A Celebrity in Our Biz

It's time to say goodbye to the old year and retrospect all the people, events, and accomplishments during the past 365 days which lead to selection of the Top "this", the Best "that", or the Worst "whatever".  Thanks to Richard Gottlieb and the great job he does with Global Toy News, our industry now has the first annual "Global Toy News Person of the Year". Nice going, Richard, to initiate such an award. And certainly a well deserved congratulations to the energetic and creative recipient....http://tinyurl.com/6vb7ptr

Best Wishes to All in T & G World

Wishing everyone happy, peaceful, and wonderful holidays and a healthy and successful 2012. . May you find more time in the new year to: CONNECT, CREATE, ENJOY, EXERCISE, GOOF- OFF, HELP, LOVE, OBSERVE, PLAY, READ, or whatever floats your boat.  I'm saying goodbye to 2011 and will be back atcha in 2012 after I SHOP, WRAP, ENJOY, ENTERTAIN, DRINK, LAUGH, AND BE MERRY!Best 2 U All, Ron W

No Reading Required

A common message on a toy package is "some assembly required". Those words may result in a parent needing a toolbox, an ability to read blueprints, and possess basic engineering skills before the "knocked down" parts assemble to be the plaything shown on the package. A notice of "no reading required" on a game package is the industry's signal to adults that young players need not know how to read cards, spinners, dice or boards to enjoy game play.  

Reading in games, or more specifically, reading to comprehend rules may determine if consumers ever get to the intended play. With the short attention span of today's consumers, lowered reading levels, and desire for instant gratification, players want to open a box, set up the pieces, and get into play with minimal reference to rules. (Methinks this attitude is one contributor to the popularity of I-games where user friendly symbols and emoticons get players into the action without wading through a page or two of challenging verbiage.)

A rules intensive game like Monopoly was fortunate to appear on the market back when consumers were more patient and tech-less. It is common product acquisition belief that if Monopoly was introduced as a rules-laden board game today, it would likely not become a classic. Its longevity may  partially be the result of what Mike Meyers, former Senior VP of R&D at Milton Bradley/Hasbro Games, dubbed the Rules Shepherds Theory. His contention was that one literate and patient person (the shepherd) reads the rules and then explains how to play to two or three other players. These players in turn pass known rules on to other new players, and familiarity grows exponentially through an oral history. Good shepherds, often parents or grandparents, bring the non-reading players into the game with some familiarity with the basic rules without reading all details of play.

Game inventors Tim Moodie and Richard Levy tried their own unique idea to make rules user friendly in a VCR game marketed by Mattel in 1992 called Wayne's World. Since the game already had the electronic medium, their thinking was to complement printed rules with a riveting audio-visual explanation of the rules right on the VCR with the box of components nearby. Their efforts to make the rules MRR (minimal reading required) may have touched on other comprehension issues that could be called SHR as in "some hearing required". Unfortunately, the short appearance of Wayne's World game on the market made it impossible to determine if consumers would more strongly embrace hearing rules rather than reading them. Check out this You Tube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=parXcDqvixQ to see an entertaining effort of one of the first audio-visual efforts to market a game with reduced rules reading.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=parXcDqvixQ

This Dr. Is Always In!

Visits to a Dr. are often not pleasant: something ails, there's an injury, a general malaise. This is not true during any encounters with a unique Dr. who specializes in fun times, happy hours, and things playful. O.K., she is not an M.D. or even a D.D.S., but her unsurpassed knowledge and experience with playthings makes her a prominent figure in our world of toys and games. Stevanne Auerbach has certainly earned the highly respected and special title of Dr. Toy.

I became aware of Dr. Toy's expertise forty year ago in my early days with the Milton Bradley Company. Stevanne Auerbach was chosen to review the Company's product line for games with intrinsically educational as well as entertaining value. The selection was printed in a brochure for circulation to educators and general consumers. That piece was important to Milton Bradley since the Company prided itself on marketing games that were both fun and "Keys to Learning."

Dr. Toy's stature as an expert on play and playthings has grown immeasurably since those early MB days. Our industry boasts of thousands of new playthings launched each year, the majority targeting children. Dr. Toy knows which are safe, challenging, entertaining, and have suitable play value for specific ages. Much of that information has been online since 1995. The site provides company links, parent links, and posts by industry professionals who offer helpful insights on how the industry creates new playthings. Specific products are cited as recipients of the coveted "Dr. Toy's Best Products Awards". Over her long service to the industry, she has recognized over 5000 products be they classics, green, seasonal, or best values for the price. Her publications are must reads for anyone active in the toy and game business.

