Ramagon 2: the toy in action
There are about 150 people who have stumbled across the Ramagon tribute I wrote last year, one or two at a time. I finally stumbled across some photographic evidence of the toys when I was scanning an old photo album last night. Here are some out of focus close-ups of three things I made with the Ramagon toy kits:
Sheath for a toy sword: I had a cheapo plastic toy sword which glowed in the dark, so it became both a medieval sword and a lightsaber. Since it wasn’t a real lightsaber, it needed someplace to stay when I wasn’t posing like Luke Skywalker, so I built a simple sheath for it. You can see the basic symmetry of the Ramagon toys in the photo: they did pyramidal very well, and it was easy to link them together into a strong boxlike structure.
Holster for a toy gun: Just as the Ramagon hubs could do pyramids, it was trivially simple to make cubes with them. Add a pyramid at the end to taper the gizmo, extend one end with a square for a belt loop, and cover the frame with the plastic snap-in panels, and presto: very uncomfortable and big holster. There’s a very cringe inducing “action shot” of the holster and the sheath on Flickr; in my defense, it was 1982.
Toy gun: This was the coolest of the three toys, and I’m sorry I don’t have a better picture. A combination of a long hex frame and some closely snapped together hubs, and the illustration shows the short connectors (the black piece here used for the “trigger” and to secure the close clusters at the end of the gun) that I had forgotten existed. “Action shot” here (not me in the picture).
Hello,back in 1982 in Milwaukie OR
I built the plastic mold for that
toy.
David, that’s awesome. There’s a real dearth of information about Ramagon out there–thanks for commenting.
Hello……….I am Richard’s wife and Randall’s mother. It is still hard to believe that this wonderful, creative toy never became a household word. Every child we knew loved to play with Ramagon. It was a labor of love.
I have 500 shares of stock from 1983, can somebody please lead me to some information about this????
Ramagon Toys, Inc., the public company is no more. Most of us took the write off years ago, If remember the IRS rules, you can write it off the year you find this out. Check on it. I liked the certificate and have one of mine framed. Now if someone has about $15 million, the company can be put back together….write me…It was fun to do the first time and now we know what NOT to do, as it would make a good internet business for someone who really wants to take the time. (Nothing keeps you younger than working with children learning while playing.) I was the first financial person in the 1977 start up.
I pulled out my Ramagon toys from my youth, and my 6 year old son is LOVING this toy! He’s putting together all sorts of stuff. The sticks break a little easily, but otherwise, this toy rocks. Please make it again, and I bet you can sell it. (Make money, well, that might be another story!)
hi,
the only reason i know of this toy, is because it is featured in the 1984 film ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’. in one scene within a toy store, it is on the shelf near the cash registers. i paused this scene because the box cover interested me (i was born in 1977 so all those 80′s toys i am very fond of).. and saw the word ‘Ramagon’ and i googled it.. it reminds me of Tinker Toys but a little more technical perhaps?
.. i remember having Construx as a little kid, and Erector sets.. this Ramgaon seems unsung!
-mike
skeletal77@yahoo.com
A marvelous construction set. Wasn’t it used to build a space station in the movie, Star Trek: TMP? I purchased a few set off of eBay a couple of years ago. Useful for building techie displays. People are stupid, why else wouldn’t this be a runaway hit?
This was a great toy!
I also liked that it would have flat parts, that LEGOs would connect to.
I bought the biggest kit, back in the day. I have about 3 pieces left….
I came across your blog while feeling nostalgic about my 90s Ramagon set. There’s a part of me that wants to jumpstart the company just so I can get more sets! Heheh, maybe someday…
As a high school math teacher I looked high and low for something that I could use as 3D model for demonstrating an x,y,z coordinate system. Even the new educational tools of smart boards is still only 2 dimensional. I too remembered the Ramagons and pulled out the set my eldest son used years ago. Using ebay I have amassed enough to build a 5 by 5 short rod model using a red hub for (0,0,0)
My students build it and we use it and it is wonderful.
For the teacher of math….
Math U See is a must and 3 dimensional. http://www.Math U See.com
While looking for uberstix, for my grandson, I remembered severial sets of ramagon I bought in a closeout sale. I enjoyed them for uite a while(still have them in storage). I remember Bachman as the distributer out of Philadelphia. At that time I couldn’t afford there price and shipping. I thought it was a great building toy. I seem to remember seeing something like it at the Space Camp display Alabama.
I find it interesting someone mentioned ramagon fit LEGO blocks. My grandson and I enjoy the Indiana Jones series of LEGO(most sets). I see serious digging around in the attic in our near future.
Anyone know where I can buy a boxed Ramagon System? Ebay has one or two, but boxes are missing. Desire to buy as gift for kid who remembers playing with it.
I had these! I wondered if anyone else even remembered they existed . . . What I remember most about them, though, is they were extremely hard to disassemble! Those rods got stuck in the “ball” pieces and it was tough getting them out again . . . Still, I remember them fondly! Very cool!
My 8-year-old grandson LOVES the set I kept from when his dad was little! Now, however, the stick end tips are breaking one by one. I would love to buy another set for my grandson for Christmas. Does anyone have one they might sell? Please email me, if you do…Thanks!
I have several unopened sets!!
I am trying to reach Richard Gabriel. Does anyone have contact info?
LOVE this toy – and so have all 3 of my boys. Wish the stick ends and yellow connectors didn’t break off, as the # of usable parts keeps shrinking with each boy
Wow you just took me back. My mom worked for Ramagon back in the day. She was management, of some sort, at the injection moulding plant where they made and packaged them. I had so many of the things that we would build space ships, race cars, suits of armor, all big enough to get in.
The big flaw of Ramagon was the type of plastic that was used to make them. Something that could easily be over come today.
I have pics, some of the storage boxes, and a big cloth Ramagon bag full of the balls, but few of the connection rods.
It would be very cool to see this on the market again.
I still have my Ramagons, I was an enjoyable toy. The one thing I wanted to build was the “Space City” on the back of the box. But I didn’t have enough.
There is another toy a lot like Ramagons.
http://zometool.com/
It’s close to the old Ramagons, but it lacks the sci-fi feel of Ramagons.
I too would like to see a return of this toy.