Cracker Jack is an American brand of snack food that consists of molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn cornballs and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of trivial value inside.

[1] Frito-Lay announced in 2016 that the toy gift would no longer be provided and had been replaced with a QR code which can be used to download a baseball-themed game.

[4] The origin of sugar-coated popcorn with a mixture of peanuts is unknown, but periodicals document its manufacture and sale in North America as far back as the early 19th century.

The Freeport, Illinois Daily Journal newspaper published on January 29, 1857, for example, contains an advertisement by a local merchant selling sugar-coated popcorn.

[5] Recipes for popcorn and peanut mixtures were mentioned in North American literature and expressions of speech: In Chicago, there are two legends of how Cracker Jack originated: The older attributes it to Charles Frederick Gunther (1837–1920), also known as "The Candy Man" and "Cracker-Jacks King"; the other attributes it to Frederick William Rueckheim, a German immigrant known informally as "Fritz", who sold popcorn at 113 Fourth Avenue (now known as Federal Street), in Chicago beginning in 1871.

In 1873, Fritz bought out his partner William Brinkmeyer and brought his brother Louis from Germany to join in his venture, forming the company F. W. Rueckheim & Bro.

As each batch was mixed in a cement-mixer-like drum, a small quantity of oil was added — a closely guarded trade secret.

[13] The Cracker Jack Company was purchased by Borden in 1964 after a bidding war with Frito-Lay and was manufactured for years in Northbrook, Illinois.

[14] In 2013, Frito-Lay announced that Cracker Jack would undergo a slight reformulation, adding more peanuts and updating the prizes to make them more relevant to the times.

[15] One of the products available under the Cracker Jack'D line, the Power Bites, gained some criticism before its official launch due to concern over caffeine[16] being added to more foods, and potential harm to children or pregnant women.

[18] In 2004, the New York Yankees baseball team replaced Cracker Jack with the milder, sweet butter toffee-flavored Crunch 'n Munch at home games.

Cracker Jack originally included a small "mystery" novelty item referred to as a "Toy Surprise" in each box.