Toys of the Seventies, Footsie

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Description
A plastic bell (or non-bouncy rubber ball) on a plastic rope (like a skipping rope)which was attached to a ring that you put around your ankle. You had to get the bell going around your ankle & then you jumped over the rope as it rotated around your ankle. All the rage...no elementary school girl in her right mind was without a Footsie
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User Stories and Comments

The following are comments left about Footsie from site visitors such as yourself. They are not spell checked or reviewed for accuracy.

Pam - February 15, 2009 - Report this comment
I loved my footsie - I had the ball version and went everywhere with it - wish I could get hold of one now as it would be excellent excercise
Sonia - March 23, 2009 - Report this comment
I had a footsie, must have been around '73 or so.It had a red bell and a green string with a yellow ring that you put your foot in and I still remember that song they played in the commercial "footsie yeah everybody wants one"
EILEEN - April 25, 2009 - Report this comment
MY SIS JUST CALLED AND ASKED THE NAME OF THE TOY THAT WENT AROUND YUR ANKLE, BUT FOOOTSIE DOESNT SOUND FAMILIAR??? THANKS ANYWAY
Julie - April 29, 2009 - Report this comment
I had one of these. It was called a "Lemon Twist" though...the ball was yellow and shaped like a lemon. Good times, good times.
Dory - August 21, 2009 - Report this comment
OMG yes I had a Footsie! Geez I was good at it, really had it whippin' around! lol And ya around 73 or so I think the year was.
Kathy - September 01, 2009 - Report this comment
I loved my footsie I played with it all the time I was a champ!
Kathy - September 01, 2009 - Report this comment
I loved my footsie I played with it all the time I was a champ!
Betty - September 13, 2009 - Report this comment
My husband just found a broken modern version of the footsie over at our local school playground. I was sooooooooo excited when I saw it and told him about mine in the late 60's. Yup! It had the red bell at the end of it and I was OUT OF MY MIND when my mom actually got it for me. Times sure have changed 40 years later ... I don't think kids get anywhere near as excited about stuff. I want to take this one, fix it, and play with it. Too bad I have a bad ankle, back, etc., but I'm going to try!!
Karla - September 13, 2009 - Report this comment
My daughter who is 10 wants one so bad but we can't seem to find one that is even similar.
AN - September 18, 2009 - Report this comment
Send an email to Hasbro and ask them to make it again! I loved my footsie! I am sure I would be as thin as I was when I was 12 if I had a footsie now! :)
Hazel - October 24, 2009 - Report this comment
I grew up in Barbados and loved this game it was one of the most played outside games and I was a champion on that and chinese skip another game which was played back then! So we did call it footsie and I would love to get hold of one, just for old time sake and yes like a shipping rope would still play it. Great exercise as well...they need to bring back many of the lost games played outdoors and get children away from only the hand held games.
leisha - April 26, 2010 - Report this comment
OMG!!!!!! Me and my sisters loved our footsie!
mcpeanut2 - May 06, 2010 - Report this comment
I dont remember it called a footies I just remember it being called the lemon twist...So loved it. the lemon part had something in it to make more noise
Sonia - May 19, 2010 - Report this comment
It was called a Footsie in the '70s but in the 80's they brought out one called the Lemon which had a black plastic rope with a lemon attached to it
Sonia - May 19, 2010 - Report this comment
I just found a website that shows the footsie http://www.timewarptoys.com/footsie.jpg. It's just like I remembered.Oh and yes there was also the lemon twist from the 70's as well as the Lemon in the 80's
Cheryl - May 31, 2010 - Report this comment
My mom would not buy my sister nor I a Footsie. :( We proceeded to make our own out of old Crisco can lids and tennis balls! My grandfather helped us to attach the ball to the rope and the lid.
June - September 07, 2010 - Report this comment
Why don't they make things like this anymore? Then they wonder why kids are obese. I loved my footsie. Was a champ with one on each foot. That link from Cheryl above is it - that's what my footsie looked like. Would sure love to get my hands on one now....
me - October 12, 2010 - Report this comment
I had 2 and did like June... Though they got tangled and I ended up in the ER and had over 50 stitches.
Cindy - December 20, 2010 - Report this comment
Absolutely, it was called a FOOTSIE. I don't think I went anywhere without it. I would walk to my friends house with one around my ankle and would FOOTSIE the whole way there and back. I have seen a modern version (about 2 years ago) and I didn't like it at all. I wish I could find one (red bell, green nylon cord attached it to the yellow disk that went around your ankle). I am also looking for a HIPPITY HOP. Anybody have any ideas about that???
