Unfortunately I didn’t get to go to ASTRA this year, but my inventor friend Mary Jo Reutter (read about her games HERE) did and she was nice enough to share what’s great about the ASTRA show from an inventor’s perspective.  Quick background for anyone who doesn’t know ASTRA stands for American Specialty Toy Retailing Association and they’re the ones behind Neighborhood Toy Store Day which is Nov. 12th this year.  The ASTRA show is held in June every year, but unlike Toy Fair the location of the show bounces around …

Again this year I’ve managed to get a discount for all of my fantastic readers to T&G Con:
Thursday, November 15th – Friday, November 16th at Chicago’s Navy Pier
Write on your form: “THE GAME AISLE” to get $100 off your first attendee*
*second, third, etc. attendees in a group already get a discounted price, so no double dipping
**Subtract $100 from the fee for your FIRST person only & write “THE GAME AISLE” on your sheet

T&G Con is great for anyone totally new to the toy and game invention industry AND those of …

I’ll admit it, I was the geek in the back last night taking feverish notes during Mike Hirtle’s lecture entitled  “What Makes A Good Game.”  Now, before the sassy comments come streaming in, it wasn’t because I don’t know what makes a game good – it’s more I that I wanted to be able to share his thoughts with you.
What I found interesting is that he referred to George Parker’s criteria for a good game.  For those of you who don’t know George Parker (at left) was THE original Parker …

To read Part 1 of this series, click HERE.  To read Part 2 of this series, click HERE.
Here are some of the continuing trends I saw during Toy Fair 2011:

Tile-Placement games
In the last two years we’ve seen a bunch of Blokus-like games such as Callisto by University Games, Cir*Kis by Winning Moves/Hasbro and Blockers by Briarpatch.  New additions this year – both of which I think look pretty fun — include City Square Off by Gamewright and PathWords by ThinkFun.  In City Square Off each player has their own board …

To read Part 1 of this series, click HERE.

Trend: Co-Operative Games
Another trend I see developing is the concept of co-operative games.  As you can tell from the name, it’s when players work together during a game and sometimes the game wins, sometimes the players win.  Peaceable Kingdom Press had a whole line of new co-operative games including one called Hoot Owl Hoot, which I can’t wait to try out!  Ravensburger introduced one new co-operative game called Whoowasit? Whoowasit? is a Clue-like cooperative game that’s currently a best-selling game in …