The devotion and efforts Dr. Toy has directed toward the industry as author, creator, advocate, and promotor of play makes her a real industry treasure. Visits to the Dr's website should be regular and frequent rather than the annual encounters with Drs. practicing more serious specialties.

www.stevanneauerbach.com

www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2011

www.drtoy.com/

Wish Upon a Star

The popular kiddie tale tells of Geppetto seeking the magical powers of a star with his wish. He knew he wanted a boy and with the infusion of some fairy dust and design alterations to iron out kinks and imperfections, he got his beloved Pinocchio. Toy and game companies use a form of wishing to make their dreams come true. They do not look to the heavens and wish for successful new products. They enlist the creative powers of professional toy and game inventors.

My partner, Leslie, and I attended a new conference segment of the terrific Chitag weekend where over twenty marketers presented their 2013 "wish lists" to inventors. During my own years in toy and game acquisition, the Company had changing views about circulating wish lists of annual new product desires .

At first, there was a rather open ended, less directed view to let external creative genius be free to invent without constraints. Hopefully, a new concept would come "out of left field", " be uniquely innovative, excite through whole new designs, and result in mega sales.

This "wish-less" approach morphed into more marketing based wish lists to guide inventor thinking. Wishes were defined for each product category with general specs so new concepts fit price points, themes, media licenses, demographics, and what was hot in pop culture. New concepts would then fit more tidily into Sales and Marketing plans for the retail climate. (BTW, even in this approach, the door was always left open to a big WOW! not hinted on any wish list!)

Today, I'm a firm wish list believer. Companies know best what they can develop, market, and sell in the current tech driven, highly competitive, retail constrained marketplace. When companies give inventors helpful guidelines for current wishes, they will get product concepts suited to their market strengths. That will be a whole lot more productive than using Geppetto's path of pinning wishes on a distant star. (And that's no fib!)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

An important part of a company's new toy and game acquisitions is trolling the professional inventing community in search of the proverbial "needle in a haystack". You know, the kind of "needle" that has a potentially TV promotable feature that will sell 500K pieces annually for an indeterminable number of years.

Chicago has long been a popular destination for such searches. It is something of an epicenter for toy invention. Many former in-house creatives went independent in the Windy City after Marvin Glass and Associates disbanded in late 1988. One such inventing house borne out of "broken Glass" was Lund and Company, headed by Bruce Lund.

My visits with Bruce were always filled with his unique, whimsical game concepts. Mixed with the work of playing his new product concepts was friendly social chatter. During a chat about sports, I learned Bruce was a Chicago baseball fan. How could I resist not telling him my true baseball story? Through pure fluke, on a summer day in 1960, wearing Cub uniform No.18, I actually pitched my 58 mph fastball in batting practice to the Cubbie pitchers from the mound at Wrigley Field !

Bruce processed this piece of personal trivia in a very creative way. Toward the end of my next visit, he announced that we would continue the meeting on a nearby Chicago Park District baseball diamond. Unbelievably, he had rented all the necessary baseball gear and enlisted his design team to be batters while he positioned himself as catcher. Apparently, he wanted to see if an aged arm weary acquisitions rep could throw anywhere near home plate 60 feet away. Thankfully, the toy gods let all the overage sandlot players escape without injury during our fun time.

Like me, Bruce never became an overpaid big league star in what the sports world insists calling baseball, "the national past time." Click on the Lund and Company link to see a few of the home runs they've hit in the toy world since our silly day on a Chicago baseball diamond. You can see their true talents have produced a long list of awards. Forget baseball; the Lund team is clearly in the major leagues of creating playthings to the delight of millions of kids.

www.lundandcompany.com

Awards: 2007 TOTY Winner Toy of the Year "TMX Elmo", 2007 TOTY Winner Preschool Toy of the Year "TMX Elmo", 2007 TOTY Nominee "Hydrogen Fuel Rocket", 2008 TOTY Nominee "TMX Friends", 2009 TOTY Nominee "Discovery Scanopedia" and more . . . www.GlobalToyNews.com

What's Your Favorite Game?

