Yes, son we played with those…

[harbl_the_cat]

Not sure why you think this was only available in small towns, I and many of my friends had them in Toronto 40 years ago.

Most other millennials my age I've met who grew up in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto were pretty sheltered as kids.

Growing up on the patch I was fortunate enough to do some cool stuff city kids never got to do.

[chrisc]

I may still have a plastic maze from when I was a kid that has a ball of mercury in it. You rocked it back and forth to get the ball of mercury to the center to win. It was remarkably difficult. Possession would probably get a guy life in prison now.

[4*60]

An uncle of mine involved in trucking brought me a 10lb plastic container of mercury so that I could play with it, demonstrate it.s affinity for gold and all of its properties while it rolled around in my bare hands and on our kitchen table etc.
I guess that explains a lot.

[RangeBob]

Sheye with a few quick shots! (Nerf+)
Sheye plays phenomenal support for her team The Sons of Tara at Winter War '22. This is a Belegarth event held in Selma, Alabama at Dalwhinnie Fields.
Nov 27 2022, 15 seconds

http://y2u.be/6y-hhfpdpfs

Come try Larp
https://www.youtube.com/@cometrylarp

[Greglc]

I had an Italian friend, 5 lb pill bottle of mercury, like you, we rolled it around our bare hands. But he also had 5 gallon buckets of powdered aluminum, magnesium and a few other things that when combined, and put into toilet paper rolls, wrapped well with duck tape, ( or whatever it was then, probably not duck tape ) and lit with the fuse that he somehow also had a roll of, you get a nice 5 foot blue fireball and a good thump in the chest from explosion 20 feet away. Yes I said 20 ft, for all you people that look at the fireworks nowadays that says stay back 100 meters. But we also chased each other with Roman candles, you know, brand new down filled coats in the late 70s, went up pretty fast when hit with one. Those parents are probably still mad.

[Satain]

We even used to be able to take our cap roll guns to school and play cowboys and Indians during recess while the teachers watched and laughed.

That will also never happen again!

And one of the high schools I went to even had a rifle range on the premises for the army cadets to use with their .22lr rifles that also were kept on school property with some .303 Lee Enfield's for drill practice and a Bren as well but I'm not sure it was serviceable or just for instruction use. The army cadets had a secure room off the gym that they kept them in. It was just a small room with a padlock on a hasp and staple and today would take 5 seconds to defeat with a bolt cutter.

I used to collect the .22lr projectiles from the target trap each week after they had their practice shoot and my dad would melt them down to make fishing sinkers and a big round 2" thick base for punch stamping holes in leather belts and such other similar uses, it must have weighed 20lbs.

It may happen again.
Weak men cause hard times
Hard times make strong men
Life is very cyclical
So I strongly believe that it might be something similar like laser tag or something like that.
Couldn't be worse than what we did to pass the time. As if I was to say what happened when I was a kid I probably would get banned or thrown in jail now days lol

[Zinilin]

We even used to be able to take our cap roll guns to school and play cowboys and Indians during recess while the teachers watched and laughed.

That will also never happen again!...

Never forget that is was the reaction of the state and the police that made it dangerous for children to play with toy guns.
The danger only occurred when Gladys Kravitz call the state and requested that armed police confront children while they were playing.

It was the Police in the employ of the State that made playing with toy guns dangerous. The Police were the danger, not the toys.

If the police had instead charged Gladys Kravitz with being a public nuisance every time she called, Canada would be a better place today.

[M1917 Enfield]

Never forget that is was the reaction of the state and the police that made it dangerous for children to play with toy guns.
The danger only occurred when Gladys Kravitz call the state and requested that armed police confront children while they were playing.

It was the Police in the employ of the State that made playing with toy guns dangerous. The Police were the danger, not the toys.

If the police had instead charged Gladys Kravitz with being a public nuisance every time she called, Canada would be a better place today.

[SwissArmyMan]

I remember in my high school, we used to throw poppers at each other. Basically it was some sort of primer wrapped in piece of paper. When it hit something it pops. Fun times…

[Greglc]

Or elastic band and an unbent paper clip, that would leave a welt.