Out of the Toy Box   

One of the joys in life is to, over a beer or something stronger, talk about the great” what if’s” of history. What if Joe Louis in his prime fought Muhammad Ali in his prime?   How would Babe Ruth fare if he were playing ball today? What if Negro League teams played major league teams back in the bad days of segregation?

Well we are going to have an opportunity to find out. The Strat-O-Matic Baseball people are bringing us a 103 card Negro League set. Now, those beer drinking guys and there more sober compatriots can sit around a board, throw the dice, compare the stats and pitch Negro League teams against any major league team in...Read More

 “If you don’t make failure acceptable, you can’t have original and unique.” That’s what Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former Walt Disney executive and now leader at Dream Works has to say in an excellent New York Times interview entitled: entitled: “The Benefit of a Boot Out the Door”

The toy industry has been being understandably cautious since the recession hit. This is, however, an industry that thrives on the new and different. Caution maybe a wise course for the short terms but a disaster in the long run....Read More

I continue to track the, at least to me, bizarre phenomenon of a steady decline in the world’s fertility. We are undergoing a totally unprecedented and history making shift in population growth…we are not replacing ourselves.

So, I just had to pick up the October 31^st – November 6 issue of The Economist. The picture on the cover depicting a baby in free fall and the words “Falling Fertility” demanded that I buy the issue. I am glad I did.

Here is the opening paragraph:

Sometime in the next few years (if it hasn’t happened already, the world will reach a milestone: half of humanity will be havi...Read More

Scott Trayor of 360Kid offers a very nice piece of analysis of this year’s crop of “Must Have” toy lists. In a blog posting entitled, “Must Have Toy List Mashup,” Scott analyzes the various lists that have come out so far this year from Kmart, Toys R Us, Funfare Magazine and Time to Play.

Here is how Scott puts his findings:

·         A little more than half of the toys are technology-based

·         A little less than a quarte...Read More

Smart Toy Fair attendees are going to take the time during this year’s event to hear Will Wright, the creator of the Sims, give a keynote speech on the topic: "The Evolution of Entertainment, A Toy's Place." Wright, the genius who created classics like Sim City (the biggest selling video game in history), The Sims and Spore is a seminal thinker and creator in the world of play.

Wright and Lane Merrifield, the creator of Club Penguin, are keynote speakers at Engage! Expo 2010, the virtual world, web-enabled toys, virtu...Read More

I have been thinking about Toys R Us’s decision to place FAO Schwarz boutiques in its Toys R Us stores. I like the idea of Toys R Us getting the most out of the FAO Schwarz name but I wonder if it is a brand that still has meaning to much of America.

Many of us can remember a time when FAO Schwarz was the nation’s iconic toy store. A visit to the mid-town store was an absolutely essential part of any visit to New York (whether you had kids in tow or not). Over the years, however, FAO Schwarz had lost much o...Read More

Full disclosure: Bruce Lund is a friend of mine. I was therefore extremely pleased when I heard that he was receiving an award at this year’s TAGIE Awards banquet in Chicago on November 20. I was even more surprised, however, to learn that it was a Humanitarian Award he was receiving. I knew he was a great inventor and great guy but had no idea he had done such important charitable work. 

Here is a partial list of the charities Bruce has supported:  The Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, Safe Passage Project/Camino Seguro in Guatemala City, Lutheran Child and Family Service Found...Read More

I, for some crazy reason, thought that kids were watching less television. What with so many distractions like the Internet, cell phones and video games, I assumed that television watching among children was in a steep decline. No more glossy stares; no more drool  and no more incoherence as they laid on the couch watching yet another cartoon show.

Wrong! Kids are watching more television than ever. At least that is what a New York Times article aptly entitled, “Children Watch More TV Than Ever” had to say: “Nielsen reported last week ...Read More

I have written in the past about the enormous impact that toy inventors have on society. Toy inventions have a steady and prolonged impact on children and they can therefore help shape the future of the world.   Adults choose careers and even clothing styles based upon the toys they favored as children. (If you doubt this, take a minute to talk with an architect and ask them what they played with as children. I bet an Erector Set, Lego or some other construction toy will immediately and passionately be mentioned).

Reuben Klamer, this year’s Toy and Game Inventor Lifetime Achievement Award winner, has had such an...Read More

Toy Nation needs to attract the best and the brightest if it is too grow and prosper.  That is why it was so great to read Sharon Diminco (CEO of Learning Express) state in a October 23, 2009 Daily News Tribune article that the Learning Express “…franchising model has been a magnet for bright entrepreneurs who were either forced out or decided to leave jobs at big companies. The store owners enjoy working for themselves for a change, and they become passionate ambassadors for the products.”

This comment was particularly pleasing to me as...Read More

Soupy Sales died this week. He is survived by “Black Tooth,” “White Fang,” “Pookie the Lion” and a ton of “used to be” kids who loved his pie in the face sense of humor. 

Soupy, whose real name was Milton Supman, was born in North Carolina. According to Wikipedia, “Sales got his nickname from his family. His older brothers had been nicknamed "Hambone" and "Chicken Bone"; Milton was dubbed "Soup Bone," which was later shortened to "Soupy." Other sources say that it was simply a play on his last name. Whatever the cause, it was a somehow...Read More

First, let me be very clear.  I do not normally read the Luann comic strip.  

My eye was, however, caught by what seemed to me at least a surprisingly interesting puzzle idea for an enterprising puzzle company. 

So, we are going to go multimedia today.  Please look at the Luann comic strip which I have pasted below.  When doing so, I am going to ask you to only pay attention to the puzzle idea and not to the very, and I mean very, lame and not entirely intelligible bran muffin joke.  And ...Read More