My Two Cents

I’m reviewing a children’s BOOK: Do you know why?

Believe it or not, this is a BOOK review. Yeah, this is still The Game Aisle, but something interesting is coming from Educational Insigh..

2017 Toy Fair Trends: Part 4 (the last one)

This is it, the last part of the 2017 Toy Fair Trends series. If you missed them here are links: Parts 1 and Part 2 and Part 3.

Co..

2017 Toy Fair Trends: Part 3

In Parts 1 and 2 I covered three HUGE trends: YouTube, Toy-etic, and Strategy. Those are pretty big themes, but what TYPES of games did I ..

2017 Toy Fair Trends: Part 2

Did you miss 2017 Toy Fair Trends: Part 1? Click HERE.

Continuing Trend: Toy-etic Games

Back in 2012 I wrote about how nice it was ..

What’s that on the box?

I was doing some late reading (yep – checking out the latest issue of The Toy Book AFTER Toy Fair). And I was really jazzed about thi..

2017 Toy Fair Trends: Part 1

I cannot believe that another Toy Fair has passed, but what a great show! The longer I’m in this industry the more I love events like ChiT..

My Two Cents

National Inventors’ Day: Let’s Celebrate!

I wrote a while back about how not all inventors are dead white guys, and talked about the inventors of the toy and game industry being a ..

My Two Cents

Happy Holidays from The Game Aisle!

Hi all –

Thanks to everyone who reads The Game Aisle — both regular and infrequent readers — I hope that in 2016 I helped you find so..

My Two Cents

Toys for Tots and other ways to play Santa!

Happy December 1st everyone! Can you believe it’s the last month of 2016 already? I can’t. I haven’t played enough games, but December i..

My Two Cents

CUBS WIN!: A look back at what we were playing the last time the Cubs won

(Photo by Chicago History Museum/Getty Images)

I was going to write this before game 7 but I really did not want to jinx the game. (L..

My Two Cents

Father’s Day and one of the sweetest gamer stories I’ve heard in a while

I’ve been on vacation (hence the lack of articles in the past few weeks) but before I get back to doing reviews I want to hop on my soapbo..

My Two Cents

Anyone Seen Tinkerbell?

I was having a delightful email chat with Ron Weingartener, co-author of the Toy and Game Inventor’s Handbook, and he passed along a Bloom..

Beyond Candy Land: Games for 3 and 4 year olds

I was recently asked by ClassCrasher, a Chicago-based company that helps parents find fun classes for kids without a long commitment, to d..

My Two Cents

The Next Great American Game: A film that peeks inside the industry

The Next Great American Game is a movie about one man’s quest to break into the game industry with, as the title says, the “next great Ame..

"I have many more scars than medals."
Richard Levy on Inventing

2016 Toy Fair: My 2 Cents

RoadKill – Helvitq

By now I hope you’ve read my 3 Toy Fair Tends articles for 2016 (if you haven’t start with Toy Fair Trends Part 1 H..

My Two Cents

Toy Fair 2016 Here I Come!!

I’ll be headed to New York for Toy Fair shortly and I’m super excited to be going as PRESS for the first time! Yep – with all of the pictu..

2015 Holiday Picks

I really enjoyed all of these games this year (yes, some aren’t 2015 releases but I didn’t get to them until this year). Thanks for readi..

Mattel’s version of the appetizer sampler platter

I just found this — it’s like the appetizer sampler platter — but instead of greasy fried food it’s games!

Yes, that’s right. Mattel ..

My Two Cents

The power of the LICENSE

We see it all the time, games get “skinned” with hot new licenses such as Disney’s Frozen or Minions, or well-loved classics such as Marve..

My Two Cents

How awesome would this be??

I’d love a car that drives me around as I play games. Notice that it’s the women who are playing here — smart gals! 🙂 But until this ..

Books and Movies about the Industry and becoming an Inventor

A list of books about being/becoming a game inventor, books about the history of the toy and game industry, and a few movies about the industry.

Scrabble Boggle: Better update my Boggle post…

Way back in 2009 I wrote about one of my all-time favorite word games, Boggle. Funny enough I said you’d never see me write an article ab..

A World of Characters: Advertising Icons from the Warren Dotz Collection from Jan Sturmann on Vimeo.

My Two Cents

A World of Characters: Advertising Icons from the Warren Dotz Collection

I’ll hop back onto the game bandwagon after this post, but Warren Dotz of Meet Mr. Product and Mr Product Volume 2 read my article and sen..

Mr Product: Volumes 1 and 2

Mr. Product Volume 2

Meet Mr. Product: Volume 1

My Two Cents

Mr. Product: Where did the fun go?

Years ago when I was in Fast Company magazine I mentioned that I enjoyed using a book called Meet Mr. Product when I brainstormed; the cha..

