Uberman
Dane Scarborough has the Mental Brawn of Superman in the Guise of Clark Kent
Photography: Mark Oliver
Dane Scarborough towers alongside his newest invention, a building kit called Uberstix.
Mark Oliver
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Standing around a bonfire with friends recently, Dane Scarborough was queried about his day . . . what creation had he conjured up?
Surprisingly, for Scarborough, none was the answer. But the day wasn’t over yet, and the blaze before him sparked an idea—an artificial log that could emit UVA rays so people could get a tan in the winter.
Outlandish? Maybe. Impossible? You never know, he insists.
“I did it kind of as a joke,” Scarborough recalls. “But really, in the initial creative process, you can’t limit anything. I look at things and imagine the possibilities.”
Welcome to Scarborough’s world, where wild thoughts are welcome, indeed. In fact, it seems harder for the 50-year-old Scarborough to stop the flow of thoughts and ideas—a gift that has led him on a varied path that has included stints as a punk rock drummer, artist, teacher and businessman.
And now toymaker extraordinaire.
Scarborough’s latest invention is Überstix, a unique building system that can be used alone but also intermixed with others on the market as well as ordinary items.
Überstix represents Scarborough’s belief in imagination and commitment to community. And it’s a lot of fun—
another Scarborough priority.
Sold online, through catalogs and hundreds of stores, Überstix consists of eight plastic parts—lochub, I-stix, cubstix, quark, birhub, bottleneck, pirate stix and popstix.
There are packaged building systems such as Überbots, a robotic system, the ÜberArc architectural series, ÜberPult, a catapult system and ÜberDragon, ÜberCrab, ÜberFrog and ÜberBat, no explanation necessary. But Überstix are designed to go beyond any specific structure—way beyond. Scarborough wants kids to stretch their imaginations with Überstix and work on their engineering and mechanical skills. Pick up a Popsicle® stick and use it to link Überstix parts to build a bridge, make a swingset, lay some railroad track.
“That’s what I wanted to do, design a system that could integrate with Popsicle® sticks and go from there,” he says, explaining that they are such a cheap and abundant item.
Straws, egg cartons, plastic bottles, paper cups and other recyclables can be used, along with paper clips, O rings, and other toys. And, yes they even snap together with Legos pieces.
“For me, this is such a kick, contemplating all the different approaches,” says Scarborough.
In fact, Scarborough’s newest creation is the Scavenger series. The kit won’t come with all the complete parts; the builder will have to scavenge for certain items to finish the model.
But the building system, made partially out of recycled materials, also was designed with the economically disadvantaged in mind.
A child with little money can buy just a few Überstix and use other items to expand his toy chest, rather than being forced to continue buying new products each time one project is finished. Just take apart the old one and start something new.
There often are challenges laid out for the toys.
With the popular Überbot kits, kids are challenged to build robots and then test them out against each other. If an Überbot is knocked over in battle, the challenge is to build a better bot and test it out again.
Whatever the creation, it should work, Scarborough notes. Planes should fly, boats should float, animals should move.
“It’s a whole lot more fun that way.”
Step inside Scarborough’s main studio in Hailey and one quickly gets an idea of the seemingly endless possibilities Überstix provides.
Colorful creations fill the floor space—a tower reminiscent of the Empire State Building, a giant windmill, a whimsical Ferris wheel, a sleek pyramid.
And while Überstix is meant to challenge children’s imaginations and cultivate a sense of mechanical intuition, Scarborough has even higher hopes for the toy system.
“I want to initiate dialogue and thought between kids and their parents. I want to inspire interaction that is creative, substantive and meaningful,” he says. Scarborough gets a lot of inspiration from his family: wife, Leslie, who is an actress (under the name Leslie Huntly), and sons, Hunter, 17, and Dashel, 9. In fact, the idea for Überstix was cultivated at home.
Playtime can get pretty serious at the Scarborough household, where the “boys” have built all kinds of toys—just never the model that’s pictured on the box. Elaborate cities were erected and cars equipped with suspension systems were raced down the stairs—with the winner being the one that stayed upright all the way down. >>>
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