Surfing for Games

The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook contains many suggestions by top toy sages on how best to keep up with industry trends. One common tip repeated by these in-the-know toy people was, "get out into retail frequently and see what's on the shelves." It's all there; playthings with latest entertainment licenses, product displayed by categories, attractive merchandising and packaging, marketers who dominate space, and a mix of new toys and games with the classics.

Any itinerary to Toyland's retail aisles should obviously include regular stops at Walmart, Target, Kmart and TRU. To be all inclusive, specialty retailers are a must stop too since unique and likely higher end playthings, often ignored by big box outlets, populate the aisles.

Add to brick and mortar visits, quality time surfing the wonder and convenience of internet websites in search of industry happenings. In the 3rd edition of the Handbook, we concocted a new section called the Websitary (coined by the contraction of website and glossary). It is a listing of websites we felt, at the time of publication, would likely be of interest to toy people. As an e-book, we were able to make these sites interactive.

Today, digital toy industry info abounds on the computer. If your thing is games, check out thegameaisle.com The site is maintained by inventor and active blogger, Kim Vandenbroucke who posts frequent reviews of games new to the market. In her blogging, Kim uses a special mix of skills from her industrial design training, experiences at a former Chicago invention house, and independent creative work from her design business, Brainy Chick. kimvandenbroucke.com.

Says Kim, "It behooves toy people to know what the competition is up to, what looks to be doing well, and what has flopped. In the seven years I've been blogging, the game arena has changed so much! Paying close attention to the market has been a fun adventure for me. I've played tons of games. I'd like to think blogging to the industry has made me better at designing toys and games while shining a light on the market for my audience"

Another blog that offers a wealth of information on the game side is Purple Pawn. purplepawn.com
The site's stated mission reflects the commitment to the industry's game segment. "Purple pawn is a site about life, as seen through the prism of games." And by admission of Executive Editor, David A. Miller and his staff, "Purple Pawn covers everything cool, sick, famous. infamous, down and dirty, up and coming, cultural, or just plain weird in the world of people and analog games". Those promises sound to me as though Purple Pawn should be another regular blog stop in getting a pulse on the latest games populating Toyland.

Sir Frances Bacon wasn't a toy guy, but he is attributed to have said, "Knowledge is power". Enjoy building your industry knowledge through all those store visits  and by surfing the web.

A Very Friendly Robot

Long, long ago, I had the memorable experience of heading Playskool's R & D Department for several years when it was located in Chicago. Actually, it was more of a D & D Department (design and development) since little "research' was done in Chicago. "Research" was handled at Milton Bradley's corporate offices in Springfield, MA.

Each year. D & D was to create new preschool playthings with input from Playskool's Marketing Department. Unquestioningly, the most successful project launched during my time in the Department was to replace a clunky, mechanical action Computer with "something new and more exciting".

That "something new" assignment lead to Alphie The Robot; a friendly looking space age character full of beeps, hoops, music, LEDs, and play modes powered by a 9V battery. Unbeknownst to us at the outset of the project in 1977, that original Alphie would enjoy sufficient longevity to become an early preschool brand and appear in nine ideations over its market life from the introductory year of 1978 until 2011!

The "toy gods" looked favorably on the project from day one. An all-star team was assembled to make Alphie happen. There were many key players including:

Michael Meyers who had just joined Milton Bradley as Vice President Corporate R & D after successful product years at Child Guidance and Marx toys. Mike pushed his premonition that Star Wars, then about to burst onto big screens everywhere, would make "space" toys a hot commodity. His years heading significant R & D projects made him the perfect liaison between MB's budding electronics group and Playskool's design specs for Alphie.  Mike's important sidebar contribution was the serendipitous suggestion to name the then nameless toy after his pet cat, Alphie! Suggestion given; suggestion trademarked!

Paul Lapidus managed the talented Playskool designers who were tasked with creating an appealing space creature acceptable to preschool mothers and the internal corporate panel of critical observers. Through the years, Alphie would get several design "makeovers" and dimensional changes, but it was the toy's initial form and functions that won the hearts and minds of the toy trade and huge numbers of consumers.

Greg Hyman and Larry Greenberg had just been retained by Mel Taft, Milton Bradley's Sr. VP Corporate R & D to consult on the company's electronic projects. The timing was perfect. There couldn't have been two more co-operative and knowledgeable external partners. Taking Playskool specs for the toy's functions, Hyman and Greenberg's first step was to provide a "prove-it" breadboard and when approved to then layout the circuitry on a PC board that would become Alphie's microprocessor "brain" in production. Though Greenberg passed unexpectedly in 1992, Greg Hyman shepherded all eight subsequent Alphie electronic ideations as the friendly robot grew into a major Hasbro brand.

http://www.museumofplay.org/blog/play-stuff/2012/04/the-path-to-toy-invention-greg-hyman/

From that tip-off assignment for original Alphie, Greg Hyman went on to co-create and license over 120 state of the art toys including notables like Major Morgan, Talking Barney, Baby All Gone and Tickle Me Elmo. Documentation on much of Greg's toy invention can be viewed at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. http://www.museumofplay.org


Through a generous gift from Hyman and Greenberg to the Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, RI, Alphie appears on a plaque in an examining room to offer a friendly, welcoming face to little tykes daily.