Black Friday: Best deals on this season's 10 hottest retro toys

Sometimes, the only way to get ahead in this world is to go back -- way back. Just as the Black Friday shopping season has become increasingly frenzied, so have toys become more sophisticated. Electronics and computerized gadgets that didn't exist even a decade ago now rule the roost. Does Santa even read letters from kids who opt for e-mail or text messages over pen and paper?

Yet for all our Information Age bravado, some toys simply can't be improved with a microchip or a semiconductor. What follows is WalletPop's unscientific (but way cool) list of 10 retro toy classics that have withstood the tests of time and fun. One thing we noticed: Nearly every toy on this list was introduced by a mom-and-pop operation, with many of those same companies still making the toys today.