Why Kids Don't Play With Slot Cars

[model murdering]

Depending how you slice it we're at least 3 generations removed from the "Fad" phase of the slot hobby.

Follow the evolution:

Rolling barrel hoops

Cast iron rollers

Tether cars

Slot cars

RC cars

Sitting on yer arse playing Gran Tourismo and Grand Theft Auto

[downtowndeco]

I think retailers sometimes get a bad rap regarding this. Retailers have no ax to grind other than to make money. If crap on a stick is what is selling, crap on a stick is what they're gonna stock.

[HomeRacingWorld]

And again, depends on the retailer. With your big box stores of course.

But with the true hobby shops and dealers I do business with? No so much.

[Dangermouse]

I work in a school - I have a Carrera GO track that gets setup in my office every now and then and one of the teachers sets up an AFX track at the end of the year. Kids love playing with it and many of them talk about having a set at home but it is broken or the cars don't run (I do offer to fix them) however it isn't a big thing for them like PS4 and Xbox games so given a choice most of them will choose the video game as will the parents because sadly buying a slot car set requires an investment of time by the parent as well as the child whereas a video game doesn't. Slot cars also require space.

I recently picked up some 2nd had cars - the chap had a large Carrera setup which occupied a good part of his family room. He had probably put a couple of thousand dollars into it all. In his online ad - he had picks of his kids (teenagers) racing the cars they looked like they were having fun. When I went to pick the cars up he told me all about how they performed and how the kids loved racing them but had grown out of them now so the set mainly sat around now not being used and the better half wanted her family room back :)

I think the comment earlier about kids being into cars is accurate - there is no mystique with race cars anymore. For obvious safety reasons a lot of modern race cars all look very similar.

[mattb]

delete

[mattb]

It's a different world for kids then the world we grew up in. From school to hobbies everything is different. How many of you guys were outside all summer? It was too hot to stay in our house. Now every house has air and kids are happy to stay inside. How many of you had dads that got kind of involved with with your train set or some other pastime you had? How many of you "worked" on your bicycle?

We did grow up interested in full size cars and racing and model cars. Most kids got a train set back in the day and learned a little about the electric part of it and "creating" a track plan of some kind. We would wear out that train track or Strombecker slot track just trying to re-arrange it to the ultimate design. How many kids care about any of that today?

Slot cars were really special to us and we got better cars and track as we got older or rediscovered slots 30 years later. That is us, we are a small (real small) percentage of the guys that played with slots in the 60's and early 70's. Enjoy it today and the few kids that might keep it alive in 20 years, more power to them, there will be plenty of cheap used slot stuff they can find!

[arroldn]

That is why I am putting a controller in my grandsons hand as soon as he can hold it. Well he could probably hold it now. 9 months. Lets say understand that the car goes when the trigger is pulled and stops when released. Maybe by 3 or 4 I'll have a racing buddy. Surely by 5. Got my first train at 5.

[slothead]

Another thing - take your kids and grandkids to a car show or race. My dad took me to a 'stock car' race at the local fairgrounds when I was 7 and I've been an avid race fan ever since. Got my first Strombecker race set a year or two after that and have loved slot cars ever since.

And, I think it's normal to drift away from kid stuff when in your late teens and 20's. But by my mid 20's when I had space to do so I bought a set and started racing again. Can't judge a life long activity by what's going on as young adults, when relationships, school, and work are pulling at us. It takes a few years to settle back into who we really are.

[BARC 1]

Ever play Project Cars with a steering wheel with force feedback and taken a Porsche 917 around the track? Different world today

[ourwayband]

[frank9129]

I don't think the entire problem with slot cars is the generation controlling the kids.
I have been offering my track and cars to any organization what wants to use it. All they have to do is ask. I do the rest.
In 2018 there has been a total reversal in interest. You would think that I charge. Free is a good incentive to making kids happy.
The current generation is stuck on electronics. If it doesn't have a screen they can not understand.
Due to the lack of interest I have stopped work on the Gypsy track that is in the works. Why build it if they won't come.
I am really depressed over the turn in events. I sit here and stare at over 200 cars that scream to be played with.

[Ky.Slot Racer]

This lack of interest of the current generations, and looking forward a bit, was my reasoning for selling off alot of my extra items while they still interest some. Not only slots but many hobby type collections, hotwheels, barbies whatever will probably be worthless in years to come. As we (baby boomers) die off, I don't think the interest will be enough to sustain all the hords people have tucked away. Just me thinking out loud...what's your take?

