1

The frisbee

Image: Robin Jonathan Deutsch

The best things are often created by accident, and you never know when that accident will strike. For example, did you know the Frisbee was born from a humble cake pan?

In 1938, Fred Morrison and his girlfriend were tossing a pan around on a beach in Connecticut when a passerby offered to buy it. That moment sparked an idea that stayed with Morrison through his service in World War II, where he learned about aerodynamics and began to dream of creating the perfect flying disk. After several failed attempts, he finally hit on a design in the 1950s, calling it the "Pluto-Platter."

Enter Wham-O, a company known for quirky toys like the Hula-Hoop. They bought the rights in 1957, gave it the now-iconic name "Frisbee" (inspired by Yale students tossing pie tins from the Frisbie Pie Company), and refined the design. The Frisbee took off—quite literally—spinning its way into parks, beaches, and backyards across America.

2

The slinky

Image: Adam Valstar

The slinky was also the result of accidental creativity in 1943 when Richard James, a naval engineer, knocked a spring off a shelf and noticed it "walked" in a curious way. Intrigued, he refined the design, and with his wife Betty’s help, they turned it into a toy sensation. Although the name was purely her idea!

In 1945, a demo at Gimbels Department Store sold 400 units in 90 minutes, and the Slinky quickly became a household name.

Without going into too much detail, Richard later took a wrong turn, and it was Betty who stepped in as CEO, saving the company from financial ruin. She even commissioned the iconic Slinky jingle! Under her leadership, the Slinky sold 300 million units before she finally sold the company in 1998. Talk about female power, huh?

3

The Ferris wheel

Image: Steve Shreve

Did you know the Ferris wheel was named after a person? That person was George Ferris who, in 1893, introduced the Ferris wheel at the Chicago Columbian Exposition.

Ferris, a young engineer, proposed the idea of a massive steel wheel that would rival the Eiffel Tower both in size and symbolism. He certainly set quite the challenge for himself!

Though initially rejected, Ferris funded his own research to prove the design’s safety, and his persistence paid off. The Ferris wheel became the star attraction—naturally since it stood 250 feet tall and offered visitors a thrilling 20-minute ride for fifty cents.

Sadly, Ferris’s success was short-lived. After the fair, he faced legal battles and financial ruin, and so the original wheel had one last appearance at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 before being destroyed.

4

Gatorade

Image: Jacob Rice

Sports legends become such because they strive to get better. And because they had a good coach who had their back. An example of a coach who went above and beyond was that of Florida’s football team.

In 1965, the Florida Gators’ football coach asked a group of professors if there was a way to help players reload fluids lost during games. Led by Dr. Robert Cade, the team created a mix of water, sodium, sugar, and lemon juice, later called "Gatorade," you can imagine why.

Of course, the first few versions tasted awful, but after some adjustments, the drink became more palatable. The Gators credited their improved performance, including their 1967 Orange Bowl win, to this new beverage.

No gatekeeping on the teams’ side, word spread, and by 1970, Gatorade was under the national spotlight when the Kansas City Chiefs used it in their Super Bowl victory.

5

The super ball

Image: Shubham Dhage

Some toys became popular after being discovered to be useless for anything else! That was the case with the Super Ball.

In 1964, chemist Norman Stingley invented a unique synthetic rubber but couldn't find an industrial use for it. However, he quickly found a solution: he turned to Wham-O, the toy company behind the Hula-Hoop and they released the Super Ball in 1966. The ball, made from the secret ingredient "Zectron," could bounce to incredible heights.

Aside from the fun, we have something else to thank the Super Ball for—it inspired the name of one of the biggest events in sports today. Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, saw his daughter play with the toy and jokingly suggested to NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle that the first championship game between the NFL and AFL should be called the "Super Bowl." The rest is history!

6

Fritos

Image: Roberto Carlos Román Don

Few things are as American as snacks, don’t you think? Let’s take a look at how Fritos came to be!

In 1932, Charles E. Doolin, a San Antonio confectioner, was looking for a new product when he bought a fried corn recipe from a man named Gustavo Olguin for $100.

After tweaking the recipe, Doolin created bite-sized corn chips called Fritos, which quickly became a hit. By 1933, Fritos were being mass-produced, and Doolin pioneered new marketing strategies, like direct stocking and placing clip-racks near cash registers—making his product even more accessible. (We all fall for that one, don’t deny it!)

But that’s not all. Doolin’s business success led him to invest in Disneyland, where his "Casa de Fritos" restaurant accidentally gave birth to Doritos.

