Toys go hand-in-hand with the holidays; gift giving is an exciting time for younger people especially, because gifts for children are generally toys. For many people, seeing a toy that they received when they were young can bring about fingers of nostalgia which pluck at their heartstrings.

Toys of the 80s and 90s were simplistic at their core, but offered endless hours of fun. Contrasting this, modern toys, like tiny drones, still offer tons of play-ability; they cross over into the boundaries of technological advancement unseen by older toys of earlier decades.

Some of the most iconic toys to grace the aisles of toy stores before our generation are the Rubik’s cube and classic action figures from franchises like Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian and Star Trek. These toys are still valued today because of their simple fun. Other older toys, like Furbies, paved the path for similar re-makes, albeit the modern ones are far more advanced and desired among today’s youth.

The Rubik’s Cube is a great example of a classic toy (from the 80s in this case) that hasn’t lost appeal or cultural relevance in the modern day. People who love the Cube are still finding ways to reinvent the toy, with pyramids and “shape shifting cubes” being applied to the classic design.

Board games also make up a large portion of the toy world with timeless games like Life and Monopoly that are still relevant today. The simplistic rules, endlessly modifiable pieces and classic game boards are a large part of how these games stay so timeless.

Toys and board games have changed drastically since the days of carved wooden pieces and tin robots, getting far more complex and integrated with technology. Tabletop games have evolved from hour long binges with the family to day-long events in some cases. The modern era has even ushered in competitive gaming scenes for previously casual games such as Scrabble (the World Youth Scrabble Championships have been held annually since 2006).

“[The best year] for board games is the present…newer games have a lot going for them but their structure and rules are completely different, and a lot of them are just super out of the box,” said Tony Mogck, the owner of Theo’s Toys in Manitou Springs. “The older board games, the structure of the rules have been embedded in everyone head, they’ve been playing it for years.”

Both old and new toys and board games offer unique and interesting gifts, each special for different reasons. While old toys will be forever looked at for their nostalgia, new additions to the toy pantheon boast awesome new designs, rules and tech that places them on the same plane as the classics.

So, as for which generation of toys is better-old or new-both options are great. The true determining factor is the fun and the memories that are connected to the objects.