Inventing an aMAZEing Game

As co-author of two toy and game invention books, it's rewarding to hear from an inventor who has actually read them and implemented some of our suggestions on how-to license new playthings. So when Andy Geremia made an e-mail connection, I was all ears....excuse me, rather all eyes.

Geremia, is actually a high-tech "locksmith", albeit using keyless locks. His day is a world filled with security entry devices and video surveillance systems. At night behind his own secured doors, Geremia has used his playful and inventive spirit to create several self-marketed outdoor games and now the unique new board game, Maze Racers, a game that had a boost by winning a crowd-funding contest sponsored by Big Leap.  http://www.bigleap.org

Motivated by the Big Leap win and filled with advice from self-help invention books, including The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook, Geremia set out to find a marketer for his maze game. He put into practice all he read in books. www.CerealBoxMaze.com

Armed with the press release about the contest and filled with commitment and perseverance to commercialize the concept, he began contacting game companies. Within a month, Geremia had three prototypes out and two months later, he had a signed agreement with Fox Mind to unveil Maze Racers at NYC Toy Fair 2015 http://www.foxmind.com. 

According to David Capon, president of Fox Mind, Maze Racers fits the company's narrative perfectly. "It is exciting and intuitive, simple to explain, stimulates players' creativity and dexterity, and delivers fun". What Capon saw has been validated by a steady early trade sales pace and recent recognition as a Top 10 Game for 2015 by Dr. Toy. Top Games 2015. 

Since pitching the game to the trade at Toy Fair 2015 in the Fox Mind booth, Geremia has embarked on a one man PR crusade to build word-of-mouth support for his game. Says Geremia, "I will attend any game convention within two hours of my CT home to promote Maze Racers and have exhibited at the Maker Faire in RI and the Boston Festival of Games." 

Actually, Geremia exceeded that travel radius to make an appearance at Gen Con 2015 where "four stations of Maze Racers were played steadily by adults and kids seven hours each day of the show". In addition, Fox Mind has committed to exhibit at Chitag, the Chicago Toy and Game Fair, on November 21st and 22nd. Getting out and demonstrating Maze Racers is another step through the marketing maze to make Maze Racers popular with today's game players.

Mr. Monopoly Mascot

Mr. Monopoly, aka Rich Uncle Pennybags, is one of the most endearing and enduring icons in the toy and game business. His formal top hat, tux, and perfectly coiffed mustache have been around for decades as the brand representative for Monopoly. He was created in one dimensional form to represent the wealthy money man who would dole out big bucks and rewards to eager board game players.

Today, the world is full of walking, talking, animated bigger-than-life brand icons often called mascots. They seem to be everywhere from professional sports arenas to institutions of higher learning to mass media screens. You see them interacting with fans, leading cheers from the sidelines, or on TV entertaining audiences with the beloved Big Bird, Barney, and others. No trip to Disney Land or Disney World would be complete without skipping along with Walt's costumed creations that have been instrumental in selling tons of toys and games.

Being one of these costumed icons is not for the faint of heart. Behind--or rather inside--Big Bird was Carroll Spinney who spent over four decades in anonymity making the giant Sesame Street character work. How Big Bird Costume Works For anyone thinking that there is a future animating an iconic figure, best they find out details of the difficult life inside an oversized mascot's costume, http://howtobeamascot.com/tag/how-much-mascot-costume-head-weigh/

Chuck Long, had a 38year career as game salesman for Milton Bradley and eventually Hasbro Games after MB merged with Parker Bros. He had a much simpler and direct route to his limited engagements as the Hasbro iconic figure, Mr. Monopoly. The costume required little other than top hat and tux. Whitening hair and a mustache transformed him into the personna that by 1995 got him gigs at retail customer sales meetings, store openings, and even corporate and international Hasbro sales meetings. Chuck Long became an expert on Monopoly history and fun facts even autographing his altered identity onto Monopoly games bought by customers.

Chuck Long remembers one memorable appearance as Mr. Monopoly about three years ago, "It was at a Power of Youth charity event held at Paramount movie studios in Hollywood. There was some buzz about Mr. Monopoly being there. But the real attention was given to a celebrity that may not have even been an avid Monopoly player. What I am sure of is that the celebrity of Monopoly, the game, has been around in the business longer than Bieber's popularity in pop culture. He'll have to perform many more years to catch-up to Monopoly." Words spoken like a true game salesman who happens to be a Mr. Monopoly look-alike!

Hello, Cartamundi...Goodbye, Milton Bradley

Cartamundi created a bit of an industry buzz by purchasing Hasbro's manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts and Ireland . Consensus thinking of business watchers seems to be it is good that the 1.1 million sq. foot East Longmeadow, MA factory and 350 employees are back with a management that has a "production mentality".

