JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post   Part of a long series on the History of Atomic and Nuclear Times and Weapons

At about the same time as the introductions of innumerable Atomic Cafes and Atomic Times and Atomic Bakeries and the application of the “atomic” prefix to just about any business (there at the tail-end of 1945), there were also atomic toys.  Unlike the business names, which generally had absolutely nothing to do with the atomic bomb (Atomic Safety Razor) or the atomic prefix, the toys generally did.  There were puzzles and bombing games and science projects and bombers and comics, and generally they involved the use of the atomic bomb.  I guess this could be a debate on the sins of commission versus the sins of omission.

Perhaps the most fantastic of the atomic toys was this 1946 “Atomic Bomber” arcade game by Mutoscope–“not for enormous destruction–but for enormous pleasure”:

[Images hosted at Pinrepair http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/atombom.htm]

Pinrepair writes:

“Description: Atomic Bomber, International Mutoscope, 8/46, came in two different versions using different backglasses. The first version had a see-through window on the backglass. The second version had a light up city being bombed, and also added clouds to the bomb viewer window. The player looks through a bomb viewer, and lines up a set of cross hairs to colored dots on the rotating drum. On the second version there’s a second clear drum with clouds on it, which makes the bomb viewing look more realistic (like a bombardier would see through a bomb drop window.) If a hit is achieved, a bomb blast is seen on the backglass.”–Pinrepair site

More images below, all from Pinrepair: