More Articles By Cliff Annicelli

• 2009 Product Preview
  Alex The Silly Sounds Target Game, for ages 3 and up, joins Northvale, N.J.-based specialty toy maker Alex's tub toy line. Kids can shoot water at a monster-themed target that attaches to a tub's wall via suction cups. Each target makes three silly sounds. It uses three 1.5V button cell batteries. Animal Adventure Animal Adventure, the Manhattan Beach, Calif. More
  
• Sign Of Progress
  It seems like only yesterday that the toy business' biggest names were hauled in front of Congress—and the suddenly very watchful eyes of the nation's parents—to explain just what had gone so horribly wrong in the industry's manufacturing and distribution chain that millions of toys were suddenly being recalled from retailers' shelves for illegal levels of lead in their surface paints. More
  
• EG’s Animal Attraction
  You were not alone if, when wandering by Endless Games’ booth at this year’s Toy Fair, something unusual caught your eye. There on a pedestal was a large plastic dinosaur playing shepherd to a flock of several dozen traditional plastic animal figurines. And if you stuck around for a second, you also saw just how many retailers quietly came by to grab a catalog for those Collect-A fi... More
  
• Paper Windows
  They say New York is the city that never sleeps, but if you get up early enough you’ll see that, yeah, it does. And it sleeps pretty late, too. One Saturday this summer, I was walking home from Central Park after an early morning run. It was probably close to 9 o’clock but it was still sleepy out in front of the Museum of Natural History. More
  
• Doko: Eyes On The Prizes
  IT HAD ONLY BEEN a month since Mammoth Brand launched its virtual world toy, Doko, but already users were registering serial numbers from its discs from unexpected places. “It's kind of remarkable that [the discs] have found their way around the world so quickly—84 countries already,” says Brian Waldman, vice president of marketing for Mammoth Brand, the NSI International-owne... More
  
• Laugh And Learn
  This month's notable children's audio and video releases run the gamut from cry in your Kool-Aid country songs and traditional Dixieland jazz with a kid-centric twist to new home videos designed to deliver on all sorts of promises, from learning new languages and playing the piano to greater self-confidence and realizing the power of cooperation. More
  
• Baby Einstein Plans 'Pals'
  For more than a Decade, Baby Einstein videos have been one of the first choices parents make when searching for video content for babies. More recently, Little Einsteins has entertained preschool-age Playhouse Disney viewers. But missing from the Einstein family has been a property that bridges the gap left between the two series—one for toddlers. More
  
• Aspiration Nation
  From television shows to Toys “R” Us' Totally Me! boutiques, properties and products designed to appeal to tweens have been steady sources of sales in the past decade. And this year's no exception. The tween market continues to grow into a distinct market niche, offering girls a steady stream of new fashion products, more feminine versions of high-tech goods, and social expression a... More
  
• Already Yesterday
  It seems like only yesterday that the biggest concerns the American toy industry had revolved around where to establish a showroom building and how to hold a show in the absence of one. Surely, they were important concerns at the time—but these days I find myself looking back with nostalgia on those days for their relative simplicity. More
  
• Inside Out
  This fall, diners at Red Robin's 400-plus restaurants nationwide will have the opportunity to satisfy their minds along with their appetites by sampling Patch Products' Buzzword and Buzzword Junior games. Starting Nov. 3, Red Robin guests will receive drink coasters printed with game clues so diners can spend time quizzing each other while their meal is prepared. More
  
• Thinking Creatively
  After a strong showing in 2006 and into the first half of 2007, sales of arts & crafts products cooled by last year's end. Though the category is generally well-favored by parents for its open-ended appeal, it was perhaps hurt by its “do it once and you're done” reputation in a financial environment in which every penny counts to cash-strapped consumers. More
  
• Basic Concept: Simple Fun
  You'd be forgiven for not recognizing the names Jon Meyers and Dean Tzembelikos. They're part of the vast community of Western ex-pats earning a living and building businesses providing goods to international markets from the harried shores of Hong Kong. But this year, they're moving to make a mark in America, introducing their company, Basic Concepts, and their board games to U. More
  
• Speak Now Or...
  It would be funny if it weren't so sad—and so true. The reaction would be ridiculous, except it's not. “It” being the story I read on May 22 courtesy of an Indiana television station about how an 8-year-old girl in Huntingburg, Ind., nearly died after swallowing “about 30 pieces” of Mega Brands' Magnetix construction toy—a shocking number considering Magnetix... More
  
• Myachi's Big Move
  Finding kids at Manhattan's FAO Schwarz is easy. What typically is not so simple is finding local New York City kids—particularly tween and teen boys—at the world's most storied toy store of their own volition, in the middle of a weekday, just hanging out. When that happens, you know something's up. More
  
• And the winners are...
  The fourth annual Wonder Women of Toys Awards, sponsored by Women In Toys and Playthings magazine, recognize female executives for their exceptional contributions to their own companies and to the toy and children's entertainment business as a whole. Historically, selections were made in four main categories—Manufacturer, Retailer, Inventor/Designer and Entrepreneur—as well as in a... More
  
• Speaking Up
  I've never been a big fan, historically, of the whole concept of commenting online about things other people post, regardless of whether those postings are blog entries, articles on “real” media sites, message boards, the “tell us what you're doing now” feature on Facebook, my college band's My Space page or anywhere else. More
  
• Inside Out
  The Licensing Show may have been two months away, but that didn't stop Disney from announcing several of its key upcoming initiatives at its annual advertiser meeting in New York last month. Among the highlights were three new Disney Channel original movies, Princess Protection Program, Dadnapped and Hatching Pete. More
  
• Properties, Properly
  It's been nearly 10 years since Lego first surprised long-time fans with the announcement that it would join the world of licensed toys through an assortment based on George Lucas's powerhouse Star Wars galaxy. And while there have been a few missteps—a line based on Jurassic Park III comes to mind—the construction toy maker's licensed toy business continues to flourish. More
  
• Playing Favorites
  As you could probably imagine, seeing everything that the approximately 1,200 exhibiting companies at the American International Toy Fair have up their sleeves for the coming year is a nearly impossible task. Against that backdrop, we here at Playthings try our best to see as much as we can, despite the fact that we'll never actually see everything we want to no matter how hard we try. More
  
• Business Unusual
  Even though by the time you read this the American International Toy Fair will have ended nearly two months ago, this is the first issue of the magazine to have been put together in its entirety since the show closed. As always, it was good to see what the industry had to offer, whether it was to note what stuck in the end after many months of previews in Dallas and Hong Kong for the major firm... More