In a season-7 episode of Friends, " The One Where They All Turn Thirty", Phoebe bounced for a mile on a Hippity Hop. At its peak, when it was a national craze, we must have been selling 200,000 a year. Later, we did a Womble hopper and a four-legged animal hopper for preschool children, who held on to its ears. But none of them were anything like as successful. The term "space hopper" is more common in the United Kingdom. The toy is less familiar in the United States and may be known as a "hoppity hop", "hippity hop", or a "sit and bounce". A similar toy, popular in the United States in the 1980s, was the pogo ball, which has a hard plastic ring encircling the ball instead of a handle.

In the United States, the first mass-marketed hopping ball was a version of an earlier European toy—the Hoppity Hop, released by the Sun company after it introduced the ball in 1968 at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The space hopper was said to have been invented by Aquilino Cosani of Ledragomma, an Italian company that manufactured toy rubberballs. He patented the idea in Italy in 1968, and in the United States in 1971. Cosani called the toy PON-PON. It’s hard to believe that this is a debut, it’s so confidently written. This is a story that will sing to all’ Woman’s WayIn the United States, the first mass-marketed hopping ball (a version of an earlier European toy [ citation needed]) was the Hoppity Hop, released by the Sun company around 1968. Because of the market and media saturation by this toy, any such ball — regardless of origin — is now generally known in the U.S. by that name (or sometimes "hippity hop"). The space hopper is the inspiration of two emotes in the 2017 online multiplayer game Fortnite Battle Royale, "Bouncer" and "Ollie Bounce". [4] [5] This story will bounce joyfully through your heart, leaving you with a fresh belief in second chances’ A space hopper (also known as a moon hopper, skippyball, kangaroo ball, bouncer, hippity hop, hoppity hop, sit and bounce, or hop ball) is a rubber ball (similar to an exercise ball) with handles that allow one to sit on it without falling off. The user can attempt to hop around on the toy, using its elastic properties to move forward. A warm, witty, wholehearted glimpse inside a parallel universe. Genuine and touching . . . a delight’

Despite being marketed as 'the amazing inflatable riding ball', its design was pretty simple. The earliest space hoppers were made of red or blue rubber, inflated via an internal valve system, reaching up to around 20 inches. These days though, adult versions are available too, enabling the children of the 70s to relive their bouncing glory days - this time with fewer grazes on their knees.This is a magical, moving story about past and present, grief and healing, choices and yearning. A heart-warming, touching novel’ Platinum Incredibly moving, bittersweet and perceptive . . . a profound book that makes you think, makes you feel and makes you grateful for the family and friends you have around you’ The European Hop! balls appeared in the early 1990s and are still available. Made by Italy's Ledragomma/Ledraplastic, these are essentially the quality Gymnic exercise ball with a handle attached. The sizes of these balls range from the Hop! 45 to the Hop! 66 (66cm, about 26"). In the British crime drama Endeavour, episode "Apollo" (2019), a child is shown bouncing on a Space Hopper in a scene contemporaneous with the 1969 Apollo mission, consistent with the toy's 1968/1969 release in the UK.

In 1972, when I joined Wembley, the Space Hopper was already in our range. One of our team had seen a child in Italy playing on this bouncy thing, so took the idea, changed the handle into horns and created a creature that was meant to look like a space animal. Space hoppers were introduced to the United Kingdom in 1969. The Cambridge Evening News contained an advertisement for the hopper in November of that year [1] and described it as a trend. The space hopper became a major craze for several years and remained widely popular through the 1980s. The toy is sometimes considered a symbol of the 1970s. It seems that when Wembley developed their version of the Pon-Pon, they decided to change the shape from round to tear-shaped and alter the handle from a bar to two horns to make it look like an outer space creature (Ah-ha, I was wondering why the name went from Pon-Pon to Space Hopper!?). They also helped fuel the market for the toys by endorsing hopper recreational races with a local chain of family resort camps in the 1970s. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented novels…sounds odd but it works because of Fisher’s beautifully clear writing and the radiant sincerity of the heroine...Love, childhood, motherhood; whether you can or should fix the past, it’s all in this amazing book' Daily Mail

Mastermind board game

The Hoppity Hop sold steadily for decades, but by the 1990s, sales began to slip due to increased competition from foreign hoppers. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented novels . . . sounds odd but it works because of Fisher’s beautifully clear writing and the radiant sincerity of the heroine . . . Love, childhood, motherhood; whether you can or should fix the past, it’s all in this amazing book’ It's easy to see why skateboards, rollerboots and BMX's were so popular among kids in the 70s, but Space Hoppers? For one, it seems a little odd to be bouncing up and down on a big orange rubber ball at the best of times, and considering it didn't help - but rather hinder - getting from A to B, it could be labelled a bit pointless, really... They didn't enable you to jump higher, go faster or run further than you could on foot. But you had to have one. The European "Hop!" balls appeared in the beginning of the 1990s and are still available. Made by Italy's Ledragomma/Ledraplastic, these are essentially an exercise ball with a handle attached. The sizes of these balls range from the "Hop! 45" to the "Hop! 66" (66cm, about 26in). The Hop! 66 is still primarily child-sized. Demand for truly adult-proportioned hopping balls was met with two notable items: The first was Kitt 2000 Velp, of the Netherlands Mega Skippyballs, a large hopping ball that, by virtue of its size, was intended only for adult use. It came in three sizes: 120 centimetres (47in), 100 centimetres (39in), and 80 centimetres (31in).

Quirky, magical and wise. A wistful reflection on the love between a mother and daughter' Woman / Woman’s Weekly It is interesting to note that the Hoppity Hop's original targets (according to advertising materials) were adults as well as kids. Since the balls only inflated to around 20", however, it's doubtful any but the shortest hop-minded adults could have gotten much use out of one.It’s hard to believe that this is a debut, it’s so confidently written. This is a story that will sing to all’ The space hopper is a heavy rubber ball about 60–70 centimetres (24–28in) in diameter, with two rubber handles protruding from the top. A valve at the top allows the ball to be inflated by a bicycle pump or car tire pump. After it launched at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, it became more successful than I ever imagined. Over the years, we replaced the rigid plastic handle with a soft one that's the same material as the ball – and renamed it the Hop. We never licensed the design, so different kinds cropped up all over the world. In 1968 Ledragomma, my company, patented just the handle, so other companies could make their own versions with different handles and their own names, to get round the patent. We weren't worried: the market was big enough for all of us. A British company called Wembley made some changes to the design and called it the Space Hopper. The Americans called theirs the Hoppity Hop. Roger Brown, Wembley marketing director This is a magical, moving story about past and present, grief and healing, choices and yearning. A heart-warming, touching novel’ The original space hopper in the United Kingdom was manufactured by Mettoy ( Mettoy-Corgi). Wembley made a similar model, which had smooth handles rather than the ribbed original. The orange kangaroo design is now available in adult-sized versions in the UK. [2]