Nearly 2,000 exhibitors from around the globe exhibited at the Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair last week and Tree Toys, my global manufacturing partner, was one of them. We met toy distributors from every corner of the toy world and showed them new game concepts, like Smell-o-rama, a line a scented card games I've developed. In Dr. Fizzy's Fabulous Floats, the cards smell like cola. In Nab Nana's Num Nums, the cards smell like chocolate, and in Bea & Buster's Bubble Burst, the cards smell delightfully like bubble gum.
We also introduced Pick Me, The Pick Flickin' Game. You take real guitar picks, slide them into a mini-guitar launcher and try to flick as many as you can into the mosh pit. This one was inspired by my own pickin' and a grinnin' daughter. We got a great response to Pick Me because it's so simple and yet, deceptively fun. You win the game instantly by flicking a pick directly into the hands of one of your adoring fans. It's hard to do, but when it happens, the crowd goes wild!
Hong Kong was beautiful both day and night. You never know what you'll see. There were several Iron Man sightings and as if to highlight Hong Kong's unique blend of old and new, we saw scaffolding which was tied to modern buildings, reaching 10 stories high, and made entirely from bamboo.
I've been coming to the International Toy Fair in New York City for 22 years and I love it, but there are great benefits to attending Hong Kong's premier toy event as well. It is much more international. Tree Toys sells its Wild Science line of science kits all over the world and so meeting their play partners is like going to a United Nations dinner, but without the bureaucracy or boredom. At the table you see below we had friends from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Holland, France, Bulgaria, Taiwan and China.
I was the sole American, yet I felt right at home. Thank you, Dennis and Crystal, for welcoming me to the party.For more pics from my tour with Tree Toys to Taiwan and Hong Kong, visit Flickr or Facebook and remember to Seize the Play!
