Slime (toy)

Slime

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Type	Novelty toy
Company	Mattel
Availability	1976–1990
Materials	Guar gum

Slime was a toy product manufactured by Mattel, sold in a plastic trash can and introduced in the winter of 1976 consisting of a non-toxic viscous, oozing green material made primarily from guar gum. Different variations of Slime were released over the years, including Slime containing rubber insects, eyeballs, and worms and Masters of the Universe Slime for Hordak's Slime Pit playset in the 1980s.

The late 1970s also introduced a Slime Monster board game; the object of the game was to avoid having your game piece slimed on by a foot-tall plastic monster that had slime oozing from its mouth. Other toy companies have produced their own slime such as the Ecto-Plazm play gel sold with select figures in Kenner's Real Ghostbusters toyline. Playmates' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figure line also had Retro-Mutagen slime sold in containers and included with playsets.

Chemical components

The main components are the polysaccharide guar gum and sodium tetraborate. As an alternative to the polysaccharide, other alcohol-group containing polymers (such as polyvinyl alcohol) may be used to a similar result. These non-polysacharide polymer products are more often referred to as flubber.

Polyvinyl acetate (Elmer's glue), borax and water can also be used to approximate Slime's characteristics.

See also

• Flubber, a similar material
• Nickelodeon compounds, various substances marketed to children as toys, some of which were similar to Slime
• Silly Putty, another jelly substance obtained from cross-linking polyvinyl alcohol chains with borate anions
• Gunge