QUIZ: Are You A True Baby Boomer?

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The Baby Boomers are a breed of their own. Born in the economic and social boom after World War II, many of the things that Baby Boomers remember best about their childhoods have been replaced with new and improved technology, as well as major social change. Test your knowledge if you think you remember many things about a simpler time in American history. Warning: only true Baby Boomers (or expert historians) can get a passing score on this one! So take our quiz today, and be sure to share it with your friends for comparison.

What was the popular neighborhood game called that required an empty can?

Retry Correct Incorrect Kick the can was an outdoor children’s game that started during the Great Depression because it didn’t require any designated equipment. The game was widely popular in the 1960s and is remembered fondly by those who played it.

CBS

What was the popular neighborhood game called that required an empty can?

Empties
Rockets
Kick the can
Pop-ups

This device was known as a…

Retry Correct Incorrect After their development in 1954, transistor radios became the most popular communication device in history, with billions manufactured during the 1960s and ’70s. These portable radios gave people the capability to listen to music wherever they were.

Transistor Radio
8 track player
Walkie talkie
Transmitter

At one point this was not allowed to be aired on television…

Retry Correct Incorrect Back in the day, in the first few decades, swearing was a big no-no on television. There were a few slip-ups here and there, but for the most part, producers kept things clean.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

At one point this was not allowed to be aired on television…

Toddlers
Swearing
Guns
Death

This talking doll was called…

Retry Correct Incorrect Chatty Cathy was a pull string “talking” doll made from 1959 to 1969. Later versions were released, including Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Brother, Charmin’ Chatty, and Singin’ Chatty.

cathieburkett/Pinterest

This talking doll was called…

Golden Age Collectible Dolls
Barbie
Cabbage Patch Kids
Chatty Cathy

This was the packaging for what popular toy to help teach biology?

Retry Correct Incorrect Sea Monkeys was a kit of crustaceans that undergo cryptobiosis that was then sold as novelty aquarium pets that were developed in the United States in 1957 and were popular with kids.

voltronforlife/Reddit

This was the packaging for what popular toy to help teach biology?

Fish Friends
Water Buddies
Sea Monkeys
Grow ems’

What profession is this?

Retry Correct Incorrect Being a telephone operator was a popular job for women in the 1960s. It involved manual telephone switchboards. The operators connected calls by inserting phone plugs into the appropriate jacks.

Telephone operator
Seamstress
Accountant
Disc jockey

If you were a Baby Boomer you remember exactly where you were when…

Retry Correct Incorrect John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas and it’s common for most Baby Boomers to remember exactly where they were when they heard about it.

The Vietnam War started
The Cuban Missile Crisis
We landed on the moon
When JFK was assassinated

What type of jeans was widely popular during the 1960’s and 70’s?

Retry Correct Incorrect In the 1960s and through part of the 70s bell-bottom jeans were fashionable for both men and women. Usually made from denim, they flared out below the calf. This style comes back into popularity every few years.

Mid-rise
Bootcut
Bell-Bottoms
Skinny

What kind of chemical was used frequently during the Vietnam War?

Retry Correct Incorrect Agent Orange is an herbicide and defoliant chemical used widely by the United States during the Vietnam War. This chemical had environmental and health-damaging effects on those who were exposed.

Mustard Gas
Agent Orange
Chlorine
Tear Gas

What time (EST) would you hear the National Anthem at night on the television?

Retry Correct Incorrect At one point, most television channels didn’t have enough content for 24 hours so they would “sign off” at 1 AM after the day’s programming had ended and play the National Anthem.

Camerique/Archive Photos/Getty Images

What time (EST) would you hear the National Anthem at night on the television?

10 PM
1 AM
2 AM
Never

The seats on these bicycles were known as…

Retry Correct Incorrect With the wheelie bike’s (a stylized version of a children’s bicycle designed to look like a chopper) popularity, the matching seat was known as a banana seat. Schwinn Sting-Ray was one of the biggest manufacturers of these bikes and seats.

Tandems
Free riders
Banana seats
Long seats

What was the most iconic music festival that occurred in the 1960s?

Retry Correct Incorrect Woodstock was a legendary music and arts festival that attracted over 400,000 spectators in August of 1969. It is regarded as one of the most pivotal moments in popular music history.

Lollapalooza
Woodstock
Glastonbury Festival
Monterey Pop

What were these popular stickers called?

Retry Correct Incorrect Rickie Tickies were popular stickers that young people put on anything that they managed to get their hands on. The greatest part about these plastic decals is that they were reusable.

Sunshine Stickers
Flower Pedal stickers
Rickie Tickie Stickers
Groovies

This is a board game played on the street known as…

Retry Correct Incorrect Scully was a street game with a painted or chalked course on the ground where players would try to traverse the course by flicking bottle caps. It was frequently played in rural areas.