[Rastas]

I went looking for a model a while ago in my home town Maryborough Australia , no hobby shop , no toyshop, and bigW had bugger all in the toy section . the closest slotcar track is 2 hours away !! Every things on the net if kids don't see it there it dose not exist!!!

[rolo9th]

I agree with many sentiments already expressed. Slot cars are just not a big draw for the Millenials and Gen Y. They have grown up in an internet age, where the virtual world has supplanted the real world, and their experiences, priorities, and values do not lend themselves to hobbies like slot cars, model trains, model building, etc. They are an "instant gratification" group for the most part. Why build a model of a P-51 Mustang, for example, when you can buy a diecast one already to go out of the box? Why spend money on a slot car track and cars when you can buy a racing simulator game and steering wheel, and for a fraction of the cost, have hundreds of different cars and numerous tracks available?

It's sad to me that the vast majority of young adults and kids today, mine included, don't have the same desires to make something from a kit or from scratch, and have the thrill and pride of saying "I did that". It's worrisome to me that the younger generations are so impatient, but it is what they have been taught. Amazon Prime, E-bay, Netflix, etc. have conditioned them to having things that are just a mouse click and a day or two away, at most, from getting it.

Sure, there are a few here and there that "get it", but the numbers are small. Using the annual model railroad show that I attend in my area as a gauge, I see the majority of folks in the age range of 45-70+ attending, but few teenagers and young adults. My local hobby store has the same demographics scouring the model, railroad, slot car, and die cast areas. All the kids are in the Magic: The Gathering and Sci-Fi Warhammer 40,000 gaming area.

I am happy to have lived and grown up in the 70's and 80's, during a period where the internet did not exist, and I did and learned things myself, through trial and error. My love of slot cars began when I saw a TV ad for Aurora's A/FX HO-scale slot cars back in mid-70's, and got a set for Christmas one year. Like many, it was a major presence/focus of my early life until I hit the age when girls took over, and then real cars. Re-discovered them back in my 30's when I had a house and a basement, and then I discovered digital 1/32 racing about 10 years ago or so. Sold off all my HO stuff, and have been heavily vested in 1/32 since, including a recent "upgrade" to Scalextric ARC PRO. Closing on a new house one week from today, with a huge open basement, and I will begin building my dream track in short order, a 36X8 foot, 175 foot running lane track tentatively names "Zuffenheim Raceway".

For me, this is a 2nd Golden Age of slots, though we may be coming to the tail end of it. I have been busy the last few years making up for lost time in acquiring lots of FLY and Scalextric cars I missed when first released. Ebay has been my vice. However, we already can see that there has been a dwindling of suppliers (Ninco, SCX, Artin) as the hobby is slowly dwindling. While I hope Scalextric and Carrera and some of the other manufacturers can continue to deliver, I am pessimistic for the long haul of things, especially in America. 3-D printing may also put more and more pressure/stress on manufacturers to keep pace with affordable and varied products. Also, with less and less disposable income and free time for leisure and hobbies, I don't see this trend reversing anytime soon, if ever.

That said, I will continue on, doing what I enjoy, for myself. I get immense pleasure and satisfaction in all facets (collecting, racing, tuning, modeling, etc.) from my slot cars, and in the end, that is what the hobby is all about for me. But then again, I am an old-school kind of guy, who still gets a paper paycheck and writes checks out and mails them in for my bills, and reads paper-based books and magazines. My kids playfully rib me about my old fashioned ways all the time. So be it. I am a product of my life's experiences.

[mattb]

Well said by everybody. We can't change the future and how kids entertain themselves. A few will still like " hands on " stuff, but not many. On some forums the topic is how we can "save" the slot car hobby for future kids. I think this is just a waste of band space. We just need to enjoy the hobby in our lifetime and let the future be whatever it will be. Seems most of you guys see this in the same way.

I have a friend who I stay away from now because of his political views (he still believes the earth is flat). He continually talks about getting people in place in government to save the country in the future. I continue to argue that we won't be here and we should just let the voters in the future decide what kind of country and laws they want. All our old time hobbies are the same.

Basement racers like this group are the strongest part of the slot car hobby today.