Clackers are toys which were popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They consisted of two 2 cm, hard balls suspended on string which were swung up and down so they banged against each other, making a clacking sound. Clackers are similar in appearance to the Argentinian

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 weapons, bolas

Bolas

Bolas are a throwing weapon superficially similar to the surujin, made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs...

.

They are formed out of two hard plastic balls, each about two cm in diameter, attached to a tab with a sturdy string. The player holds the tab, with the balls hanging below. Through a gentle up-and-down hand motion, the two balls swing apart and back together, making the clacking noise that give the toy its name. With practice, it is possible to make the balls swing so that they knock together above the hand as well as below.

Safety hazard

Clackers were discontinued when children were injured while playing with them. Fairly heavy and fast-moving and made of hard acrylic plastic, the balls could shatter upon striking each other, which was dangerous.

There is a recurring urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

 that the clacker spheres were made of glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

, although no one has ever produced an actual glass set. The confusion may have arisen because many sets were made of transparent colored acrylic which resembled glass.

Renewal

The toys enjoyed a brief renewal of popularity in the 1990s when clackers consisting of a handle and plastic triangles with the plastic balls at the end giving weight to the free moving toy. It was played the same way and were always in bright neon colours.

Popular culture

In the 1972 movie Beware! The Blob

Beware! The Blob

Beware! The Blob is a 1972 sequel to horror science-fiction film The Blob. The film was directed by Larry Hagman. The screenplay was penned by Anthony Harris and Jack Woods III, based on a story by Jack H. Harris and Richard Clair...

, there is a humorous scene where boy scouts are playing with clackers.

In the episode "Megan's First Kiss" of the teen comedy Drake and Josh, Drake buys two pairs of clackers, remarking "They're the hottest toys in the Netherlands!"

In the episode "Rumor of Love" of the teen comedy Zoey 101

Zoey 101

Zoey 101 is an American television series that ran from January 9, 2005 to May 2, 2008 starring Jamie Lynn Spears as teenager Zoey Brooks, produced for Nickelodeon and syndicated worldwide. The show was initially filmed at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, then at stages in Valencia,...

, Michael can be seen with and is asked about a purple pair of clackers he is playing with. He is also very preoccupied with them in the episode "Walk-a-thon".

In the video game WarioWare: Touched!

WarioWare: Touched!

WarioWare: Touched!, known in Japan as , is a video game for the Nintendo DS. It has been regarded by game journalists as one of the games which best utilizes the features of the Nintendo DS, alongside others such as Kirby: Canvas Curse, Nintendogs, and Metroid Prime Hunters.-Gameplay:The gameplay...

, one can obtain a set of clackers as one of the toys in the "Toy Room".