Stomp to stomp
Scully
Flickers
Caps

What dance move was made popular by Chubby Checker on American Bandstand?

Retry Correct Incorrect From 1959 to the early 1960s, the twist became a first worldwide dance craze though some believed that it was too provocative. The accompanying song was originally written by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and later covered by Chubby Checker.

The Twist
The Jive
The Skip
The Waltz

These popular beads in late 1960s and early 70s were called…

Retry Correct Incorrect Love beads were given as gifts between friends and were typically made by someone and then given to a friend. They were most commonly worn on the wrist, neck, or even ankle.

Love beads
Buddha beads
Special beads
Groovy beads

What were these types of skirts called?

Retry Correct Incorrect Becoming more common during the age of women’s liberation, miniskirts reached the height of popularity around 1967. This style was especially popular during the “Swinging London” era of the 1960s.

Knickers
Showers
Show-em skirts
Miniskirts

These high-legged boots are known as…

Retry Correct Incorrect Go-Go boots were created in 1965 by Andre Courreges and were worn by women throughout the country. Nancy Sinatra became the poster girl for Go-Go boots after her hit song “These Boots Are Made For Walking”.

Thigh-high’s
Go-Go boots
Party boots
Discos

These model planes were made out of…

Retry Correct Incorrect Balsa wood is extremely light but the wood made it heavy enough to be more effective than a typical paper airplane. Balsa model airplane kits are still popular with kids today.

Oak
Balsa
Plastic
Paper

These hip decorations were called…

Retry Correct Incorrect Lava lamps were invented by an accountant named Craven Walker in the mid-1960s and became widely popular. Heat from the light bulb caused a cool bubbling effect in the lamp’s liquid-filled base.

Goo lights
Lava lamps
Blobbers
Glow Worms

Which of these was the most well-known brand of TV dinners?

Retry Correct Incorrect During the 1950s Swanson dominated the TV dinner market. The first entree introduced by the company was a turkey dinner. Swanson sold an average of 13 million TV dinners annually by 1956.

Easy Dinner
Stouffer’s
American Classic
Swanson

This is an image of what game?

Retry Correct Incorrect Pong was a hit game that was released by manufacturer Atari in 1972. It was a table tennis-themed game that featured two-dimensional graphics, and two players competed against each other at the same time. One of the original Pong consoles is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Score Board
Pong
Bounce Attack
Ball Battle

These containers were made to hold what particular beverage?

Retry Correct Incorrect Tang is a fruit-flavored drink that was marketed in a powder form in 1959. It gained popularity after it was used by Mercury astronaut John Glenn during his experiments in orbit.

Whiskey
Tang
Country Lemonade
Gin

What was this toy called?

Retry Correct Incorrect The View-Master was a special-format stereoscope that has reels which allowed the user to view images in 3D and up-close. View-Masters were introduced in 1939 and the company is still active today with its View-Master Virtual Reality Viewer.

Space Goggles
View-Master
A slider
Reality Check

What was this kind of jewelry called?

Retry Correct Incorrect Mood rings were created in 1975 and were popular because they changed color based on the temperature of the wearer’s finger. The jewelry was supposed to reflect the wearer’s present mood.

Glammies
Antiques
Queen Rings
Mood Rings

This popular toy was called…

Retry Correct Incorrect A slot car is a powered miniature car that is guided by a grooved track that it runs on. The user controls the speed. Today, slot car racing is a popular competitive hobby.

Slot Cars
Electric Cars
Zip Cars
Speed Racer Mobiles

The extremely powerful bouncy balls were called…

Retry Correct Incorrect Super Balls were invented in 1964 by Norman Stingley. These fun toys were developed out of a special type of synthetic rubber that resulted in an abnormally bouncy ball. They’re still popular with kids today.

Super Balls
Incredi Balls
Moon Balls
Space Balls

Growing up, it was typical for Baby Boomers to have how many phones in the house?

Retry Correct Incorrect It was relatively uncommon for families to have more than one telephone. Imagine that! Now, most baby boomers are likely to spend nearly as much time on their smartphones as millennials do.

4
1
2

What was the term used to describe the rise of the Beatles in the United States?

Retry Correct Incorrect Beatlemania was the fan frenzy surrounding the Beatles in the 1960s. It began in 1963 and continued even after they stopped performing publicly. Beatlemania ended after the band officially broke up in 1970.

Beatlefrenzy
Beatlemania
Beatletopia
Beatlephobia

What is the name of this marionette puppet?

Retry Correct Incorrect Howdy Doody was the marionette in the children’s television program The Howdy Doody Show which ran from 1947 to 1960. This was one of the first TV shows to be taped at NBC in Rockefeller Center.

