Type | Water gun |
---|---|
Inventor(s) | Lonnie Johnson |
Company | |
Country | United States |
Availability | 1990–present |
Materials | Plastic + metal and latex parts |
Slogan | "Wetter Is Better!" (classic) "It's Nerf or Nothin'!" (present) |
Super Soaker is an American brand of recreational water gun that uses manually-pressurized air to shoot water with greater power, range, and accuracy than conventional squirt pistols. The Super Soaker was invented in 1989 by engineer Lonnie Johnson. The prototype combined PVC pipe, acrylic glass, and an empty plastic soda bottle.[1]
Originally sold by Larami and now produced by Hasbro under the Nerf brand, Super Soaker has generated more than $1 billion in total sales.[1] The first Super Soaker went on sale in 1990 and was originally called the Power Drencher.[2][3] Rebranding the name to Super Soaker occurred in 1991 together with a series of TV advertisements that resulted in two million water guns being sold.[1] Super Soakers were popular for many years—so popular, in fact, that the term super soaker is sometimes used generically, to refer to any type of toy pressurized water gun.[4][better source needed]