December 01, 2004
About The Author
Game inventor and author Tim Walsh was born on Christmas Day, 1964 – a perfect prerequisite for a kid destined to become a play entrepreneur.
In 1990 he co-invented TriBond, a board game that has sold over 3 million copies in thirteen countries. TriBond was inducted into the Games Magazine Hall of Fame in 2000. In 1994 Tim invented the board game Blurt!, which went on to sell over 1 million copies. Blurt! is currently sold by Sababa Toys with the Bible version sold by Talicor/Aristoplay. In 1996 Tim co-developed Mad Gab, a million plus seller currently sold by Mattel.
For nine years Tim held the dual titles of Corporate VP of Product Development and Marketing for Patch Products in Beloit, Wisconsin. When Tim was hired in 1992, the company’s sales were aproximately $3 million. When he left the company in 2001 sales topped $25 million.
In 2004 Tim self-published his book, The Playmakers, which promptly won a 2004 Book of the Year Award from Foreword Magazine and the pretigious Grand Prize in the 2004 Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Book Awards. Shortly thereafter, Tim licensed the book to publishing giant Andrews McMeel-Universal, who released it as Timeless Toys.
Tim just finished writing a new, retrospective book on WHAM-O in celebration of their 60th anniversary. Chronicle Books will publish the tentatively titled WHAM-O Super Book in 2008. Also in 2008 comes a feature-length documentary film on toy inventors for which Tim is Creative Consultant. He will also appear in the film as a toy and game inventor.
Tim is a 17-year veteran of the toy industry and a frequent speaker on toys and play. He has appeared on many national TV and radio programs, including CBS This Morning, NPR’s All Things Considered, Fox’s After Breakfast, The History Channel’s Our Generation, HGTV’s Games We Grew Up With, and CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch among others. He has moderated industry panels for the Chicago Toy and Game Fair and lectured at Toy Fair as a play entrepreneur.
Contact Tim via the publisher:
Keys Publishing Co., Inc.
PMB 180
5342 Clark Road
Sarasota, FL 34233-3227
P: (941) 926-8004
F: (941) 926-8054
info@theplaymakers.com
Sounds like being rejected by every major Co. is a sure sign it will be a hit!
Posted by: Chris Williamson at July 3, 2004 05:42 PMChris,
No doubt about it. It’s a badge of honor to be rejected in this industry. It’s very good company to keep too Monopoly, Scrabble, Silly Putty, …
Posted by: Tim at July 13, 2004 06:22 AMGlenn,
It’s all I can do to keep up with Blurt, TriBond and my own ideas and so it’s against my better judgement to become a game agent. The good news is I know a few good ones:
Marra Design Associates
7007 Dakota Ave.
Chanhassen, MN 55317
612-937-8141
www.marradesign.com
Excel Development
1123 Mount Curve Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55403
612-374-3233
www.exceld.com
I suggest you call some of the smaller game companies directly. You can get a list of them from Playthings Magazine’s Industry Almanac. Call Playthings at (212) 519-7340.
Good Luck!
Posted by: Tim at April 21, 2005 10:35 AMYou are the greatist!
Posted by: tffmrjaj at June 15, 2008 11:35 AM