Felix
Bobby
Krumpy
Howdy Doody

Baby Boomers remember practicing what kind of drills in school?

Retry Correct Incorrect During the early days of the Cold War, schools performed drills in preparation for an atomic attack. They were known as duck and cover drills, and involved students hiding under their desks in protective positions.

Tsunami
Gas
Tornado
Atomic

Baby Boomers remember cars not having…

Retry Correct Incorrect For the most part, all vehicles had a manual transmission and required the driver to physically switch the gears of the car. To have an automatic car was a real luxury!

H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images

Baby Boomers remember cars not having…

Automatic transmission
Windows
Trunks
Taillights

What did you need to adjust these old strap-on skates?

Retry Correct Incorrect Ah, the good old sport of roller skating! Adjusting a pair of these was futile unless you had a skate key which fit the skate perfectly and allowed for precise sizing.

Allan wrench
Screwdriver
Skate jack
Skate key

What was this called?

Retry Correct Incorrect Church keys were used to open soda or beer cans before pull tab cans and twist-off bottles were invented. These church keys were sometimes given away for free with the purchase of a pack of canned beverages.

Poke-through
Topper
Poker
Church key

Who is the man on the right?

Retry Correct Incorrect Mr. Green Jeans, played by Hugh Brannum, was a character in the classic children’s television show Captain Kangaroo. The popular kid’s show starring Bob Keeshan ran from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984.

The Green Man
The Green Violinist
Mr. Green Jeans
Green Man Sam

What are these called?

Retry Correct Incorrect Green stamps were received with a gas or grocery purchase that could be redeemed for household goods. In the mid-1960s, green stamps programs reached their greatest popularity. Stamp programs declined with the recessions of the 1970s.

Green notes
Green stamps
Green tickets
Green tears

This popular hat worn mostly by boys was called a…

Retry Correct Incorrect Although associated with the frontiersman of the 18th and 19th centuries, replications of these hats became popular among young boys in the 1950s. This was thanks in large part to a television show called “Disneyland” that featured Davy Crockett as a character.

Robert Alexander/Getty Images

This popular hat worn mostly by boys was called a…

Coonskin cap
Bear cap
Trapper hat
Indian hat

What is this?

Retry Correct Incorrect A 45 adapter was a little plastic disk that allowed you to play 45-rpm records on a record player made for a different size. The first ones were made of solid zinc and were introduced by the Webster-Chicago Corporation.

Boomerang
Television knob
Sticker
45 adapter

When they did have paneled sides, what kind of paneling did station wagons have?

Retry Correct Incorrect It was not uncommon for a family station wagon to have wood paneling running along its sides. The last vehicle to use genuine wood in its panels was the 1953 Roadmaster Estate Wagon. Since then, the “wood look” has been fabricated from other materials such as metal.

Rubber
Wood
Copper
Silver

How many colors of Crayola crayons were released in the late 1950s?

Retry Correct Incorrect The release of the 64 pack of Crayola crayons was regarded as one of the biggest upgrades for toys at the time. Notable colors included in the set were Mulberry, Cornflower, Raw Umber, and Aquamarine.

64
28
164
100

What was the lowest price you could pay for gas at the time?

Retry Correct Incorrect Sometimes, gas was as low as twenty cents! We definitely miss those days. As of 2018, gas in Norway is the most expensive in the world ($7.82 per gallon). The average price per gallon in the United States is $2.99.

$1.00
$0.50
$2.50
$0.20

What was a favorite Sunday pastime that people wouldn’t usually do today?

Retry Correct Incorrect There was nothing more delightful than loading the family into the car for a nice drive around town! These days, not too many people seem to enjoy facing traffic to take a drive “just for the heck of it!”

Grocery shop
Play baseball
Go for a drive
Go to church

Where would you usually see this image?

Retry Correct Incorrect This was the “sign off” message that remained displayed on television when broadcasts would end for the day (at 1AM in most places). The National Anthem played during this time as well.

Car manuals
Everywhere during nuclear bomb threats
At a hospital
On television

What was Richard Nixon doing here?

Retry Correct Incorrect Everyone watched Nixon sweat (and try to keep himself mopped off) during the first televised presidential debate. This didn’t help him beat JFK, who appeared to be much more calm, cool, and collected during the event.

Sweating
Crying
Blowing his nose
Smelling something bad

What was routinely delivered to doorsteps every morning that would be unusual to see delivered today?

Retry Correct Incorrect Remember when the milkman would deliver milk straight to your front door? In select areas of the country, milk delivery is still available but most of us have to go to the grocery store to pick ours up.

Breakfast
Milk
Newspaper
Mail

What are these?

Retry Correct Incorrect We used to play jacks on the sidewalk when we didn’t have marbles! All you need to play are a minimum of two people, a small rubber ball, and a set of jacks.