My Two Cents

3D Printing: Enter the Age of Bootlegs?

I’ve heard right and left about how cheap, accessible 3D printing is going to change our industry for the better. Need a replacement part ..

My Two Cents

STEM/STEAM: Teaching a creative problem-solving process

This is part 2 of an article series posted on Global Toy News, you can see it HERE and read part 1 HERE.

Most adults agree that creativit..

My Two Cents

STEM/STEAM: Can we add one more letter?

I originally published this post on Global Toy News, you can see it HERE.

It’s been a month since New York Toy Fair and if you were there..

Toy Fair 2015: Sneaky Cards from Gamewright

Did you see the pic of the guy on the floor of the Gamewright booth on The Game Aisle’s Facebook page? Or maybe The Game Aisle’s Instagra..

…if bullying based on gender-based marketing isn’t a call to action to make marketing less gender-focused, I’m not sure what is.
Kim Vandenbroucke
Contributor to Global Toy News

2014 Toy Hall of Fame Inductees Announced!

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 N..

I Love Operation Campaign… Inventors helping inventors and a peek behind the curtain

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 ..

2014 Toy Hall of Fame Nominees Announced: Only one game in the bunch?!

Loyal readers know that every year I’ve got a beef with the number of games that are nominated for the National Toy Hall of Fame* and..

My Two Cents

Soapbox: The Importance of Giving

I’ll admit this feels like it should be a blog post I’m writing in November, but there really isn’t a “season for giving back” it should..

Choco: Finding That Long Lost Toy: When Buried Memories Surface

There are lots of brands we get warm-fuzzy feelings about because we recall them from our childhood. Some brands rely on the “warm-fuzzie..

My Two Cents

April Fools 2014: Fake Products from Across the Toy and Game Industry

Despite a Fast Company article that refers to April 1st as “the worst” day on the internet and calls for brands to “opt out,” I rather en..

My Two Cents

Global Toy News: The Sad Side Effects of Gender-Based Marketing

It’s been a little bit since I’ve posted and that’s because I chugged through the Toy Fair trends articles and then had to focus on my..

Toy Fair 2014: Trends Part 3

This is part 3 in a 3 part series on the trends of New York Toy Fair. (whew!)

Toy Fair 2014: Trends Part 2

This is part 2 of a three part series on the trends seen at New York Toy Fair.

Toy Fair 2014: Trends Part 1

This is part 1 in a three part series on the trends seen at New York Toy Fair.

My Two Cents

In a Changing Landscape, Will Some Classic Brands Fade?

When I started in this business we were still creating stand-alone toys and games. After a while, the toy ideas became brand-focused an..

Cheese Louise: A discussion on prototypes

When I was at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair before Thanksgiving, Nick Metzler was demoing his new game with PlaSmart, Squashed. As Nick w..

My Two Cents

Look Before You Leap: The First Thing You Should Do Before You Jump on an Idea

I wrote the following article for another website but it ended up not getting used. Still, I think it’s filled with some pretty decent ad..

My Two Cents

Kickstarter: Will bad experiences change the landscape of funded projects?

This post was originally written for Global Toy News and you can find it HERE.

It’s happened again; a funded Kickstarter campaign that ..

My Two Cents

Inventors/Designers: It’s a tough gig but you’ve got to have faith…

This article was originally written for Global Toy News and you can find it HERE.

Yesterday I posted an article on a Kickstarter campai..

My Two Cents

Global Toy News: Why we should be looking at Cards Against Humanity

Back in December of 2010 Richard wrote a blog about an alternative way of funding a toy/game project and of course he was talking about Kickstarter. (Read it: “Need to find investment money? Try “Kickstarter”) In the article he mentioned a little game called Cards Against Humanity. It got funded via Kickstarter in early 2011 and since then has been a sort of viral hit.

Being Ahead of the Curve: Saving Chocolate Bunnies and Giving Games

If you haven’t seen it already, Mattel launched their “Save the Chocolate Bunny” campaign earlier this month. Proclaiming the chocolate b..

My Two Cents

“Inventors:” Why we have got to stop thinking about those dead white guys

This post was originally written for Global Toy News and you can see it HERE.

Did you know that today in 1794 Eli Whitney patented his ..

My Two Cents

Toy Fair 2013: Some Eye-Candy Packaging

Some of my faves from this year (and I’m sure there are some I missed or couldn’t get a nice pic of so this is in no way a definitive list of this year’s good looking boxes.) It’s eye-candy, enjoy it!

New York Toy Fair: Trends 2013 pt. 2

This is PART 2 of a 3 part series on the trends of New York Toy Fair.

New York Toy Fair: Trends 2013 pt. 3

The last 2 parts of this series talked about NEW trends I saw at Toy Fair 2013 and this installment will talk about the continuing trends, how they’ve changed and trends we’re not seeing anymore. Enjoy!