Everyone has a favorite game. One played incessantly with friends where one never tires of winning or losing so long as there are hours of entertaining play. Richard Levy was asked recently to identify his favorite game as run-up to contributing with other authors on a new book called Kobold Guide to Board Game Design. http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/kgbgd

What did he name out of the hundreds of games exposed to him over his long career? Parcheesi! Certainly not a technically enhanced game by today's standards but rather one that has been around for hundreds of years. In fact, it continues to be marketed currently by Winning Moves Games.

Here are Richard's thoughts on why Parcheesi is his favorite. http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page10600.php By the way, my favorite classic board game when playing with grandsons Tommy, James, and family is Sorry. With that crew, the simplistic "move pawns on a path around the board" is transformed into a highly competitive, "take no prisoners", boisterous action game!

So what's your favorite game?

B There or B Square

There were silly, catchy sayings in the 50's like, "Be there or be square". Apparently, this was an appeal to be somewhere important or you were considered a "square"! Forwarding to 2011, the "there" is definitely, Chitag/TAGIE, November 17-20.

Mary Couzin, the grand creator of this top industry event, promises that this year will be bigger and better than ever. It has something for everyone who has any interest in the toy and game business.

Novice inventors will hear the essentials from in-house execs. Professional inventors will be exposed to the "new product wish lists" of active marketers. Product licensees will get to review new product opportunities from creative licensors. There will be a marque dinner to honor this year's industry "stars". And as a grand finale to something for everyone, consumers will meet face to face with the companies that supply playthings to the shelves of TRU, Target, Walmart, and specialty toy shops.

It is a REAL happening for all who have a stake in the vitality of the industry. So don't be "SQUARE", join me "THERE". See you later Alligators!










For all the information check with Mary Couzin, President, Chicago Toy and Game Group.
Chicago Toy and Game Fair - November 19 - 20 www.ChiTAG.com
Toy and Game Inventor Conference November 17 - 18 www.Tagie.net
The Toy and Game Inventor Awards November 18 www.TagieAwards.com
World's Largest Co-Op of Game Inventors www.DiscoverGames.com

Oops---OP

OP but soon to be D as in Digital

Sadly, The Toy and Game Inventors Handbook, once called "a bible for inventors", is now "OP", as in OUT OF PRINT. That means the end of hard copies. Fret not! Richard and I are exploring Plan B. We see this as an opportunity to leave the printed page and join the digital age. We are exploring e-publishing hoping for a new, popularly priced, digital" inventor bible". Stay tuned, toy and game inventors. there may soon be a new spiffy handbook coming for your Kindle, Nook, or IPad!

Beyond Board Games

When writing The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook, we asked eighty professional inventors about their creative careers. One question was, "Who inspired you to become an inventor?"
David Hoyt's answer to that question ensured a place in our published profiles and guaranteed that he would one day be a subject on my blog as well. That answer credited me as motivating him to continue as a "toy dreamer" even though he encountered many rejections and "nos" in efforts to license his ideas. (Thank you, David, but my job as VP, Inventor Relations was to cheer lead the company to the inventing community, critique ideas, soothe disappointed inventors, and worst of all--return rejected ideas.) Interestingly, Hoyt's answer went on to cite what the pros know, "Do not look at a "no" as a sign of failure but rather an opportunity to improve as an inventor as long as the faults are applied to future inventions."

And improve he has! He saw that game play can take many forms on a variety of media. Since those early rejections by Hasbro Games of more traditional game formats, Hoyt has successfully developed online games, mobile games, console games, newspaper games, instant lottery games, casino table games, video slot machines games and, of course, board and card games. Millions of players enjoy his syndicated daily games and puzzles found in many hundreds of newspapers around the world. He has seen his very popular JUMBLE "paper/pencil puzzles" published in some thirty books.

Along the way, David learned the value of partnering with other creatives to broaden possibilities of licensing game ideas. He partners with Jeff Knurek to expand the JUMBLE brand. He has co-produced SPLIT card and board games with inventor, Steve Flaherty and PICTURIFFIC with inventor, Jim Keifer. When seeing that media celebrity could drive some of his game play with consumers, Hoyt licensed one of the all time popular TV show hosts, Pat Sajak, for a line of his game designs.

Much of Hoyt's current focus has turned to social networking games. He is part of a team developing game titles for Facebook . PICTURIFFIC is now ready for release. Bringing his creativity and enthusiasm to this newest medium, Hoyt says, "Budgets are bigger, production value is bigger, the play is bigger, everything is bigger. Sometimes it feels more like the movie business than the game business."

