Chicago Toy and Game Fair

We went to the Chicago Toy and Game Fair on Saturday, and it was a really wonderful event.  I've been to toy rollouts for bloggers before, and they are primarily about the bloggers.  This was an actual show, open to the public, and they were selling the toys too.

There were lots of cool things going on, including this giant roaring dinosaur roaming around:

One of the things I loved about this event was that it was open to all toy and game companies, even those just starting out.  Yes, we saw some great new toys from the big companies, including Spin Master and MayFair and Rainbow Looms, but there were guys just starting out also, seeking representation, floating their ideas to see if they would work.  I love that ChiTAG gives these guys a chance to meet the public even if they are not quite ready for prime time (though many just need the break)

Here are some of the quirkier little guys

• Two sisters from Canada, who made up a game called Query, which is like Trivial Pursuit, but based on Google Queries.

• a guy who had created a card game based on football plays.  You played an offense card against someone else's defense card, and it either works or it doesn't.  He told me that he'd been figuring it out since he was 11, and he's over 50 now!

The Fluffy Friends may or may not be anatomically correct.

• A hippiesh chess master, who invented a four-handed chess game that combines the tactics of Risk with traditional chess.

• A woman who had created a sight word game for her daughter based on the idea of gold mining, and was making the container/bags/covers out of thrift store jeans she was buying.

• A biting plush toy originally created for adults that may or may not have anatomically correct parts.

They also had a competition for kids to invent games.  We were there on Saturday.  Most of the games were super complicated and interminably long and ... science project handmade, to be kind, (and listen, they are kids, and the fact that they are inventing games is good enough for me!)

One of them was super impressive.  It was a game called Road Trip, and it was created by two science and math girls who wanted to STEM the math summer slide (losing math skills over the summer)  Their project was very professionally thought out and designed.

I almost felt like they were ready to go into production.  Very impressive!

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll talk about some of the interesting bigger games I saw and thought would make great gifts.....