Pest control devices
Weapons
Dog toys
Jacks

Who are these guys?

Retry Correct Incorrect The Monkees were a rock band. They were initially assembled for a television show about a fictitious band but soon became famous as musicians in real life. The band was active from 1966 to 1971.

The Beatles before they were famous
The Mermen
The Monkees
A male version of Charlie’s Angels

Which celebrity’s show was Mary Tyler Moore on before she had her own show?

Retry Correct Incorrect Mary Tyler Moore starred alongside Dick Van Dyke on The Dick Van Dykeshow. The popular sitcom earned a spot on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Johnny Carson
Dick Van Dyke
Cloris Leachman
Red Skelton

What were school dances called back them?

Retry Correct Incorrect It was mostly just the girls who danced at sock hops. Sock hops started out as WWII fundraisers held by the American Junior Red Cross beginning in 1944. Sock hops became popular again in 1980s Britain thanks to a rockabilly comeback.

Gym Parties
Dances
Social Hours
Sock Hops

What weird thing did you have to do if you attended a sock hop?

Retry Correct Incorrect You had to take off your shoes so you didn’t mess up the gymnasium floor, hence the name “sock hop”! They were also referred to as “sox hops” or “record hops.”

Take off your shoes
Be quiet
Mandatory dance with opposite gender at least once
Donate $0.10 to the school

What were these haircuts called?

Retry Correct Incorrect These ducktail haircuts could get pretty greasy. The look was achieved with a v-shaped cut in the hair at the back of the head, with the sides of the hair swept back.

Smooth tops
Ducktail
Shiny tops
Greaser cuts

What was the only immediate way you could contact someone if you weren’t at home?

Retry Correct Incorrect You could easily make a call at a payphone. The majority of them are gone now, but CNN reported in 2018 that about 100,000 remain. Most of those are in New York City.

Send a note to police
Send a note from the post office
You didn’t contact anyone
Payphones

Also, who was this woman?

Retry Correct Incorrect Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz created “I Love Lucy.” She also starred in “The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour,” “The Lucy Show,” “Here’s Lucy,” and “Life with Lucy.” Lucille Ball is one of the most beloved comedians of all time.

Lucille Ball
Vivian Vance
Cloris Leachman
Kim Novak

There was no Google back then, so how did you look up new information?

Retry Correct Incorrect Encyclopedias (sets of reference books) are still around today, but the Internet has rendered them pretty much useless for many people. Luckily, you can still find encyclopedias at most libraries.

Encyclopedias
Call the operator
Wikipedia
You had to ask about it at school

Do you remember this person?

Retry Correct Incorrect “America’s Sweetheart” starred in The Donna Reed Show and had a groundbreaking sense of humor. Her acting career lasted more than 40 years and she received many awards for it.

Norma Cook
Grace Kelly
Donna Reed
Jayne Mansfield

Why would kids have been afraid of soap?

Retry Correct Incorrect Sometimes when kids mouthed off, they were forced to wash their mouths out with soap. President George W. Bush once famously reported that his mother Barbara had washed his mouth with soap when he “got fresh” with her as a youngster.

They had to wash their mouths with it
The soap caused rashes
It had a foul smell
They hated baths

Where did everyone start moving during the baby boom?

Retry Correct Incorrect After WWII, developers started buying land on the outskirts of cities and building tract homes that were cheap for new families to move into. William Levitt was one of the most famous suburban developers of the time.

Marlin Levison/Star Tribune via Getty Images

Where did everyone start moving during the baby boom?

The suburbs
The country
The wilderness
The city

What was the name of the satellite that the Soviet Union launched into orbit in 1957?

Retry Correct Incorrect Americans were shocked when Sputnik was launched because propaganda had them believe that the U.S. was technologically superior to the Soviet Union. Sputnik orbited Earth for three weeks, until its batteries died.

Vladimir
Sputnik
Soviet Satellite
Kremlin

What was the name of this turtle?

Retry Correct Incorrect Bert the Turtle was the spokesperson in the “Duck and Cover” safety film shown in schools in the 1950s. The film was created by the US Federal Civil Defense Administration.

Kurt
Bert
Jeffrey
Tommy

What was this?

Retry Correct Incorrect This is a pogo stick, one of those springy toys that were all the rage during the Baby Boomer era. Two Germans named Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall (get it — Po Go?) invented what we consider the modern pogo stick in 1920.

Frances McLaughlin-Gill/Condé Nast via Getty Images

What was this?

A hunting device
Playground equipment
Pogo stick
A toy wizard wand

Congrats, you finished! Here are your results:

Retry You’ve been through the mill, are you sure you’re a Baby Boomer? Ouch. Looks like time has taken its toll on your memory. Wow! Not too shabby. You just about got the whole kit and caboodle!

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