7

Crossword puzzle

Image: Ross Sneddon

It feels like the crossword puzzle has been around forever, but it wasn’t actually invented until 1913. Arthur Wynne, working for the New York World newspaper, was asked to create a challenging puzzle for the "Fun" section. The concept of fun is indeed a time-sensitive concept!

The inspiration came from a childhood word game: he designed a puzzle with clues instead of words and the first crossword was published on December 21, 1913. Want to hear a fun fact? One of the clues was "What this puzzle is." The answer? "Hard."

And this invention is full of interesting tidbits. For instance, the name "Cross-word" was the result of a typing mistake—but it stuck! And, over a hundred years later, here we are!

8

Alka-Seltzer

Image: Daniel Gregoire

Alka-Seltzer was born in 1928 when Hub Beardsley, president of the Dr. Miles Medical Company, noticed a local newspaper staff staying healthy during a flu epidemic. The editor told him their secret: aspirin with baking soda dissolved in water. Inspired by this, Beardsley asked his chief chemist, Maurice Treneer, to create a remedy based on the idea, leading to a compound of aspirin, bicarbonate of soda, and Vitamin C. When Beardsley tested it on flu sufferers, the results were promising—and Alka-Seltzer was born.

You can imagine what happened next, a strong advertising campaign in the 1930s, turned Alka-Seltzer into the go-to remedy for everything from colds to hangovers. The company rebranded as Miles Laboratories in 1935 and was later acquired by Bayer in 1979. Even today, Alka-Seltzer remains a staple of American medicine cabinets.

9

Zamboni

Image: Aleksi Partanen

One would think that a machine like the Zamboni, which is used to make ice smooth was created in a place like Alaska, right? Or at least a place where snow is present almost all year round. Surprisingly, it wasn’t—the Zamboni was invented in sunny Paramount, California.

Frank Zamboni, a man who came from the ice and refrigeration business, built the machine to save time at his Skateland Skating Rink. Before the Zamboni, resurfacing the ice was a 90-minute task done manually by five workers. Can you imagine how tedious that must have been?

Using parts from an airplane, oil derrick, Jeep, and wooden bin, Zamboni created a machine that could clean and smooth the ice in only a few minutes. Realizing its potential, Zamboni turned his invention into a business, with the first orders coming from Olympic skater Sonja Henie and the Chicago Black Hawks.

10

Baseball scoreboard

Image: Taiki Ishikawa

It goes without saying that baseball is one of Americans’ favorite pastimes. Everything about it is fun; it’s not just the game.

In the late 1800s, English immigrant Harry M. Stevens saw that and made the most of it. After moving to Ohio, Stevens started a business providing food and drinks at baseball games and eventually secured contracts with major league ballparks. While he’s often credited with popularizing the hot dog, his real innovation was the creation of the modern baseball scorecard. Using Henry Chadwick's shorthand scoring system, Stevens designed a simple grid fans could use to track the game. Does the phrase "You can't tell the players without a scorecard" ring any bells?

Stevens’s scorecard caught on, and fans began scoring games themselves. Today, his scorecard system is still in use, and we all love it!

1

Blockbuster

During the 1980s and 1990s, Friday night often meant one thing for American families: a trip to Blockbuster. Browsing the aisles for a movie, debating what to watch, and grabbing popcorn at the counter became a weekly routine. But nothing lasts forever.

Born in 1985, Blockbuster conquered the massive home-video market with thousands of stores by the late 1990s and early 2000s, catering to families with at-home VCRs. Then technology changed everything. First came DVD-by-mail services like Netflix, followed by streaming, which left Blockbuster struggling. Late fees and inconvenience only pushed more customers away. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Today, just one official store remains in Bend, Oregon, where visitors still stop by for a dose of the video-store era.

2

Kodak

Back in the day, almost every vacation, birthday, wedding, or holiday gathering seemed to include a Kodak camera, or at least a roll of Kodak film. Founded in 1881, Kodak helped keep the moments that filled family photo albums for generations.

From the 1960s through the 1990s, Kodak dominated the world of film and photography. But that success also made the company slow to accept that technology was changing. Ironically, Kodak helped invent one of the first digital cameras in 1975, yet it hesitated to embrace the future. By the 1990s and 2000s, digital cameras (and later camera phones) quickly replaced traditional film. In 2012, the company declared bankruptcy.

3

Pan Am

Long before flying became an everyday experience, Pan American World Airways, better known as Pan Am, was already carrying Americans across the world. It was founded in 1927, and during the 1960s and 1970s, the airline became a symbol of glamorous air travel.

