Polly Pocket

Open the compact to find tiny rooms, little figures, and a whole world of play. Close it up and take it anywhere.

Open the compact, and there was a tiny place to play. Polly Pocket made rooms, scenery, and little figures all fit into a hinged plastic case you could close up and take along just about anywhere.

The original Polly Pocket micro-doll playsets reached stores through Bluebird Toys in 1989, after Chris Wiggs developed the idea in the 1980s. They became familiar toys during the 1990s. Unlike a dollhouse that needed its own space, a Polly compact could come with you.

Part of the fun was looking closely at everything inside. Move a figure to another spot, find a little detail, and make up an entire story about what was happening. The pieces really were very, very, tiny, though. Losing a doll could turn into a fairly serious search of the carpet.

Mattel later added larger dolls to the line, so not every current Polly Pocket is necessarily one of those tiny, closing miniature worlds. But current offerings still include micro-doll compacts, as well as collector versions like The Addams Family and Harry Potter themed sets.

Check the inside as well as the outside when choosing one, particularly if you're looking for something like the Bluebird sets you remember.