Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots is a two-player action toy and game designed by Marvin Glass and Associates and was first manufactured by the Marx toy company in 1964. It features two dueling robot boxers, Red Rocker and Blue Bomber, mechanically manipulated by the players, and the game is won when one player knocks the head off of the opponent. The 2000s version of the game by Mattel features physically smaller robots. A film based on the game has been announced to be in development by Universal Pictures. Rules Each player takes control of one of the two robots: Red Rocker and Blue Bomber, both of which are standing on a platform molded in bright yellow high-impact polystyrene plastic, representing a boxing ring. By pushing plunger buttons on a pair of joysticks at the base of the platform, players make their robot punch at their opponent's robot. If a robot's head is hit with sufficient force at a suitable angle, the head will overextend away from the shoulders, signifying that the other player has won the round. The losing player then pushes the head back down to the shoulders to get ready for the next round. History From 1948, the International Mutoscope Corporation had a coin operated arcade machine called Silver Gloves featuring two players controlling the movement and arms of two boxing figures. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots has enjoyed far-ranging success in the United States, selling in the hundreds of thousands and becoming something of a minor popular culture phenomenon. The game was developed for the Marx toy company by the renowned toy design firm Marvin Glass and Associates. The toy was inspired by boxing games that appeared in arcades in the early 1960s, using mannequins made of metal that would fall over if a player managed to hit the button on the chin of the opposing player's dummy. After some development, Glass decided to cancel the project in 1963 after the death of boxer Davey Moore in the ring. Burt Meyer felt that the toy was too good to go to waste, and suggested that they "de-humanize" the characters, making them robots that fall apart, rather than humanoid figures that fall over. Text on the box suggested an outer-space backstory for the two robots. The red boxer is "the rollicking Red Rocker" from Soltarus II, and weighs in 375 pounds. The blue opponent, the "beautiful Blue Bomber,