Just when you thought it was safe...

The hit toy of 1998 gets an upgrade. Furby is back.

Dad's Day Toy Tales

With June 19th fast approaching, I thought I’d share a few anecdotes of paternal creativity.

David Mullany was concerned that his 13-year old son would hurt his arm trying to throw a curve ball, so he set out to invent a ball that would curve on its own. In 1953, this father and son team gave the world the Wiffle ball.

Jack Odell’s young daughter had a “show and tell” event at school where the toys and trinkets the kids could present were limited in size — they had to fit in a matchbox. Odell made her a tiny steam roller vehicle crafted out of brass. When all the kids wanted a tiny roller too, Odell’s company obliged, giving the world the first Matchbox vehicles.

Robert Carrier came home one day to find his 10-year old son Mike sliding on their slick, concrete driveway which he had wetted down with a hose. Appropriately concerned, Carrier set out to give his son a safer surface on which to slide and invented the Slip ‘N Slide water slide in 1961. I interviewed Mike Carrier for the book: “My dad always told me that I was the inventor of the Slip ‘n Slide because of what we did in the driveway,” Mike Carrier said. “Of course, he was the real inventor … and a loving father.”

John Lloyd Wright accompanied his famous father Frank Lloyd Wright on a visit to Tokyo in 1916 to observe the construction of the famed architect’s Imperial Hotel. The building utilized an interlocking beam design known as “floating cantilever construction.” This design feature intrigued John and as he watched, mesmerized by the site of the huge timbers being stacked into place, he conceived the idea that eventually became Lincoln Logs.

Inventing the Blurt board game

In 1990, I was dating a teacher and volunteered to help out with her second grade class. My job was to quietly entertain a few kids in the corner of her classroom while she worked with the rest of her students on year-end projects. I was looking through some books with this small group of seven-year-olds, when I picked up a children’s dictionary. I opened it and read aloud, “The nut of an oak tree.” I wasn’t looking for a response because I hadn’t asked a question. I was just reading to myself. But a kid next to me mumbled, “Oaknut.”

“What?” I asked.

“Oaknut,” he repeated, looking at me straight-faced. “The nut of an oak tree is an oaknut, right?”

“No, it’s an ACORN,” I said smiling. “But that’s FUNNY.”

I opend the dictionary to a random page and read aloud, “The last car on a freight train.”

“Caboose!” The same kid yelled out, just before another student, who had scooted closer to hear.

I tried another random page and read slowly, “The hair on a man’s upper lip.”

“Wiskers!” Someone shouted, followed by, “Mustache! Mustache!”

I kept reading definitions and those 5 or 6 kids had a blast trying to beat each other to the answer. They were laughing and learning and… the lightbulb went off. I asked my girlfriend if I could borrow the children’s dictionary. She agreed and over the next few weeks, I created the prototype for DeFUNitions: The Webster’s Game of Word Racing.

At some point (thankfully), it became evident to me that the name DeFUNitions was lame. Wanting a more action-oriented name, I asked myself what it was that players do in the game? That lead to the name change and eventually the creation of the prototype for Blurt! The Webster’s Game of Word Racing.

I licensed the game to Patch Products in 1992, and over the next 10 years, helped promote the game to platinum status — over 1 million copies sold.

This year Mattel has updated the game with new rules and new fun. Look for the new version of Blurt! The Family Game of Word Racing, coming this Fall!

The best part of the story? That teacher is now my wife. :)

Matchbox Company Co-founder Dies

Leslie Smith, the co-founder of Lesney Products in England, the makers of Matchbox vehicles, died May 30, 2005. He was 87.

The first vehicles in the Matchbox series were a Road Roller (No.1 — pictured above), Dumper truck (No.2), Cement Mixer (No.3) and Tractor (No.4). These toys were die cast at an irresistibly small size never before seen, yet held an impressive amount of detail. Kids wanted all of those brightly colored boxes with the toy tucked inside, and at the equivalent price of 40 cents each, parents let them have their way. By 1966, just 12 years after they were introduced in America, over 100 million Matchbox vehicles were sold.

Sometimes big fun comes in small packages. Thank you Leslie Smith.

Calvin and Hobbes

Sometimes I think I signed a deal with Andrews McMeel just to be in the same company as Bill Watterson. Calvin and Hobbes is genius in its purest and most playful form.

Now imagine how proud I was when I got to the Andrews McMeel booth at Book Expo in NY and discovered my little book lit up below a mischevious boy and his tiger. Honestly, I was almost more excited to flip through the The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. It’s “three hardcover, four-color volumes in a sturdy slipcase,” and includes “all Calvin and Hobbes cartoons that ever appeared in syndication.” I plan to spend Father’s Day with Spaceman Spiff.

The Big Apple

No trip to NYC is complete without seeing the Statue of Liberty. In this case, it was at the Toys ‘R’ Us store in Times Square. Long Live Lego! Come for the four story Ferris Wheel with toy-themed cars. Stay for the store displays. Frankly, you can find these toys just about anywhere, but the displays are what’s most impressive. Barbie has her own castle. The new Batmobile is under glass. I mean come on!

On a personal note, seeing Blurt! and TriBond along side classic games in the best-known toy retailer in the world? That never gets old.