It's easy to see why skateboards, rollerboots and BMX's were so popular among kids in the 70s, but Space Hoppers? For one, it seems a little odd to be bouncing up and down on a big orange rubber ball at the best of times, and considering it didn't help - but rather hinder - getting from A to B, it could be labelled a bit pointless, really... They didn't enable you to jump higher, go faster or run further than you could on foot. But you had to have one.
The space hopper (Hippity Hop in America) was invented by Italian, Aquilino Cosani in 1968, though he referred to it then as the Pon-Pon, and it was launched in Britain just as trance/rave culture was picking up speed in the summer of '71. This may help provide some explanation behind the trend, and space hoppers went on to make appearances at Glastonbury and Birmingham psychedelic trance parties well into the 90s.
Despite being marketed as 'the amazing inflatable riding ball', its design was pretty simple. The earliest space hoppers were made of red or blue rubber, inflated via an internal valve system, reaching up to around 20 inches. These days though, adult versions are available too, enabling the children of the 70s to relive their bouncing glory days - this time with fewer grazes on their knees.
Each hopper featured two handles on the top so you could keep your balance - but still many kids ended up flying right over these very handles after things got out of control! It really wasn't the safest toy around - its saving grace was its apparent inability to burst, although we had a good try at it. But it was great fun, especially when your mates lines up on theirs and you raced each other to the end of the playing field.
The majority of space hoppers had a smiley, kangaroo's face painted on the front, but kids were also treated to themed hoppers in the late 70s, which featured plastic moulds of Disney characters, including Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, on the front. Despite such efforts, though, the US Hoppity hop went out of production and the Space Hopper's popularity is sporadic. So, let's hope the people of Folkestone might spark a revival after they broke the world record for the most people hopping simultaneously, taking it to 1000 people on 4th July 2006.
Other space hopper world records of note include the fastest time for 100m on a space hopper, which was set by Ashrita Furman in 2004 when she did it in just 30.2 seconds. And Ashrita also set the fastest mile on a space hopper in January 2005. Fancy setting your own record?
Do You Remember Space Hoppers?
Do You Remember Space Hoppers?
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Anonymous
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I had one many years ago. I used to hide it in my closet , and because I was a bit tall it had alot of air in it. One day my girlfriend saw it and started to ride it around the house and it exploded. BOY WAS IT LOUD.
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Anonymous
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I'm 34, and had an orange spacehopper, a classic! I used to play with it on the lawn outside our house. My main memory is bouncing high, for some reason letting go, and taking a wack on the head when i landed, lucky it was on grass. Still didn't stop me using it on concrete!
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Anonymous
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I had a small blue space hopper when I was little but had to share it with my brother - needless to say, I didn't get much of a look in! I've since bought a much larger pink racing hopper and have races down my hill with my neighbour. p.s. in answer to someone elses posting - the term 'hippity hop' is the American name for them.
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Anonymous
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I got a classic orange one, it was bloody hard work as I recall. My sister got a Ronco Sewing machine which sewed her finger and then went wrong.
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Anonymous
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my space hopper was red and the handle was rupert the bear with his arms stretched out , sadly i put him near the gas fire on boxing day and he swelled in one spot. I still hopped on him but he went off in a wonky direction after that.
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Anonymous
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I remember my sister and i at about 4-6 yrs old getting yellow ones we called them hippity hoppity or bouncy balls. I may be mistaken but i vagly remember the face being some kind of giraffe and the little "horns" was the handles...i recently got a new one for my daughter its red but with a plain handle and no "face"
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Anonymous
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I was so disappointed when I got my Space Hopper! It was not orange and it did not have the classic carrot ears! It was red and half the size of the original and had a bar like handle!I was devastated and to top it all when we had Space Hopper races down the street I always lost as for every one of my competitors bounces on their Space Hopper it took mine about three to catch up!
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Anonymous
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I had a classic orange one, I seem to remember the number on it being 76, but I could be wrong. I also had a small kiddies hopper, called something like a 'mini hopperoo', which was small, red with straight handle and some kind of face.
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Anonymous
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I'm only 20, so my memory only goes back so far, but I remember using one in kindergarden, once and thats about it. Anyway, I'm doing a project on the 80s and 90s, so if anyone can find any useful websites, please e-mail them to Kuriyami_The_Dark@hotmail.com. Thanks.
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Anonymous
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I kept mine all these years and I have just (yesterday) had it reinflated so my son Aulin (three yrs 6 months!) could use it - he was thrilled and so was I. Mine has a number 15 on its face - what number was yours? Tad leakey round the valve but a bit of blue tack appears to have worked.
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