Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots give kids the chance to be in the boxing ring without getting hurt. The set of two dueling robot boxers, the Red Rocker and Blue Bomber, stand on a bright yellow plastic boxing ring. Each player controls one of the robots by pushing plunger buttons on a set of joysticks to punch the opponent’s robot. The goal is to be the first to knock the other robot’s head off.

The two-player game has had great success in the US. Marvin Glass and Associates designed the toy, based on arcade boxing games from the early 1960s. The original version featured small metal figures that looked like men and would fall over when they lost. The Marx toy company manufactured it for the first time in 1964.

After boxer Davey Moore died, the game was temporarily shelved due to concern that it was in bad taste. But game designer Burt Meyer decided that the toy was too good to toss aside. He suggested dehumanizing the figures by making them robots who fell apart, i.e. having their heads extended off their shoulders. Further cementing the change, the toy’s box art presented them as robots from other planets.

The toy remained virtually the same design for over a decade. In ’77 they were given a makeover with a more obvious outer space look to piggyback on the success of Star Wars. Repackaged as Clash of the Cosmic Robots, the characters were renamed and recolored as the orange PROG-2 and white V-STYX. The boxing ring was also recolored black to appear more like the darkness of space.

A new version in the mid-1990s revised the blue robot to a darker shade and the red robot turned grey/silver. They were also renamed Bolt Crusher Bob and Gear Grinder Greg. Game players could add more style to the robots by putting stickers and decals on them.

Mattel remade the classic version of the game at about half the size of the original toys, and released them in 2000. It was followed by action figures, a PlayStation game, handheld games, and bobble head dolls.