Verity - February 16, 2011 - Report this comment
Oh my gosh! I played with this Footsie for hours, and just like Cindy, I hopped everywhere with it swinging around my ankle. I just answered a friends post on FB about things we used to do as kids for amusement as opposed to the electronic games for today's kids. My life as a kid was Chinese jump rope, my beloved Footsie, my bike, and Matchbox cars.
Pamela - April 16, 2011 - Report this comment
I loved the footsie, but I could only control 1 at a time. Some girls had 2 on each ankle and 1 on each wrist. They'd start 1 foot then the next and then the arms. I used to be mesmerized,and I wish I could hear that song, "Footsie yeah, everybody's having fun, Footsie yeah, I'm going round and round."
Linda - December 31, 2011 - Report this comment
i just woke from having a dream, and i was usig a footsie in it, but couldn't recall what it was called, so i had to google it, glad to find the name n nice to see i'm not the only one with great childhood time that were simple
Dee Wo - March 24, 2012 - Report this comment
Its still made today, but its made of plastic now and its now called Skip ball snd also skipper
Catherine - May 02, 2012 - Report this comment
I loved this toy and I was so good at it I could use one on each foot alternating both.
Nora - May 03, 2012 - Report this comment
There were 2 different versions of this toy. One may have been Footsie but there was another one too, which we can't remember but it had 3 syllables and was made by Wham-O.
Terri - May 11, 2012 - Report this comment
Mine had a green bell and I thought it was called a Jingle Jangle.
robin - May 24, 2012 - Report this comment
you all all wrong of the name it was called a leg-a-roo
Jackie - August 24, 2012 - Report this comment
My mom made mine and my sisters footies when we were chidren. ALL the neighborhood kids stopped playing with the store bought ones. They wanted mom to make one for them!
sandie - March 19, 2013 - Report this comment
Back in the late 60's or early 70's I had one and we called it a Bell Hop. Don't recall it being called a Footsie. Loved it. Wish I could find the original.
Marital puerto rico - March 30, 2013 - Report this comment
I loved my footsie, and I am still the champ at it. I found one two years ago but is was an Easter yellow egg instead of a bell. My 7 year grandson tried to win me, but no way, I am still the best. To bad it broke.
Joy - August 13, 2013 - Report this comment
Robin, the ones we bought in Georgia in early 70's was called Jingle Jangle. I can't believe anyone else remembered! I've been trying to find someone else who remembered it was called this. Another fad toy we had then was Wacky Clackers.
suzi phillips - September 29, 2013 - Report this comment
Had a footsie back in the late 60's. I loved it right up until it wrapped around a fence post and gave me a concussion!
Betsy Ross - October 19, 2013 - Report this comment
We had this toy in the 50's & 60's. It was called "Skip-Bo".
V - November 13, 2013 - Report this comment
I just found my original Footsie when my granddaughters asked me to buy them Skip-it for them for Chanuka. The way they described it reminded me of my Footsie and found mine. It is the same thing as the Skip-it, just a different name. Another toy I loved so much we're Click Claks... Have to go and look for my original ones!
debbie - August 10, 2014 - Report this comment
older version was a Jingle Jump
Rob Lambert - November 08, 2014 - Report this comment
Found an ad for this in a DC comic book dated July, 1969. It was spelled F O O T S E E. Unable to find the company that made these, possibly an off-brand one named Market Promotions, according to the ad. The logo is of a cartoon girl swinging a Footsee from each leg, google eyes in the two O's of the name, and the slogan, "America's Swinging Sensation." The ad features a sweepstakes contest titled, "Personally Yours," in which kids mailed in the cardboard header from a Footsee toy to be eligible to win different prizes. The grand prize was a biggee, including $1,000 in pennies and a color TV set! Pretty ritzy for 1969.
Rob Lambert - October 12, 2015 - Report this comment
Discovered in another Footsee ad that the 1969 "Personally Yours" promo was in conjunction with RCA, which supplied the electronics as prizes. Not sure if RCA also furnished the 2,000 penny rolls.
Todd Larson - December 05, 2021 - Report this comment
I fondly remember Footsie from the swingin' '60s, as well as its competitor, Whirl-'n'-Skip. They were great fun.
WildwingSuz - January 11, 2022 - Report this comment
I sprained my ankle on one of these around '74 and have been trying for years to remember what it was. Now I can prove to my husband that it really happened.

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