Check out all his accomplishments.

http://igamebank.com/PDF/Hoyt%20Puzzles%20and%20Games%202011.pdf

Looking at all of David's successes since weathering my early rejections, I am flattered that some of my advice in some way contributed to his highly successful and productive career as Hoyt Interactive Media.

Summer Doldrums

A summer of climatic calamities . . .

It has been quite sometime since my last post. As we've turned the corner into September and look back several months, the Toy Dreamer clearly has been silent all summer. But as Bob Glaser, Publisher of Toys and Family Entertainment, aptly stated recently, "There's about six weeks or so during the summer that is historically the worst time for the toy industry. It's a phenomenon that occurs every year...." I'm going to use Bob's comment as the seasonal excuse for an absence of blog posts on Santa Doesn't Make Toys. And the "historic" summer doldrums have been further exasperated in New England by a series of climatic and geologic disruptions like tornado, earthquake, and hurricane. Oh well, enough for excuses. Welcome to autumn and a resumption of more regular blog posts on Santa Doesn't Make Toys.

. . . and a time to take cover !

Answer To Our Prayers

Old inventors never die, they just reinvent themselves. This thought could not be more true than in the case of Charlie and Maria Girsch who ventured into new careers away from where they were originally ordained. As creators of new toys and games, they decided to seek the favors of the Toy Gods rather than offer blessings to the followers of the Church. Yes, it's true. Charlie, the ex-priest, and Maria an ex-nun, decided to apply their collective wit and wisdom to new playthings rather than spread the Word of the Almighty.

The Girsches came into the toy industry in the early 70's through a contact with Reynolds Guyer, who hired Charlie to help sell his ideas after Guyer's mega-successes with the Twister and Nerf concepts. In the 80's, Charlie and Maria took over Guyer's unsold ideas so that he could pursue other artistic interests. They soon hit with two breakthrough products: a playset for the bathtub called Tub Town and a wrist carrying case and launch pad for miniature cars called Wrist Racer.

One of their game creations won Germany's Children's Game of the Year in the 90's. It was during this time that I visited them regularly during Hasbro Games "inventor swings" to the Twin Cities where Charlie and Maria were cornerstones in the nineteen member creative community known as Elvenbasch. They did not crack into the Hasbro Game lineup with a new entry, but I gave them high marks for several memorable and unique game features like: being able to win a "trivia type" game without knowing anything; putting games on a never-before and yet-to-be-used popular medium; and designing a cool and very humorous spin on the classic shell game.

Continuing to use their creativity, Charlie and Maria did a slight change of course and went on to write a book about inventive thinking called, Fanning the Creative Spirit. That lead to the launch into the keynote speaking circuit, creativity workshop, and brainstorming business called Creativity Central. This venture took them down pathways a bit off new toy and game creation. Their workshops focused on training personnel in the art of finding inventive solutions at workplaces like Target, General Mills, 3M, Kraft Foods, and the YMCA.

Today, the Girsches are back in the play, learn, and activity world with a first-of-its-kind family networking application called FamZoom which will soon be available in Apple iTunes stores. FamZoom's tagline, "Invented by Grandparents," says it all: warm and fuzzy, safe and secure, fun and easy! Once again, the Girsches are channeling their creativity a bit away from just creation of new toys and games.

A new toy or game needs a mix of factors to be successful today. Coincidentally, those factors seem to start with the letter "P" as in Product features, Play value, Pricing, Packaging, Personality, Promotions, and PR. Knowing from whence the Girsches started their career journey, they could easily add another P as in Prayer.

Wide World of Toys and Games

Toy and game licensing contracts ask the question, what is the "territory" the licensor grants product marketing rights to the licensee? A worldwide or "all territories" deal is complex, but there are advantages to both parties. An inventor is often willing to give worldwide marketing rights to a single partner IF that marketer can produce, package, and ship a product to retail shelves in all corners of the globe. A global marketer must decide if the product that plays in Seattle will make it as successfully in Shanghai and Sydney. In my days with Milton Bradley and Hasbro, the entire globe was certainly our marketplace.

