Etch A Sketch is a mechanical drawing toy invented by André Cassagnes of France and subsequently manufactured by the Ohio Art Company.

Twisting the knobs moves a stylus that displaces aluminum powder on the back of the screen, leaving a solid line.

After a complex series of negotiations, the Ohio Art Company launched the toy in the United States in time for the 1960 Christmas season with the name "Etch A Sketch".

[7] Originally, the toy used a plate glass screen, which was criticized by safety advocates for being easily broken and a danger to children.

[8] In November 1970, Consumers Union filed a petition with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, asking for emergency action under the 1969 Child Protection and Toy Safety Act.

This 12-second feature had been enough to give a significant sales boost, requiring the production line to work overtime to meet demand.

However, the company recovered with the prudent decision to agree to again have an Etch A Sketch appear in an animated feature film – this time in the 1999 sequel Toy Story 2.

The exposure from the highly successful Pixar movie resulted in sales of the toy increasing by 20 percent and ensured survival of the company.

[13] In France, its country of origin, Etch A Sketch was sold under the name of "Télécran",[14] rather than L'Écran Magique.

In February 2016, the rights to the Etch A Sketch name and design were acquired by Toronto-based Spin Master Corporation.

This memory upgrade combined with the relatively powerful custom processor was also important since the Animator 2000 was designed to be a portable entertainment/games system instead of simply an electronic drawing toy.

[7] Similar to the original Etch A Sketch, it used the traditional two-knob interface to draw, but also featured six colors.

[citation needed] These are basically hand-held controllers that connect to a television-like handheld TV games and work like a regular Etch A Sketch, except on the television screen and with the addition of colors and sound effects.