Reuben Klamer Reuben B . Klamer is a renowned toy designer and manufacturer who has designed and built the iconic original phaser rifle , that was featured in the second pilot episode . Klamer was contacted by Gene Roddenberry in 1965 for the design and the subsequent build of the original phaser rifle in June / July of that year . ( " " ) Used only once , the rifle prop was upon completion of the episode returned to Klamer . Yet , almost eight months went by , before the series was green - lighted , and in a letter dated 16 March 1966 , Klamer was approached by Roddenberry for possible further prop assignments , though , in the end , that never came to fruition . Klamer however , has never received any official credit for his contribution . Ultimately , Reuben Klamer was featured in the 2013 documentary short , " " , on the occasion of the auctioning off of his phaser rifle . Career outside " Star Trek " . Born to Romanian immigrants in Canton , Ohio in 1922 into a Depression era middle class family , Klamer nevertheless excelled at studies , graduating in ancient and modern history at George Washington University with an additional B . S . marketing degree from Ohio State University , and which he followed up with postgraduate work in engineering at the University of Michigan . World War II interrupted his career as he went on to graduate from the U . S . Navy Midshipman School at Northwestern University in 1943 , serving with distinction as a combat Navy officer in the the South Pacific theater afterwards . Upon the war ' s ending , he started his own advertising agency , went to work for Ideal Toy Company and then became an executive in Eldon Industries where he pioneered in the use of unbreakable polyethylene plastic toys . In 1959 , Klamer developed the product for which he is best known when he approached then president of game company Milton Bradley , James Shea , Sr . , with a proposal for an art center concept . This proposal was turned down , but Klamer was asked instead to develop a game in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Milton Bradley Company . This resulted eventually in the celebrated 1960 board game , " The Game of Life " . In the 1960 ' s Reuben operated his own company , The Toy Development Center , Inc . , he founded in 1964 . While Reuben ' s primary work concerned the development of toys and games , he occasionally provided prop services to the motion picture industry . It was his build of a prop gun , used in the television series " The Man from U . N . C . L . E . " that eventually attracted the attention of Roddenberry . During a brief hiatus in the 1970 ' s Klamer developed and taught a course in Creative Technology for the University of Hawaii at his Creative Development Center in Kona . In a remarkable career spanning six decades he is credited with more than 200 game and toy products , including the classic Fisher - Price Preschool Trainer Skates introduced in 1984 . Hasbro / Milton Bradley , Mattel / Fisher - Price , Tupperware , Coca - Cola , and Sears Roebuck & Co . were among Klamer ' s many current and former partners . Despite having more than 200 products to his name , it was predominantly " The Game of Life " for which he is most renowned , and which became part of the permanent " Archives of Family Life " at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D . C . The toy and game industry has showered Klamer with honors for this products , including the 2000 induction into the " Hasbro Inventor ' s Hall of Fame " , the 2005 induction into the " Toy Industry Hall of Fame " , and the 2009 " Lifetime Achievement Award " by the Toy and Game Inventor Expo as well as becoming a " Citizen of Honor " in his native state of Ohio .