Most arcades in the 1980s and ’90s had one. A glass box in the corner, stuffed with plush bears and off-brand cartoon characters, where you would throw away your money for the chance to claw at something you didn’t really want. The claw would drop, close on a bear’s head and lift it, then either lose its grip or hand you something else.
This is the impulse behind the “blind box” economy, the most visible piece of a trend marketers call “kidulting,” adults buying the toys, games and experiences of childhood for themselves. A new Harris Poll report, shared with Fortune ahead of its release, measures how far it has spread. In a survey of 2,158 U.S. adults conducted June 25–27, 80% said they’d done something playful for their own enjoyment in the past year. Among millennials who’d done something playful in the past year, 92% spent money on it and 78% spent $100 or more. Fifty-seven percent of Gen Z and millennials bought a blind box or mystery box for themselves, compared with 16% of Gen X and boomers.
