Squinkies were created by Blip Toys, led by co-founder and president Bill Nichols, who has been widely credited as the driving inventor behind the concept and product line’s launch in 2010.
Who made Squinkies
- Squinkies were developed by Blip Toys, a small Minnesota-based toy company co-owned by Bill Nichols and Peter Cmiel, with Nichols identified in multiple reports as the creator who conceived the idea inspired by vending machine capsule toys.
- Contemporary coverage during the 2010 holiday season explicitly attributes the creation to Bill Nichols and his team at Blip Toys, emphasizing his inspiration from capsule dispensers and focus on affordable, collectible play.
Key details
- Media profiles from 2010 describe Nichols as president and co-founder of Blip Toys and credit him with the idea of Squinkies coming in gumball-style plastic bubbles, mirrored by Squinkies playset dispensers.
- Blip Toys later noted Squinkies as a major hit for the company, including industry recognition, reinforcing the attribution to the Blip team under Nichols’s leadership.
Short answer
- Inventor: Bill Nichols of Blip Toys, with development and commercialization by the Blip Toys team co-led with Peter Cmiel.
