I'm probably the only one, but....

[eric]

Legos are the best. I cite them as an influence on my interest in engineering. Not because I want to build buildings or vehicles, but as a tool that allowed me to excercise creativity, and develop problem solving skills.

Same thing with alpha centurai (the video game). I played that a lot.

[Spider]

For me it was model railroading with my grandfather when I was a kid. Huge layout all around the basement, all the models scratch bilt to scale and historical accuracy, the old man muttering about geared steam engine piston configurations, motive force, cuts and grades....good times. He had a scale switchback with about 8 feet of elevation.

And there was Simcity.