I like winning — go figure! — so I’m thrilled to announce that I had the most read article on Global Toy News in 2014. Before this post turns into the internet version of me hopping up on a table claiming victory, I’d like to take a sentence or two to say why this is important to me. It’s because the article was on gender-based marketing, and frankly I’m just not a fan. I get that there are toys that girls are more attracted to and ones that boys are more attracted …
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The Chicago Toy and Game Fair is over and it’s time to recap a few of the interesting games I played while I was there! There were so many publishers there so these are only a small sampling of games I haven’t already covered. Which means I have to skip games like Rummikub, which I could have sat down and played all day with random strangers at the Goliath booth. Maybe next year I’ll enter into the Rummikub Tournament! (If you’ve never been to the fair, there are huge companies like Spin Master and …
EXCELLENCE IN GAME DESIGN
Oliver Morris, designer of Gravity Maze
This year’s field of inventors (Dan Klitsner/Hasbro Design - Simon Swipe, John Neal/BMT - Shark Mania, Oliver Morris – Gravity Maze, Richard Garfield - King of New York, Steffen Bogen - Camel Up) had some pretty big game names in it and I find it interesting that a solo player game (which some might call a brainteaser) won. Granted, I do think Gravity Maze did a great job of making something that requires quite a bit of brain power look really fun, which is cool. I’m just surprised that a more traditional “multi-player …
It’s time again for the Chicago Toy and Game Fair and while I’ve slacked and haven’t put together a preview article that includes new games to take a peek at while you’re there, I did take a few minutes to round up some events you might be interested in. But beside the advertised events the coolest thing about this show is that it’s CRAWLING with inventors – both newer inventors and ones who have been in the business for YEARS. I’ve listed a few below that have specific times and …
If you’re on the internet and interested in games, I’m almost positive you’ve heard of Robot Turtles. I can’t recall the last time a game got so much press (Wired, The New York Times (pic at right), NPR, etc.) in so many different areas of the gaming world. Even the people who have no idea what Kickstarter is know about Robot Turtles.
If, however you’ve been living in a remote area of the world with no internet access, here’s the very short abridged version of the story:
Dan Shapiro invented Robot Turtles for …
And the winners are…. BUBBLES, LITTLE GREEN ARMY MEN, and RUBIK’S CUBE!
These are the 54th and 55th AND 56th items inducted in to the National Toy Hall of Fame, hosted by the National Museum of Play:
So no game winner for this year (unless you count Rubik’s ‘cube.) At least we saw Chess earn its place in the Hall of Fame last year and Dominoes the year before. Still, I hate seeing a year with no games as they are definitely underrepresented in the mix of winners. Ah.. there’s always next year.
The …
The thing I love about being in this industry is that there are so many inventors willing to help and support other inventors. We’re all in the same boat for the most part — sometimes things are great and sometimes things just plain suck, but we’ve each had our fair share of good and bad. We also know that as much as the business has a happy side, there are definitely the stories that don’t have endings like, “he plans on spending his retirement sailing off into the sunset in his …
