Burt Meyer, the inventor behind popular toys such as Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, Lite-Brite, and MouseTrap, has died at the age of 99. Meyer passed away on October 30 at King-Bruwaert House in Burr Ridge, Illinois, according to Rebecca Mathis, the retirement community’s executive director.
Meyer’s work came during a time when advances in plastic molding and mass production were changing how children played in postwar America. His designs took advantage of these new technologies and became staples for generations.
The idea for Lite-Brite emerged in 1966 when Meyer was walking with Marvin Glass in Manhattan. They saw a window display filled with colored lights. Despite doubts from engineers about adapting electric lights safely for children, Meyer believed it could be done. Tim Walsh, who interviewed Meyer for his book “Timeless Toys,” wrote: “There’s billions of ideas out there, but executing them into a final creative solution is often the hard part.”
Meyer designed Lite-Brite as a backlit box using black paper sheets so kids could make illuminated patterns. The toy became a hit and was later recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 greatest toys and inducted into the Strong National Museum of Play’s hall of fame. Updated versions are still available today.
He also contributed to turning an arcade boxing game into Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots after concerns arose about marketing a toy related to boxing injuries. “This is too good to pass up,” Meyer recalled saying in a 2010 interview. “Let’s take it away from humanity, let’s make it robots. And we won’t have them fall over, we’ll have something funny happen.” The resulting game featured players controlling robots’ fists with joysticks; victory came when one robot’s head popped up.
Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots maintained its cultural presence over decades, including an appearance in “Toy Story 2” and an announced live action movie adaptation by Mattel in 2021.
In the mid-1980s, Meyer founded his own company, Meyer/Glass Design. The firm developed several best-sellers like Gooey Louie and Pretty Pretty Princess board game. His son Steve ran the business until 2006.
Born Burton Carpenter Meyer in 1926, he served two years as an aircraft mechanic in the Navy before entering toy design. After retiring from that industry, he lived in Downers Grove near Chicago where he built small planes and continued flying well into his eighties.
Meyer often compared designing toys to aerospace engineering: both required ingenuity and teamwork. He credited much of his success to collaboration at Marvin Glass & Associates: “When you’re flying the airplane, use every resource that you have in there. That’s why we were able to turn out so many successful products,” he said.
