virtual visit with Bob Welch. Welch is the designer of one of this year’s finalists for National Toy Hall of Fame at Strong, Bop It. Bop It was first released in 1996 which included Welch’s own voice calling out commands such as “bop it, twist it, and pull it.”
Welch showed the students his original designs for Bop It and explained how the idea came to be. He said what started out as an idea for a remote-control toy turned into what is now being considered for the National Toy Hall of Fame. After his brief presentation, students were able to ask questions including inquiring about what Welch’s favorite toy was besides Bop It. Mr. Welch replied he liked Elefun to which most of the students said they had never heard of. For reference, Elefun is a children’s game Hasbro released in 1993. It features a plastic elephant that shoots paper butterflies into the air. It kind of makes most of us feel old, doesn’t it?
Welch grew up in Greece and his sister Donna works at Village Elementary School.
He earned his degree at the Massachusetts College of Art. He began his career at Hasbro and has also worked at Infogames/Atari. He has spent the last 14 years as a game industry consultant.
Bop It, is one of 12 finalists for this year’s Toy Hall of Fame. Others include baseball cards, Battleship, Bingo, Cabbage Patch Kids, Choose Your Own Adventure Gamebooks, Connect 4, Ken, Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, Nerf Toys, Slime, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The winners will be announced November 10.
Head to our Facebook page for more photos and video of the visit.