Burt Meyer, the inventive toy designer behind classics such as Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Lite-Brite and Mouse Trap, has died at 99. He passed away on Oct. 30, Rebecca Mathis, executive director of the King-Bruwaert House in Burr Ridge, Illinois, where he lived, said.
Meyer rose to prominence in the 1960s as plastic molding and mass production reshaped play, letting designers build toys that were more mechanical, colorful and interactive. With a blend of childlike imagination and engineering skill, he turned those possibilities into enduring products.
The idea for Lite-Brite came in 1966 while Meyer, then working at Marvin Glass & Associates, was walking in Manhattan with Marvin Glass, owner of one of the biggest toy design firms of the era. They passed a storefront filled with rows of colored lights. Engineers worried about exposing children to electricity, but Meyer saw a safer approach. He developed a small backlit box and black overlay sheets so kids could press colored pegs into patterns that glowed from behind. Lite-Brite became a hit, was named among Time magazine’s 100 greatest toys and earned induction into the Strong National Museum of Play’s hall of fame. New versions remain on the market decades later.
Meyer also reworked a failed home-arcade boxing idea into Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. After reports that a featherweight boxer had died from a brain injury, executives thought any toy modeled on the tragedy would be unmarketable. Rather than abandon the concept, Meyer replaced human fighters with plastic robots and turned the climax into a comic pop: players use joysticks to jab at an opponent’s jaw until a spring-loaded head pops up. The tabletop game became a cultural touchstone, appearing in Toy Story 2 and drawing fresh attention when Mattel announced plans for a live-action film adaptation in 2021.
In the mid-1980s Meyer formed his own firm, Meyer/Glass Design, which produced other hits including Gooey Louie and Pretty Pretty Princess. His son Steve ran the company until 2006, according to The New York Times.
Born Burton Carpenter Meyer in 1926, he served two years in the Navy as an aircraft mechanic. Later in life, after retiring from toy design, he moved to Downers Grove, Illinois, where he built and flew small airplanes from a nearby private airfield well into his 80s. Meyer often compared aerospace engineering and toy making, saying both require ingenuity and teamwork and urging people to ‘use every resource’ available when flying. He credited the collaborative atmosphere at Marvin Glass & Associates for many of his successes.
Meyer’s affection for his work showed in small details: his car bore the vanity plate TOYKING, and he took pleasure in telling strangers his job and hearing them respond, ‘Oh, I played with that.’