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On August 20th we announced the top 20 toys as determined by your votes in our project "100 Toys (and Their Stories) that Define Our Childhood." After over 20,000 votes and 600 story submissions, your voice has been heard!
For a bit of fun, we wanted to compare your top 20 toys with the top 20 toys that were predicted by Andrea Hughes, Curator of the American Collection. Andrea recently blogged about how the complete list of 100 toys were chosen. What you didn't know was that she had her own guesses on what you might choose as your favorites.
The chart below compares the final top 20 (in no particular order) with the top 20 that Andrea predicted would make it into the top 20. The correctly-guessed toys are at the top, while the toys at the bottom marked in red are those that differed. Our curator's prediction was 70% accurate —that's pretty incredible!
| Actual Top 20 | Curator's Predicted Top 20 |
| Barbie® | Barbie® |
| Candy Land® | Candy Land® |
| Crayons | Crayons |
| Etch A Sketch® | Etch A Sketch® |
| G.I. Joe® | G.I. Joe® |
| Hot Wheels® | Hot Wheels® |
| LEGO® Toys | LEGO® Toys |
| Little Golden Books® | Little Golden Books® |
| Monopoly® | Monopoly® |
| Mr. Potato Head® | Mr. Potato Head® |
| Play Doh® | Play Doh® |
| Silly Putty® | Silly Putty® |
| Transformers® | Transformers® |
| View-Master® | View-Master® |
| Bicycle | Baby doll |
| Cabbage Patch Kids® | Dr. Seuss® |
| Raggedy Ann® | Easy-Bake® Oven |
| Spirograph TM | See 'n Say® |
| Lincoln Logs® | Slinky® |
| Roller Skates | Star Wars toys |
The six predicted toys that didn't make the cut would have been high on anybody's list: Dr. Seuss®, Star Wars Toys, and Easy-Bake Oven®, especially. If you didn't know, Slinky® was on the edge for a long time, but in the end was surpassed by Raggedy Ann®. I was personally surprised by the Spirograph and the View-Master®, which received many stories and votes. When I asked around about these toys, however, many had fond memories that they were eager to share. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"40377","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","alt":"View_Master"}}]]
It has been amazing to watch the votes and stories come flooding in for the 100 Toys project. Memories have been shared from the 1940s to the 21st century, from paper dolls to bicycles, from pre-teens to grandparents.
And we're not done! Until September 7th, you can still rank the top 20. Your votes will decide which toys will win the Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Then, come back September 11th to see the top 20 toys in a special display at the museum.
And don't forget, you can always share your stories on all 100 toys (and beyond!)
