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.

A Must Read Book

In today's wired world, there is no limit to information access. We are Twittered, Plaxoed, Facebooked, and Linkedin. Ask a question and the vast ethernet network is ready to respond. That is all well and good, but for my information I for one still look to the comfort and support of the expertise captured in a bound book originated by a known authority.

Hopefully, an inquisitive toy or game inventor sought the advice contained in The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook. (Always good to engage in a bit of self promotion). But for those inventors seeking to navigate the broader arena of consumer product licensing, there is an important new book by my co-author, Richard C. Levy. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cashing In On Your Inventions (Second Edition) is a must read all inclusive information compendium for any inventor's personal library.

How much time do you want to spend on Google sifting through a multitude of dubious sources in search of information related to defining, selling, protecting, and licensing ideas? If time is money, isn't a tell all tome of "turning an idea into a windfall" a truly invaluable resource at less than $20?

There are numerous sources for information on how to protect intellectual property, including free literature from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office. There are books on how to invent and sell inventions that are written by patent attorneys, IP managers and agents trolling for business. Most of these people are all hat and no cattle, as they say in Texas. Richard is a marketing dynamo who has co-created, co-developed and licensed hundreds of products that combined have generated $1 billion in global retail sales.

Where Richard's book excels is in its practical, down-to-earth, non-theoretical, real-life information on how to protect your wallet and bring your ideas to market. You are fortunate to be able to peek over Richard's shoulder as you turn the pages of this book and learn the secrets to his success.

Written in a crisp, energetic, insightful manner, this eye-opening book is crammed full of Richard's firsthand experiences that are enhanced through interviews with experts in disciplines ranging from prototyping and off-shore manufacturing to patents and trademarks. He reveals his personal strategies. He shares templates of licensing, option and hold confidential agreements that could save you thousands of dollars in legal fees.

So, if you are a serious inventor or designer who has licensed or wants to license original ideas to industry, you can benefit from this quintessential tool for turning ideas into money-spinners.

Simply put, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cashing In On Your Inventions (Second Edition) is an essential addition to any inventor's library and just plain fascinating reading.

Knowledge is power and this is one powerful source for any inventor who wants to sharpen all the important and related skills. Read, dream, invent--with an added edge! If there is one disappointment I have with this book, it is that I did not co-author it with Richard!

Forever Greg "The Inventor"

The Time: The dawn of microprocessors/electronics in the toy business.
The Mission: Put some magic into the Playskool line.
Good Fortune: To meet and work with an inventor team known as Hyman/Greenberg (or fondly called, Greg and Larry).




















Nothing like a royalty check to make inventors smile.

The actual assignment "back then" was to redesign a clunky, mechanical action toy called "The Computer" that looked like something that would have made Fred Flintstone happy. Fortunately, the electronic consulting talents of Hyman/Greenberg were then part of the world of Milton Bradley/Playskool, and they used the power of microprocessors to bring lights, sounds, music and game play into a happy breakthrough playmate that was to become known as, Alphie the Robot. We could not imagine then that the efforts of the Playskool design team, Mike Meyers, Paul Lapidis and the wizardry of Hyman/Greenberg were actually creating a toy that would be successfully morphed for over 30+ years to Alphie 2010. (A sad page in the long history of Alphie was the all-too-soon passing of Greg's warm, funny, and talented partner, Larry "The Colonel" Greenberg.)

Little did I know when Greg's skills spawned the innards of Alphie that I was dealing with a true electronics genius, who fortunately for the industry, chose to focus his talents on creating new toys. Greg has proven that he is an inventor extraordinaire. No inventor I know can claim creation of more than 85 electronic toys that he has placed since licensing Alphie in 1978. And certainly no other inventor can claim a more entrepreneurial start than Greg, "The Inventor", who at age ten in New Rochelle, NY advertised to teach third and fourth graders about electricity in 12 one hour sessions. ( I would have participated in that 1957 offer, but I was already a year out of H.S. and living a great distance from NY.)























The beginning days of Greg, the Inventor

So many years after his flirtation with teaching electricity and invention, Greg Hyman reflects on his early interests in things mechanical and electrical with the question, "How many people can live the dreams they had back in the third grade and actually make money doing it?" The answer, most likely, is those creative minds that share Greg's idols, Thomas Alva Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, and Alexander Bell, and also have similar inventive skills.

What started in 1976 with Creative Playthings' Little Maestro Piano Organ and mushroomed with Alphie shortly after, Greg's creations and those he co-developed with others have added the proverbial "bells and whistles" to a long list of winners including See & Say Story Maker, Talking Barney, Tickle Me Elmo (and a whole host of Elmo extensions), Baby All Gone, Talking Handheld Monopoly, and on and on.









Greg has plenty of Elmo's in his world.

Like most inventors in the tough business of selling ideas, to get to the success level Greg has reached takes hundreds of models and renderings only to have some of the favorites end up as trophies on workshop shelves. He has ridden the roller coaster of toy creation very well by taking to heart the quote of his idol Thomas Edison, "Invention is 1 percent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration". "Greg, the Inventor" has given the industry a lot of great products, but no one knows better than he that it has not happened without a good deal of perspiration that started way back in his third grade.

All in the Family

It is every toy and game inventors dream to see a newly licensed product at Toy Fair. I lived that dream in '09 when Cadaco released my game, Quad*doku. Toy Fair '10 was dimmed a bit for me since I had no such dream...zip...nada. But it was still a vicariously pleasant time to see the new game co-developed by my wife, Leslie Lawrence, on the Haywire stand at Javits. And it was good news that a number of key trade buyers expressed interest in carrying Out Numbered during 4Q this year. We can only hope that buyer interest and comments in February translate to shelf space at holiday time.


















It may be great where you are in a dream on center stage with a newly released product. But I can say that it's equally as great to see your life's No.1 associate live the dream. After all, "It's All in the Family" and the royalty checks hit the same mailbox. Good luck, Leslie! May you have a BIG winner!