Is Chicago the toy and game capital of the world?

To be honest I know of a coplue of women who have recently gone into this and failed. The reason being is that big online stores like Ann Summers and Fig Leaves etc have got the market now. Home parties were all the rage in the 80 s but with online buying to quick and easy now most people go for that. xxxx

Full of slainet points. Don't stop believing or writing!

I don't know...seems logical that Chicago is the next center for toys and Games for the time being...Once upon a time everyone was in NYC. So it isn't surprising that there is a second tier in Chicago. looks like a bigger pattern of a west coast shift! Give it 20 years and the talk will be moving the shows to the west coast!

The Chicago shift is not much more than an even bigger shift to the west coast. I don't need to list all the toy companies currently on the west coast and the benefits of one less day of having samples/swatches/etc. not needing an extra day for shipments to the orient. The weather isn't terrible either and when was the last time you couldn't get your booth boxes because of a blizzard in Los Angeles/San Francisco/San Diego?

So Chicago is fine but I still think it is showing a larger lean out west as the years go on!

But can we all agree that we should stop doing these shows in the dead of winter?

I love reading about new toys that are being released and the history of the classics. Have you seen the Radio Flyer 500 - toyrollercoaster.net? It's a really fun new twist on an old classic. I just love the creative minds that come up with this stuff.

You missed the biggest....Tiger Electronics - $750 million!

Chicago the game and toy capital of the world?? Are you living rock? Hong Kong is obviously the toy capital and Germany most assuredly the place people look to when it comes to board/card games.

I was only recently made aware of this discussion thread and the fact that I was somehow pulled into it. Let me please clarify and distance myself from previous comment made here. Mark Salzwedel is entitled to his opinions but in no way speaks for me (nor probably Zev from Z-man either, I should think). Even to claim me as a member is a bit of an overstatement since I have never been to a meeting or participated in any forum discussions. For my part, I have applauded Mary's efforts in having Chicago recognized as the Toy and Game Inventing Capital of the World - and all her other significant efforts to support and grow the game industry as a whole and for inventors in particular. The claim is both well founded in fact, and twice so in spirit, conceived as were her other efforts, notably Discover games, Tagie, Chitag - and even her yearly dinner during Toy Fair, in the spirit of celebrating and supporting all inventors as well as the industry we all love. But most who will read my post already know all this. My comments simply provide one more voice - my own. There may still be dissenting views, but they should speak for themselves. -Curt

Hi, www.playthings.com - da best. Keep it going! Have a nice day Jinny

Selchow & Righter (Scrabble, Parcheesi) started in New York in 1867. Crayola started in 1903 in New York City. Erector sets first launched in 1913 in New York City. Ultimate Frisbee developed in 1967 in suburban New York. Shall I go on? New York's history in toys and games is even longer.

Isn't Hong Kong the capital of the toy and Game industry?

My case is for Chicago as Inventing Capital of the World, which may not be clear from the title of this blog. You are broadening it to the whole industry, not just inventors. Chicago hosts the largest Conference for Toy and Game Designers and the ONLY Awards Dinner for Toy and Game Designers - the TAGIE awards. It is also home to the largest co-op of Independent Board Game Designers - DiscoverGames.com. Tim Walsh's book on the history of toy and game industry, Timeless Toys, has the largest percentage of pages from Chicago designers - about 10% of the book. Earlier this week Imagination Entertainment, Spin Master and Hasbro were all in Chicago making the rounds of professional inventors. There is no other city with the number of professional toy and game design companies as Chicago. They all make regular trips here.

I know there may be a temptation to view Hasbro's experience as a bellwether for the entire toy and game industry, but we can probably look at some more objective measures. The International Toy Center until recently was the world's largest showroom for toys and games. Was it in Chicago? Nope. New York. The biggest professional Toy Association is headquartered in Chicago? Nope. New York. TIA's list of PROFESSIONAL designers on their web site lists dozens of individuals: 3 in the Chicago metro area, 14 in the NYC metro area. I don't think they'd appreciate the implication that they're not professionals! I know I don't. I run Strategic Space in Manhattan on 73rd Street: strategic-space.com -- and I assure you I work full time! :-P

What Mary was referring to was the world of professional inventors who dedicate themselves to making a living by inventing. As Head of Global Inventor Relations for the world's biggest game company, I can speak with authority in saying that Chicago was the birthplace of professional toy and game inventing and to this day is the center of this activity. There are many excellent inventors in New York, California, and other places, but Chicago clearly leads the way.

