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American International Toy Fair
This was my third visit to the Toy fair at the Javitz Center in New York…. the 102nd annual showing of the event. Mike Petty of New World Games joined me on the trip as he was meeting with people from Eagle Games with his party game “What’s it to Ya?” The theme of this year’s fair was “Play Meets Profit”. Along with vendors who displayed all the new toy and game releases, seminars were held featuring eight topic tracks from licensing to business development. The event is open only to those in the toy trade. Over 100,000 products were on display by more than 1,400 exhibitors from 33 countries. Ken Jennings, who won over $ 2.5 million dollars on Jeopardy to become the top game show winner of all time, was on hand to promote a new release... “Can You Beat Ken? Trivia Game”. University Games, out of San Francisco, CA which sells social interaction and educational games, produced the board game. Visitors to the booth got to challenge Ken Jennings with a pre-written trivia question. Visitors also got a picture taken with Ken for a keepsake. See www.ugames.com for more of their games. I’ll be contacting University Games about Word-Sport. They will be especially interested in our tournament format for students. “The Gates” by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude was on display in Central Park. This was the pair’s first major art project in NYC. It features 7,500 frames with their hanging orange tinted fabric, creating what the artist billed as “a visual golden river” along 23 miles of footpaths in the park. The 16 day exhibit cost an amazing $21 million and was entirely paid for by the artists. Monday afternoon, I rode the NYC subway for the first time from 42nd Street up to St. John the Divine Cathedral on 110th Street. Then I made my way back down Central Park West, experiencing the Gates, then stopping by the Dakota Apts. There was no memorial for John Lennon (not even a peace sign). After visiting the Central Park area, I rode the subway from the Trump Hotel back to where I started. Mike Petty and I also visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Grand Central Station and Macy’s on the two previous nights. I had an enjoyable time sharing game ideas with Mike Petty. We especially had good discussions about games and life during the 11 hour straight ride each way. We left for home early Tuesday morning (4:45am) to beat the morning traffic. The Toy fair was a productive time for both of us as we made many contacts. I also renewed contact with many people I met at the two previous Toy Fairs. I look forward to next years Fair… with the possibility of having Word-Sport® on display and games available for sale. |
