In a place where chaos seems to reign, where Donnie and Marie are grouped with Young Frankenstein, where Empire tie fighters battle World War II-era fighter planes, and where Aliens hang out with the Tinkertoys, even in a place like this, there are rules.

The first rule at Flying Frog Antiques and Collectibles, is to have fun. The rest of the rules aren’t as important.

“I think that’s my niche,” says shop-owner Mike Condit. “People come in here, and it brings back memories, and they’re happy.”

Condit invites customers into his shop at 8112 Railroad Ave. to look around and enjoy themselves, whether they buy anything or not. Some of his items are older than 35 years, passing the milestone to become collectibles, and a few might even be at the 100-year milestone that makes them antiques, but all of them are the stuff of childhood memories.

“It’s not the age of the toys, it’s what people remember,” he said.

Classic toys mingle with kitsch on his shelves, but he’s not the one to decide which is which. When he was a child, he loved science fiction toys.  “Anything that goes ‘beep beep’ and ‘boop,’ I loved to play with it,” he said. But he knew that wasn’t for everyone.

Condit has owned Flying Frog since 1994, when it was more of a thrift store, but he’s always had a sense of what interested people. Working as a close-out buyer for a Midwest retailer, he started learning from other sellers about all kinds of collectibles, what was valuable, and what wasn’t.

Mainly, though, he said “I just found out what people were interested in.”

So, when he opened his own shop, then located by the Snoqualmie Railway Museum depot he added toys to appeal to the many children who visited him each summer. When he relocated to his current spot on Main, he added back in some of his own interests, such as fossils and rock collections. Other favorites of his, Red Dwarf and Doctor Who miscellanea also crept into the display cases.

Some of his prized items are two antique fire trucks, a “Doctor Who” record album, and an autographed poster of Scotty from Star Trek, especially meaningful, since Star Trek got him into the collectibles business. His first collectible sales were made from a Grand Piano during a Star Trek convention in Seattle, selling off Data figurines that had never been released to the market.

His top-seller at the store is an old-fashioned $6 item displayed on his counter. The statue of a little boy sprays water at any unsuspecting person who does as the sign suggests, and pulls his pants down.

“It surprises people, and then they laugh, and then they have to have one,” he explained. “They buy them as gifts, because it’s funny. It gives them a memory.”

Gifts account for most of his sales, Condit estimates. People buy long-sought collectibles as gifts for themselves, or to complete a spouse’s set, typically, but also just because they want something.

“We’re always trying to make ourselves happy,” he said. “I sell people what they want.”