Super Soaker
It's from 1990, before you were born.
- Maker
- Larami / Hasbro
- Type
- Water blaster
- Debuted
- 1990
- Note
- Invented by a NASA engineer
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About
As of 2026, it's 36 years old.
The Super Soaker was invented by Lonnie Johnson, an actual NASA engineer who was tinkering with a heat pump in his bathroom in 1989 when a blast of water across the sink gave him a much better idea. Launched in 1990, the pressurized water gun made every previous squirt toy look pathetic.
It turned backyard water fights into arms races, soaking siblings from across the yard with a range and volume that felt almost unfair. Johnson reportedly earned tens of millions in royalties — possibly the most lucrative bathroom epiphany in history.
Powerful, drenching, and rocket-science-approved, the Super Soaker is the toy that proved a NASA engineer could ruin your dry afternoon from forty feet away.



