Game Room Challenges and Computer Labyrinths: The Sears Wish Book, 1981

By Michael Grasso / September 28, 2026 Object Name: Sears 1981 Wish Book: Toys and Games Maker and Year: Sears, Roebuck & Co., 1981 Object Type: Catalog pages Image Source: Catalogs & Wishbooks (https://christmas.musetechnical.com/) Description: (Michael Grasso) The Sears catalog was, by the outset of the 1980s, an American institution nearly a century in the making, providing an A-to-Z inventory of mail-order household goods for even the most far-flung consumers in the United States. In 1980, Sears was doing revenues of $25 billion and its retail dominance seemed unassailable. The company introduced its Christmas “Wish Book” in 1933 in the middle of the Great Depression, a catalog wholly devoted to gift-giving ideas, primarily for children. The 1981 edition featured over 650 pages of merchandise from clothes to home decor to appliances and electronics. But the real draw for every kid at the time was the back quarter of the tome, which contained toys of all types for all ages. A…