How K’NEX Went From Rejected Idea to 90s Toy Craze

K’NEX was one of the most memorable 90s toys — but its story started with an idea that some of the biggest names in the toy business rejected. In the early 1990s, the idea behind K’NEX was reportedly rejected by some of the biggest names in the toy industry. Mattel, LEGO, Tyco Toys and Hasbro all passed on the concept. But Joel Glickman didn't give up. What started with plastic drinking straws at a wedding eventually became a completely different kind of construction toy. Instead of stacking blocks, K’NEX used rods, connectors, wheels, gears, pulleys and chains to let kids build structures that could actually move. By 1992, K’NEX was being test-marketed through Toys “R” Us and independent toy stores. By 1994, U.S. sales had reached around $44 million. But getting K’NEX onto store shelves wasn't always easy. Walmart reportedly rejected the product because of its relatively high price. Instead, K’NEX leaned into what made it different: bigger builds, moving machines and spectacular demonstrations. The Big Ball Factory became one example of how powerful that idea could be. It was difficult to explain K’NEX with a box full of loose pieces. But once you saw the balls moving through tracks, gears and mechanisms, the concept made sense. The story didn't stop in America. K’NEX found a particularly strong market in Europe, eventually reaching roughly $70 million in European sales by 1997 and becoming the number two construction-toy brand behind LEGO in the region. And then K’NEX got really big. In 1996, K’NEXploration arrived at Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science, bringing together around two million K’NEX pieces in an exhibition filled with enormous creations, working machines and interactive building activities. For kids growing up in the 1990s, K’NEX offered something different from the other toys on the shelf. LEGO had bricks. K’NEX had frameworks. And the question was no longer simply what you could build. It was: How big can you build it? In this video • The strange story behind the creation of K’NEX • Why major toy companies reportedly passed on the idea • Joel Glickman and the famous drinking-straw story • K’NEX and the Toys “R” Us breakthrough • The rise of construction toys in the early 1990s • Why K’NEX was different from traditional building blocks • The Walmart rejection • The Big Ball Factory • K’NEX's expansion into Europe • K’NEXploration at Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science • How K’NEX competed with LEGO • Why K’NEX became such a memorable 90s toy If you remember K’NEX, Toys “R” Us, 90s toy aisles and the feeling of discovering a new construction set as a kid, this one is for you. 10 Hypes 10 Hypes looks back at the things America couldn't stop talking about, buying, watching, playing and obsessing over. From 90s nostalgia and 90s toys to TV, music, fashion, technology, food and cultural crazes, we revisit the hypes and obsessions that defined different moments in time. From the 80s and 90s to the 2000s and beyond, these are the stories behind the things you remember — and the things you may have completely forgotten. Remember it? We’ll tell the story behind it. #KNEX #90sNostalgia #90sToys #90s #Nostalgia #RetroToys #ToysRUs #LEGO #ConstructionToys