Its famous blue globe logo was instantly recognizable, even to those who rarely flew. But by the late 1970s, rising competition, fuel costs, and financial troubles began weakening the company. After years of mounting losses and debt, Pan Am shut down in 1991. Even so, its fame was such that even today, more than 30 years later, we still remember it.

4

Woolworth’s

Before Woolworth's made the "five-and-dime" famous, shopping in America looked very different. For decades, Americans visited Woolworth’s for everything from toys and school supplies to household goods and everyday essentials. By the 1960s, the brand had become a familiar part of American life.

Created in 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth, the chain grew into one of the country’s largest retailers. But in the 1970s, malls and discount giants like Walmart changed the way Americans shopped, and Woolworth struggled to keep up. By the 1980s, the iconic chain was slowly disappearing. Most stores closed during the 1990s, and the Woolworth retail chain officially ended in 1997.

5

Circuit City

Testing giant stereo systems, browsing rows of CDs and video games, and shopping for the newest TV were all part of the experience at Circuit City, once one of America’s biggest electronics chains.

Founded in 1949 by Samuel S. Wurtzel in Richmond, Virginia, as "Wards Company," the retailer adopted the Circuit City name in 1984. During the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, it became the go-to place for Americans buying a TV, stereo, computer, or any electronic device. But like many companies on this list, Circuit City struggled as shopping habits changed and online stores became more convenient. A controversial 2007 decision to lay off thousands of experienced employees further hurt the company’s reputation. Circuit City couldn’t survive mounting losses and closed all remaining stores in 2009.

6

Borders

Remember Borders? Born in 1971, its huge stores, filled with books, music, magazines, and cozy reading spaces, invited customers to spend entire afternoons there.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the rise of large shopping malls actually helped Borders thrive, turning its bookstores into popular destinations inside malls across the US. But eventually, the company ran into a challenge it couldn’t overcome: online shopping and digital reading. Competitors like Amazon surged ahead, while Borders struggled to adapt and made costly business decisions, including outsourcing its online sales to Amazon for years. The company collapsed financially in 2011 and soon closed all remaining stores.

7

Bugle Boy

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, teenage fashion became almost synonymous with Bugle Boy. Famous across the country for its casual jeans and memorable TV commercials, the brand became a major part of American mall culture and was sold in department stores nationwide.

But fashion never stands still, and brands have to constantly adapt to survive. By the late 1990s, newer youth-oriented labels had taken over with fresh styles that quickly made Bugle Boy seem outdated. Sales began to fall, and after years of struggling to keep up with changing trends, the company closed its stores in 2001.

8

Howard Johnson’s restaurants

During the 1960s and 1970s, a stop at Howard Johnson's was part of the classic American road-trip experience for many families, and that was no accident.

Founded in 1925 in Quincy, Massachusetts, the famous orange-roofed chain reached its peak when America’s expanding highways and booming car culture made roadside travel more popular than ever. But by the late 1970s and early 1980s, the growing popularity of fast-food chains like McDonald's began changing the way Americans ate on the road. Drivers increasingly wanted meals that were faster, cheaper, and more standardized, while interstate highways also redirected traffic away from many older roadside locations. Unlike some other brands on this list, Howard Johnson’s faded away slowly over the decades. The last restaurant finally closed in 2022.

9

Burger Chef

In 1958, a name emerged as one of the pioneers of America’s growing fast-food industry: Burger Chef. By the late 1960s, the chain had more than 1,000 locations across the country and had become one of McDonald's’s biggest competitors.

Long before Happy Meals became famous, Burger Chef helped popularize the idea of marketing meals directly to children with toys and themed publicity. But during the fast-food wars of the 1970s, competition became fiercer than ever. While McDonald’s and Burger King expanded by leaps and bounds, Burger Chef struggled with financial problems and changing consumer tastes. In 1982, the company was sold to Hardee's, which gradually converted most Burger Chef locations into Hardee’s restaurants.

10

Sports Authority

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, many Americans looking for running shoes, gym shorts, and sports gear headed straight to Sports Authority.

Known for its huge stores packed with athletic apparel, exercise equipment, bicycles, camping gear, and team sports products, Sports Authority became the ideal shopping destination for families and athletes across the US. But as online shopping rapidly changed retail in the 2000s, the company struggled to adapt. Heavy debt from expansion efforts and a slow shift to e-commerce eventually caught up with the chain. Sports Authority declared bankruptcy in 2016 and closed all remaining stores later that year.

