They have become such a mainstay of popular culture that a new word has been created to describe them – “kidults” – adults who still like to play with toys and games, and retailers are scrambling to get their business. In the past five years, sales of toys to adults have increased by two-thirds. “Pie Face from Hasbro. Wet Head from a company called Zing. Not only are they fun – you get hit in the face with a pie or drenched with a cup of water -- but you can take video and post it on You Tube,” suggests noted veteran toy expert Christopher Byrne, known as The Toy Guy, content creator for TTPM (Toys, Tots, Pets and More). A study by NDP Group finds sales are up 20% just in the past year. Byrne says the trend toward playing with toys long into adulthood is especially common among millennial men who never knew life without a video game at hand. “Video games have been part and parcel of today’s adults. We’ve seen the video game console moving from down in the basement where the kids are playing to now being center stage in the living room,” he says. And as adults, with disposable income, train sets can become elaborate operations with exquisite detail, Legos can be transformed into anything a mind can conceive, and archaic board games have become a transformative novelty. The fun, laughter and joy toys bring to childhood are finding a second lease on life!