Whew…ChiTAG is over and I’m exhausted!  I will freely admit that between T&GCon, the TAGIEs and ChiTAG it’s my favorite 4 days in the game industry calendar because it feels like everyone is in town and it’s not quite as crazy as New York Toy Fair – although that’s debatable.  During those 4 days I tackled: speaking at T&GCon on the “Packaging and Design” panel, I attended the Toy and Game Inventor Awards (and lost), was interviewed by a newspaper and a radio station, met with (what feels like) a …

First, thanks to all of you who voted for me – it just wasn’t my year.  I will say, I’m okay losing to Susan McKinley Ross; she’s a great inventor and her game Qwirkle won the Spiel des Jahres, so it only seems fitting that she took home the trophy!  Congratulations Susan!
Despite my loss, the evening was quite a success!  Again it was held at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and this year the museum is hosting a Dr. Seuss exhibit which was quite cool!  Dinner even had a …

Before all the craziness last week (Toy Hall of Fame Induction, Neighborhood Toy Store Day, National Gaming Day) I wrote about Befuzzled, one of the many games you’ll see at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair which is happening THIS weekend at Navy Pier.  You can get all of the info HERE and you can get a coupon for $2 off admission HERE.  And now I’m going to give you a little preview of what kind of games you’ll be able to try before you buy at the fair this …

Even though there have been holiday decorations up in stores across the country for more than a month, I personally can’t believe it’s already November and the holidays are right around the corner!  Now, for many of you in the game world you know that before we can dig in to our Thanksgiving turkey, we have to meet in Chicago for ChiTag!  And the game I’m going to review this week, Befuzzled, will be the star of the Fun Q Games booth.
I’ve had Befuzzled on my desk for a little …

Okay so you’ve got an idea for an awesome game or toy  — now what?!  Yea, I get that question ALL THE TIME and I have one answer….go to T&GCon.  But spending money on a conference isn’t what most people want to hear when they’re already considering self-manufacturing a new concept.  Which makes sense — BUT I can’t stress enough that starting off on the right foot is essential to success and the best way to make sure you’re doing that is by getting advice from people who have ” …