1

Young inventor

Image: Randy Fath

Although we all know that Edison was an inventor -and one of the best- very few know that his passion was already loudly expressed at the young age of 10.

At that age, while other children were naturally playing ball in the park, Edison was already interested in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and electricity. At 12, he set up his first laboratory in the basement of his parents' house, where he began to do his first experiments! Some stories claim that explosions in the basement were more frequent than their parents would have liked.

2

Self-taught

Image: Nicola Tolin

Edison's educational path was very different from the one many of us probably had. In fact, Edison had almost no formal education.

Thomas Edison attended school for only a few months. Due to some hearing problems he developed as a child, his mother decided to homeschool him, teaching and encouraging him, which awakened his impressive curiosity and appetite for knowledge.

By the time he was a preteen, he was already an autodidact. This fact was crucial on his way to becoming one of our country's most important inventors.

3

Young entrepreneur

Image: Jingda Chen

The young Edison was not only curious and intelligent; he was also an entrepreneur.

When he was just a boy of 12, he sold snacks, candy, cigars, magazines, and newspapers on the Grand Trunk Railroad. From that age, he displayed a determined character, which enabled him to raise money for his experiments.

But his ambition was so strong that he started his own newspaper, the Grand Trunk Herald. That's right! Little Edison assembled and printed his newspaper and sold it to passengers and people who frequented the train stations.

4

Hero

Image: Sugden Guy sugden

Did you know that Edison was also a hero? That's right!

In fact, we could say that his act of heroism as a teenager was the event that started his great career. By the age of 15, Edison was working and traveling on the Grand Trunk Railroad, where he became close to a station master and telegraph officer. One day, Edison spotted the station master's two-year-old son playing on the tracks as a train sped toward him. Without hesitation, he jumped and rescued the child.

The boy's father was so grateful that he offered to teach Edison how to use the telegraph system. And what do you think? He accepted immediately!

5

Marriages

Image: Fernando @cferdophotography

Between labs and experiments, Thomas Edison also had time for love.

Thomas Alva Edison married twice in his life. His first wife was Mary Stilwell Edison, whom he married in 1871. Mary and Thomas had three children. Sadly, she passed away in 1884 after 13 years of marriage.

His second marriage was in 1886 to Mina Miller Edison. With her, Edison had three more children. As it couldn't be otherwise, it's said that Edison asked Mina to marry him in a rather peculiar way: he proposed using Morse code!

6

His children's nicknames

Image: Sandie Clarke

Thomas Edison's creativity was evident in everything he did, and there's an anecdote that exemplifies this perfectly.

The inventor's passion and humor blended and resulted in fun and loving nicknames for his first two children. As we told you, by 1876, Edison already had two children from his first marriage. They were Marion and Thomas Jr., whom Edison called "Dot" and "Dash," respectively. Yes, you got it: it was a reference to Morse code!

7

First phonograph recording

Image: Call Me Fred

As you probably know, in 1877, Thomas Edison introduced the phonograph. It was the first device capable of recording and reproducing sound!

As a result of his experiments, this device completely changed the history of communication. But what did the first recording made with the phonograph say?

Edison made a cute choice for his first recording: a recitation of the beloved nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb." That was the first time in history that anyone heard a previously recorded voice!

8

His work team

Image: The National Library of Norway

It seems that Edison had a tendency for affectionate nicknames and monikers.

Edison didn't reserve nicknames just for his children; he also gave them to the members of his large staff. Many people worked in Edison's famous laboratory at Menlo Park, which he referred to as his "invention factory." Engineers, scientists, technicians, and people with different kinds of expertise gathered there to help make the great inventor's ideas possible. Edison affectionately referred to them as his "muckers," a nickname that shows not only his sense of humor but also his strong team spirit.

9

His health

Image: Dan Meyers

One of the best-known aspects of Edison's health was his hearing loss when he was very young. Contrary to what one might think, Edison stated that this fact didn't negatively affect his career development. In fact, he believed it helped him focus and dedicate more time to his inventions and discoveries.

However, as an adult, he developed some other health problems. Some sources suggest that Edison's habits, including long hours in the lab and a poor diet, contributed to health issues like heart problems and diabetes.

10

His last words

Image: Jonathan Borba

Edison's life was full of adventures, discoveries, love, and many other things. The American inventor didn't abandon his creativity even when it was time for him to leave this world.

It's said that, at the age of 84 on his deathbed, Thomas Edison looked at his wife, Mina, and uttered the words, "It's very beautiful over there."

While it's difficult to make a unique interpretation of these nice and calm words, their poetic and inspirational character is undeniable.