Zhu Zhu Pets pace 2010 TOTY winners
By Staff -- Gifts and Dec, February 14, 2010
NEW YORK—Cepia’s Zhu Zhu Pets was the big winner at the Toy Industry Association’s 2010 Toy of the Year Awards (TOTY) last night, earning wins in every category it appeared in.
In addition to overall Toy of the Year, the line of plush hamsters and habitats also won for Innovative Toy of the Year, besting the likes of Mattel’s brain wave driven Mindflex game and Spin Master’s wall climbing Air Hogs Zero Gravity Laser car; and Girl Toy of the Year, which pitted the popular plush against a gaggle of fashion dolls.
Cepia was one of several smaller manufacturers to reap gold this year in a contest that in its 10 years of awarding honors to the industry’s best products, more likely than not found its major nods going to the industry’s major manufacturers.
In a category dominated by Mattel and Hasbro, University Games’ Sort It Out! won for Game of the Year, while a specialty market favorite, Active People’s Bilibo, tied with Playskool’s Tonka Chuck & Friend Chuck My Talking Truck for Prechool Toy of the Year. The actual Specialty Toy of the Year was given to Sprig Toys for its Captain Owen’s Dolphin Explorer Boat playset.
Outdoor Toy of the Year went to Radio Flyer’s My 1st Scooter.
Infant Toy of the Year was given to Crayola’s Crayola Beginnings Color Me A Song.
Educational Toy of the Year was won by Lego for its Mindstorms NXT 2.0.
Boy Toy of the Year was Spin Master’s Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Dragonoid.
Electronic Entertainment Toy of the Year was Techno Source’s Rubik’s TouchCube.
Activity Toy of the Year was Wild Planet’s Crayon Town.
Property of the Year was Bakugan.
The event, held at New York’s Chelsea Piers, also saw the induction of filmmaker John Lasseter and retail titan Sam Walton into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame.
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