When I joined Milton Bradley decades ago, that recently opened MA "manufacturing" facility was an efficiently run operation with a great mixture of 1800 workers and state-of the-art machines plying ink to paper and chopping cardboard. In the '70s, then CEO James J. Shea Jr. took great pride in his "fully integrated manufacturing operation where raw materials came in Door 1 and left through Doors 44 to 64 as finished games packed in standardized shipping cartons". Such were the golden days of manufacturing at the world's No.1 game company.

In the mid-eighties, Hasbro acquired MB. A popular saying around the East Longmeadow office was "they"are marketers, "we"are manufacturers. I always thought that saying was a bit asinine. At the time, "we" were selling $500,000,000 in manufactured games. Didn't those sales require some marketing savvy? I felt that popular "we/they" saying could easily have been, "they" have toys and "we" have games thus eliminating the functional marketer/manufacturer designates.

There I was a member of the "manufacturer' team, albeit in the East Longmeadow office, but I didn't work in bib overalls and carry a lunch pail. Actually, company office dress code for male staff called for  button down shirts w/neckwear and wing tip shoes. On the other hand, many of our new owners/colleagues, the Hasbro "marketers" had relaxed attire of open collar business casual more suited to production line workers. ( I also recall some male "marketers" even sported fashionable facial hair barred in the East Longmeadow dress code.)

Fast forward to today. Hasbro, the "marketers" are masterfully piecing together toy and game brands into expanded platforms with strategic ventures allied with key entertainment licenses. The "manufacturers" in east Longmeadow will continue to do what they have done for so many years...manufacture the best quality board games and puzzles in the world, not as Milton Bradley but rather as Cartamundi.

Is Donald Trump an "ism"?

During my corporate days working with new products and inventors to find a mega-hit, (or at least a game that would justify a multi-million dollar TV promotion budget), there were certain directives offered by the Marketing Department to guide the new product search. I dubbed those directives, "isms". "Isms" were usually light on specifics for a new product's form but rather more suggestive of what to avoid in a game theme as envisioned by our marketers. After all, they had the research on game consumers' pulses as the basis for these "isms".

For inventors, "isms' were cautionary flags on what not to design into their new ideas. A wonderfully unique new game could be judged unsalable and rejected during the marketing selection process simply because the inventor stumbled onto an "ism" and unknowingly designed it into the new game idea.

Examples of "isms"from those years included: "Pirates won't sell". This "ism" prevailed in the days long before Johnny Depp starred in the popular Disney's series, Pirates of the Caribbean. The "ism" "Space won't sell", was wiped away by George Lucas as he created a toy licensing cash cow with his cinematic magic in the Star Wars block busters. An "ism" that may still prevail is "Clowns won't sell". Perhaps clown appearances in too many horror movies makes them less desirable as playthings.

Fast forward to more recent times when I had a neat co-development opportunity on a politically themed game somewhat similar to a former party game titled, "WWJD". Before progressing too far, I ran the idea by a highly respected and experienced game sales executive. Yikes, his reaction was yet another "ism" - "Politics won't sell". It seems a trade buyer's political party bias and the divisive topic of politics for U.S. voters were enough "ism" specifics to squelch the idea.

Today with non-stop news surrounding the 2016 POTUS campaign, we have the surprising emergence of a controversial personality who has made past appearances on mass-market games. Donald Trump was central to the theme of Trump: The Game released in1989 and again in 2004. The strength of his billionaire status and his Apprentice TV show were enough star power to get him onto games that did not deal with politics, Both were more related to Monopoly where acquisition and negotiating of properties generated mega-wealth. Who better than billionaire developer Donald Trump on a board game to let players fantasize about basking in billions? The games did not sell particularly well, and experienced only mediocre ratings from boardgamegeek and gamersalliance. They had short lives and quietly faded from retail store shelves.

Now with Donald clamoring around the prime time political scene, will a toy marketer ignore the "politics-ism" and give Trump another chance in the world of play? Perhaps Trump on board games was not the right fit. President Trump: The Game might make a provoking adult party game. Maybe Donald is better suited to non-game categories. A bloviated gobbledygook spewing action figure seems appropriate. Or a Dashboard Donald novelty with AC air ruffling his iconic mane might find a place on cars everywhere.

Trump's entry into the POTUS political arena will be a true test of the "politics-ism".  In Donald Trump's world, that test will be whether "HIS Politics will or won't sell" to a market much bigger than the one for toys and games.

My recollections of the Milton Bradley 1989 Trump: The Game introduction:

• Great NYC Toy Fair media buzz surrounded Donald's Game. . .

• Showroom exhibit was magnificent, energetic, and eye-popping. . .

• All  showroom personnel were  instructed to talk-up the game. . .

• Some Mid-west customers unfamiliar with Trump caused sales concerns. . .

• Donald's chopper delivered him to our E. Longmeadow office for short visit. . .

• Marketing colleagues started wearing Trump's iconic red ties. . .

• Several colleagues tried to emulate Trump's coif..I kept my close-cropped G.I. style. . .

• Game had strong trade sell-in, weak retail sell-through...didn't become an MB classic!