There are some classic toys and games recognized as global brands. That elite status often takes years to build. But my friend, Richard C. Levy, a globe-trotting game inventor and marketing maven has devised a campaign to generate interest in his new game, Coffee Talk, marketed by Pressman Toys. Coffee Talk was co-invented with former Hasbro Games Marketing VP, Gary Carlin. Shaaa-zam! The game has magically appeared in remote places in the world where there are no Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks shops. Talk about spreading the word for a product and getting it before international game players! Shown below, in the hands of various locals, is the unique Coffee Talk package looking just like a retail sack of coffee not filled with beans, but rather playing pieces for the new game! www.coffeetalkgame.com


















Chess Playing Armenians



















Mongolian & Yak


Just shown at Toy Fair 2011, Pressman ships the game mid-June in its distinctive coffee pouch package. Hey, if a word game can be a hit packaged in a simulated banana skin, why shouldn't a game like Coffee Talk hit the toy shelves looking like a sack of coffee? And after all this grassroots global exposure, you can bet there are already some deals for foreign language editions of the game. Game players worldwide await its arrival! To follow Coffee Talk around the world, and to become a fan, go to www.facebook.com/coffeetalkgame


















Lijiang, China Youth

Over the Big Pond

When we wrote The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook, Richard and I knew that toy invention was certainly a global enterprise. In fact, we had relationships with creators of some of the best selling toys and games in the USA that had originated in design studios in Europe, Japan, and Israel. But our schedule and publisher specs lead to a book that clearly was focused on professional inventors housed on the left side of the Atlantic and the right side of the Pacific. Though geographically specific, the publication did achieve our intentions to shine a light on the creators and creative process of new toys and games. In addition to profiling toy and game inventions of some eighty U.S. professionals, it gave a bit of industry history and many helpful how-to do and what-to-do tips to license ideas.

Today, thanks to Al Gore's invention and the Google internet highways, our Handbook can now be digitally updated, complemented, and expanded to a more global perspective of toy and game invention. An interesting site from "over the pond" I recently found can be accessed by going to http://ideasuploaded.com . Ideas Uploaded is written by Tara Roskell, a freelance graphic designer and aspiring inventor based in the UK. Ideas Uploaded is a blog where Tara shares everything she's learned about the invention process through her own journey as an inventor. The blog also contains interviews and podcasts with successful inventors from disparate locales.

Who knows? Perhaps some savvy author team will search the internet using key "invention" words and produce a hard copy publication entitled The Global Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook. Good luck with the challenge of doing such a new publication!

Old Faces, New Places @ NYC Toy Fair 2011

The annual Toy Fair, among other things, is a convocation of old faces belonging to the assembly of what are known as "toy people". They may be found in different booths - as after changing jobs, or in the aisles - as in not having a job but just strolling the Javits aisles unshackled of booth duty. Regardless of their circumstances, these toy people are generally friendly, social types when meeting others. There is much hugging, back slapping, flesh pressing and exchanges of warm smiles among old friends. A good Javits stop for me is to connect with the ever-smiling Mary Couzin, President and Founder of ChiTAG.

But in the Javits arena of toys and games, it is not just peoples' faces moving and changing places. Each year many products turn up in new booths often with a new package face. Indeed, this was true in the Poof-Slinky booth. Two old faces, mine and industry guru and co-author, Richard Levy found their games in a new stand after an acquisition of long time marketer, Cadaco, by Poof-Slinky. 2011 is a new place for Quad*Doku and Adverteasing.

For all those ad lovers in the 100 million viewers of the Super Bowl, Adverteasing,invented by Richard and Sheryl Levy, is a must buy and play. Adverteasing has been on the scene long enough to qualify as a classic in the game world. People love to recall all the classic jingles and slogans for the mass market media-driven products that pass by their daily subconsciousness. Now they have an opportunity to play the totally updated Adverteasing content in a jazzy new package under the Ideal brand from Poof-Slinky.

And for word play lovers, there is Quad*Doku, The Awesome Foursome Word Game, invented by me, now in the Poof-Slinky product lineup. It is the "fourmost", four letter, four intersecting word game. If millions of Scrabble Slam card games sold on the strength of four letter word play, Quad*Doku should be right behind since it involves four, four letter words on a turn. Getting a high scoring "quad", provides four times the word play challenge. Certainly Poof-Slinky would hope that it will get four times the sales of Scrabble Slam from its new face in its game line.

But old toy people faces don't just pop-up at Javits. The Levys saw dear friend, Reuben Klamer at a Broadway show, and I was able to exchange pleasantries with him at Hasbro. Reuben is the renowned inventor of Hasbro's Game of Life and Fisher Price's 1-2-3 Roller Skates among innovations he brought to the industry during his long career.

When you're at Javits in 2012, check out the face changes and like every year, you'll find many old faces in new places.