When Evan and Davis asked if anyone wanted to review a toy for Onward State, I jumped at the opportunity. I mean, a TOY! Part of the reason I joined Onward State was to one day review something and get it for free. In the first of what will hopefully be a long series of me writing about things and getting them for free, this is a review of Kaskey Kids’ “Football Guys”.

More detail and pictures after the jump.

So, remember those virbrating tables with the little footballs dudes that your parents probably had back in the 70’s? Well, “Football Guys” is a little like that, except without the annoying vibrating table.

Basically, you get a bucket of two football teams worth of figurines, a referee figurine, two goalposts and a felt field mat. The cool thing about Football Kids, though, and the reason we were asked to review it, is Kaskey Kids specializes in making “themed” sets for individual collegiate athletic programs – hence, we were given the Penn State Football Guys set, which puts players in their home and away uniform colors and adds an authentic Penn State logo to the endzones of the field. These details are a nice touch and add a little variety to what would otherwise be a very, very simple toy.

Because I’m going to level with you, Dear Reader: this toy is for kids. Little kids. The figures, though detailed and well-made, don’t DO anything real Penn State players do (like pass, sometimes catch, or get in the occasional spot of legal trouble). So you’re supposed to use this thing called “imagination” which apparently kids are supposed to have. Which is awesome for them, because with a little free time and imagination (two things college-aged students tend to lack) they could have a lot of fun setting up different scenarios and dreaming of one day winning the Big Ten Championship (but not the Rose Bowl). And in case your kid was brought up in some neglectful home where he or she somehow never learned how to play football, the box comes with an instruction sheet explaining the rules of the games and even offering some examples of formations. The only thing the set doesn’t come with is a JoePa figurine, but there’s nothing stopping you from painting that referee figurine blue and tan.

The bottom line here is that if you’ve got a kid or maybe a little brother who digs football, they’re gonna dig this toy too, given that they’re under the age of 11 or 12. It’s also good for memorabilia collectors and childish college students who have figurines lining their dresser in suggestive positions. Like me.

Penn State Football Guys, $25.99, kaskeykids.com