Mark Rappaport, president of Marky Sparky Inc., juggles one of his products,
Super Duper Sucker Balls, at his company warehouse in Carlsbad on Friday.

Bill Wechter

CARLSBAD ---- Surrounded by toys of almost every description and the general clutter of the absent-minded, Mark Rappaport, a toy inventor and president of Marky Sparky Inc., is a workaholic ---- that is, if you call creating toys work.
Spending hours at a time playing with spare industrial parts he pulls from plastic storage boxes, Rappaport pieces them together to breath new life into a suction cup, magnet or piece of mesh. With these random parts, he has created a new type of ball and a set of darts.

Although he does this hundreds of times a day, Rappaport said only about 10 percent of his creations go onto the market.

"I build stuff for me," Rappaport said. "If I have fun with it, then the battle is won."
Carlsbad-based toy company Marky Sparky Inc. invents unique toys for active children age 3 and older. All toys created by the company are manufactured in Taiwan and China, Rappaport said.
Rappaport's first invention for his 8-year-old business was the California Chariot, a scooter with a bicyclelike front and a split footboard. To make the chariot, Rappaport carved a neighbor boy's tricycle and merged it with a skateboard.
Although he needed to buy the boy a new tricycle, Rappaport found that he had the early makings of a scooter that continues to sell in toy stores across the country.
As with the chariot, the majority of Marky Sparky toys are outdoor items that can be used at a park, pool or party. Among them are Doink-its ---- small balls constructed of mesh tube that radiate from a rubber core; and the Doink-it Flat Bat ---- a bat with a flat, extra-wide hitting surface that makes hitting a ball easy for any child to accomplish. Doink-its can be hit, kicked or used with "doinkers," or racquets to play a round of badminton.
John Naisbitt, president of Thinker Things, a family-owned toy shop in Del Mar, said he has been carrying Rappaport's creations for seven years. He said he likes the toys because they are unusual and well-made.
"His toys tend to just stand out as having a totally unique quality to them," Naisbitt said. "For the most part, they sell very well, but not everything is a home run."
Another toy store owner, Brian Miller of Geppetto's, said customers who visit his Hotel Del Coronado shop will purchase a Doink-it set and play with it almost immediately on the beach.
Along with Thinker Things and Geppetto's, Marky Sparky toys can be found at specialty toy stores in California or on the Marky Sparky Web site, www.markysparkytoys.com. Most toys cost less than $20 with the exception of the California Chariot, which averages about $120 each.
The son of a Mattel employee, Rappaport designed his first toy when he was 8 years old. To encourage his creativity, Rappaport's father submitted the toy to Mattel, but it was never accepted.
Years later, Rappaport went to UCLA on a wrestling scholarship, but soon realized that his destiny did not lie on a wrestling mat. Instead, he attended the Art Center in Pasadena and eventually became a toy designer for Mattel and Parker Bros. before striking out on his own.
In 1996, Rappaport founded California Chariot, but changed his company's name three years later when he expanded his product line.
He said the business grossed just under $3 million dollars last year and is happy with its success. Rappaport said he hopes both he and his company will create toys for a long time.
"When I'm 90, I'll be thinking about making something fun."

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