I spent hours playing with Slime, and I really can't figure out why

Back in the 70s, the good people at the Mattel toy company came out with a product called Slime. It was exactly what you would assume it to be: oozing green slime.

It came in a little plastic green garbage can and the idea was pretty much just to play with it. There was no end goal or any sort of competition involved with Slime, unless of course you had contests to see who would dare to eat any of it.

You just sort of felt it, squeezed it, stretched it, and wrapped it around your arm or whatever, much like the kids in the vintage ad above. It should be noted, however, that I never came across anyone who, like the kid in the bottom left corner, turned criminally insane upon playing with Slime.

It wasn't a threat to stick to your clothes, really, but you did want to keep it out of your long, thick 70s hair, or there could be problems.

In later years, Mattel released Slime with Worms (which was purple and which I owned) and Slime with Eyeballs (which I think was green and which I did not own).

I can't decide whether Slime is a toy that works across generations and reflects a certain innocence on the part of all young kids, to the point that they can derive hours of amusement from it. Or whether it was something that only could have worked in the time when I grew up and was more a product of longer attention spans and less exposure to electronics.

Maybe both.

Either way, I can't tell you how much time I spent playing with my cans of Slime. The chemical smell of it still sticks in my head.

Not the taste, though. I never went that far.

As far as you know.