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.

The Birth Of A New Game

It's been months since Toy Fair '09 and the future NYC extravaganza is closer than the past one. I have been so active doing other toy biz things that TOYDREAMERS.blogspot.com has been barren.

Included in that biz is tracking all the efforts on our 2009 game, Quad•Doku. It's emergence got me thinking about the varied labors of getting a product licensed, developed, produced and released to the market by a good industry partner.

No question, the birth of an offspring is a true miracle. The delivery of an infant from the womb into the world is an ultimate creation. Though physiologically unable to personally make such a delivery, I have been a co-contributor to the process twice. Seeing that new born after nine months of development is indeed remarkable. I've been struck by the similarity of the human miracle to the miracle of licensing and birthing a new game with a marketer.

I had this revelation when Cadaco recently delivered my new game, Quad*Doku, into the retail world. Looking back, the development period was at least nine months, maybe longer. From planting the seed for the game through the defining stages as "my baby" took shape, there was much excitement and anticipation. I wasn't showing vague black and white ultrasound images of my baby, but rather a real looks like, playable creation, a real game! Like any expectant parent, I couldn't wait to show-off my baby publicly. And first exposure would be to partner companies needed to complete the delivery into the toy and game world.

Guess what? After three or four of those exposures, I had no partners! Disappointed, I put the effort on the shelf and did a bad thing, I aborted the creation! However, the lingering desire to create a word game to supplant Scrabble kept swirling, and I had a "don't give up attitude". I decided to start a new creation complete with better play features and a very cute name. Rather than just being Baby X, I gave the creation the name, Quad*Doku. That name came from my imagined connection to the hugely successful Sudoku. I can only thank the toy and game gods that John Lindsay, President of Cadaco, had the product sense to pony-up for my baby and agree to partner in the daunting task of getting the trade to love a new word game! The baby was finally born!


I knew from my Milton Bradley and Hasbro years that a new product concept, even from the best creators, faced odds between 90 and 100 to 1 that it would arrive at Toy Fair. I'm thrilled that the result of our labor (much assistance came from life partner, Leslie) has ended up in master cartons with a real order number (No.747). Only time and many, many consumers will tell if our creation will survive in the cold world of retail toys and games. Like any proud parents, we have very high and hopeful expectations that our offspring will be a success in the real world. Go baby Quad*Doku, go!

Toy Fairs Past

Long before Jacob Javits became the hub for the NYC Toy Fair, there was the Toy Center at 200 5th Avenue. Toy Fairs then were not the horizontal open-air bazaars with aisles and aisles of playthings that we know today. Rather in the old Toy Center, the annual extravaganza was held in a combination of vertical towers connected by an oddly placed but functional “bridge” on the 9th floor that attached more exhibits at 1107 Broadway to the main Center.

Most toy and game companies maintained “showrooms” at the Toy Center and would not bother to exhibit at Javits; it was an inconvenient location mostly for startups. The Toy Center forced buyers and the thousands of miscellaneous fair goers to use the grossly undersized elevators or the narrow and steep marble stairways to get to the showrooms protected from un-welcomed visitors by an “appointments only” mentality. After all that physical abuse to find a company, there was little hospitality shown by the reception desk temp or business-suited security enforcer to any guest without an appointment. Toy Fair was a serious time for sales/orders, not for schmoozing inquisitive non-buyers.

Yielding to my curiosity about the old Toy Center, on Saturday afternoon, February 14th, I took my valentine, Leslie, to the changing neighborhood at 23rd and Broadway. Maybe this nostalgic photo op captures a few memorable scenes for those in the toy biz before Javits became the center of the toy universe.

The iconic clock in front of 200 still stands with the incorrect time. Maybe the green light is saying "Toy people, do not stop here. Go directly to Javits."

The 23rd St. side entrance may be open, but only the "ghosts of toy fairs past" are home.  Why is the entrance protected by a tunnel of street level scaffolding?

To my query, the workman says, "I told you once, but I'll tell you one last time, pal. I know nuttin' about showrooms, there's nobody alive in there! Guess they're puttin' in new offices or sumptin'."

Wait a minute! Didn't I often park my car on the second or third tier of this lot one-half block from the Toy Center when I was silly enough to buck the NYC traffic?

Yikes, a Home Depot. I'm confused! Isn't this the old Hasbro showroom on 23rd St. where I spent hours in meetings and Toy Fairs?

Safe at last back uptown where the toy business is still hoppin'! (Wonder if my new game, Quad*doku, will draw all these shoppers later this year!!??)

OK, Mike Hirtle, I know you're in this Times Center showroom on a Saturday. I have a few 

great new game concepts to show you. No, I don't have an appointment! Guess if I can't get in, I'll just wait for the opening day of Javits, February 15, 2009.