Chicago to me comes a close second to New York, I'm afraid. Mary and Nate do some fantastic work, but the history and presence here is a bit more substantial. Our game INVENTOR group has over 50 members, including the heads of Smirk & Dagger, Z-man Games, and more independent designers and self-publishers. The biggest of a dozen game groups in NYC has 1,330 members at last count, and single meetings often have attendance of 50+ gamers. And although ChiTag is probably one of the biggest consumer shows in the USA, it is still dwarfed by the world's second biggest trade show (Toy Fair, after Essen). Great game packagers in both cities (Carol Rehtmeyer, Matt Nuccio, etc.). I would give Chicago a solid second place though! (The software kept saying I wasn't typing the characters correctly, then truncated my post.)

Chicago to me comes a close second to New York, I'm afraid. Mary and Nate do some fantastic work, but the history and presence here is a bit more substantial. Our game INVENTOR group has over 50 members, including the heads of Smirk &

Thanks for posting this Richard. I had the pleasure of hearing Mary's speech at the Women In Toys event, and I also enjoyed listening to other women share their anecdotes about working with and learning from some of our industry's brightest minds ... right here in Chicago. As a Chicago game inventor myself, I was so inspired! The Windy City definitely has my vote for Toy Capital of the World! Huge thanks to Patti Becker and Dianne Lauble for bringing us all together for the wonderful WIT event!

Thanks for posting this Richard. I had the pleasure of hearing Mary’

Thanks Mary for the shout out! It was a great event and it was really interesting to hear Pauline Camberis speak about her experience working with Marvin Glass back when he began inventing toys and games. As I am still a "newbie" to the industry (although I worked at Meyer/Glass for a couple years), hearing the rich history that Chicago has within the toy and game industry it's not a surprise that we are still a hub for great invention. We here in Chicago should all be proud of our roots. Whether or not you've worked for one of the spin-offs of Marvin Glass and Associates, they still shaped the industry to make it what it is today. So as Mary always says "Onward and Upward" and let's get Chicago on the map as the Toy and Game Capitol of the world. It's got my vote.

I'm working on growing the largest boardgame group in the nation, possibly even the world here in Chicago. Chicagoboardgames.com recently hit its 1000th member, and I'm running a huge promotion this month to get people into events and celebrate!

I'm working on growing the largest boardgame group in the nation, possibly even the world here in Chicago. Chicagoboardgames.com recently hit its 1000th member, and I'm running a huge promotion this month to get people into events and celebrate!

I am a believer! Thanks Richard and Mary for bringing this content to all of us!

Oh, and also, Zizzle is here. Zizzle was launched in January 2005 with electronic IZ®, by Roger Shiffman (creator of Furby®)

Mostly importantly, a big thanks should go out to Dianne Lauble for organizing the event, Patti Becker for flying out to join us and doing such a tremendous job growing WIT (on 5 continents now), Regina Donovan for an inspiring speech, Kim Vandenbroucke helping that night and Cindy Boor and Pat Zeman for the cute ducks!

After reading your transcript, hearing Mary speak, or having a three hour lunch with Mary (Hey, time flies when you're talkin' toys), how could you NOT agree that Chicago is THE Toy and Game Capital of the World? And another part of Mary's talk was about toy inventors and why they don't get the same notoriety as Children's Book Writers. Cool thing is, I believe Mary said that at ChiTag there were lines for some inventors to sign their toys/games. Go Chicago! Go Toy Inventors! Anna M. Lewis www.bookstoysetc.com Toy Examiner @Examiner.com (coming soon)

Wow, Richard, I didn’t know you would write about my speech, let along post outtakes. Thank you! It was such a special evening with so many people sharing stories. Steve Rehkemper thinks someone should write a book about Marvin Glass alone. My speech was an outline, so the part of Meyer/Glass is misleading in what you posted. They were a spinoff from Glass, but disbanded a couple of years ago. Many of the people in attendance worked there, so I mentioned them. There is so much more I could post here, the speech was 15 minutes long and it was the streamlined version! It should be noted that ASTRA and the American Library Association are also based in Chicago and strong supporters of our industry. Bruce Lund put forth the idea of having our Chicago Mayor Daley name us Toy and Game Inventing Capital of the World and I am working on that.