How a 5-MINUTE CHALLENGE® Trumps Challenging Times On the prowl for a product that meets the needs of the times, TDmonthly Magazine and TOYDIRECTORY took a trip to Redondo Beach to visit Kathie and Marshall Gavin, founders of b. dazzle, inc. and makers of Scramble Squares® brain-teaser puzzles...
10/1/2009
My Best Sellers: The Tutoring Toy At The Tutoring Toy in Salt Lake City, Utah, Owners Diane and Bill Sartain believe that “play is the work of children...
SphereXYZ Engages Hands and Minds Combine two inventors with a passion for brainteasers, and what do you get? SphereXYZ, a uniquely challenging 3-D puzzle that successfully blends fun and mental skill...
8/1/2009
Top-10 Most-Wanted Puzzles In June 2009, TDmonthly Magazine asked 47 specialty retailers about their best-selling puzzles...
Holiday Preview - Puzzles & Skill From glow-in-the-dark puzzles and wooden configurations for kids, to a premium, light-up Rubik’s Cube (from Techno Source) and a cityscape that’ll give teens a history lesson, various traditional puzzles and skill-training models are ready to be wrapped up for holiday sales...
5/1/2009
MagnaPlay Cases Hit Market in Just Months MagnaPlay, a magnet toy company, grew from a project that scientist Maya Gowri was working on with her 10-year-old son, who had to develop a board game for a class project, she told TDmonthly Magazine...
2/1/2009
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom focused on gaming in her most recent reviews, finding fun with frogs, watching kids become a wizard’s apprentices, and seeing how the features of Blue Orange’s Double Shutter Jr. added up...
12/1/2008
Turning Electronic Appeals Into Specialty Deals Despite constant advances in the technology market with gadgets, games and computers, as well as electronic toys for children, many specialty toy stores consciously keep their product selection founded in more traditional toys...
12/1/2008
In This Issue First, let me tell you what’s new at ToyDirectory.com! We’ve redesigned the homepage to serve as a comprehensive research center — based on our communication with retailers and manufacturers every month...
11/1/2008
GeoPuzzle Teaches Homeschoolers European Geography TDmonthly Magazine’s Homeschool Roundtable studied geography the fun way by constructing GeoToys’ GeoPuzzle Europe piece by piece. Their reviews show that the hands-on geography lesson was a huge hit...
8/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Psychologist Mom In her latest round of reviews, TDmonthly Magazine’s Psychologist Mom found a 3-D puzzle up to the challenge, brushed up on world geography, and studied phonics in a flash...
8/1/2008
U.S.-Made Buffalo Games Grow With Good Marketing Buffalo Games began in 1986 as a family business. When Mark Predko, now director of sales and marketing, joined Buffalo Games in 1994, there were only seven people running the company, he told TDmonthly Magazine...
7/1/2008
ThinkFun Puzzles Set Brains on Fire When husband and wife Bill Richie and Andrea Barthello co-founded Binary Arts in 1985, they started with the premise that “having fun is a great way to learn"...
7/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Top-10 Most-Wanted Licensed Goods Most of the 50 specialty retailers who spoke with TDmonthly Magazine revealed that licensed products — more common in the mass market — make up at least 1 percent of their merchandise.....
6/1/2008
Homeschool Panel Gives 3-D Puzzle Mixed Reviews TDmonthly’s Homeschool Roundtable families recently faced the challenge of Voxal, a three-dimensional puzzle that is easier to describe than assemble. Did the families conquer it? Read on.....
5/1/2008
Get an Edge on Santa by Spying These Toys Santa's hard at work on his list ... have you started yours? Find out what toys kids want in their stockings by taking a peek at TDmonthly's Holiday Preview articles...
5/1/2008
Picking Puzzles Apart Take a look at these new puzzles to see which pieces fit best with your customers...
4/1/2008
TDmonthly’s Top-10 Most-Wanted Puzzles Specialty retailers shared with TDmonthly magazine that the most popular selling puzzles were wooden puzzles, floor puzzles and wooden floor puzzles. Melissa & Doug and Ravensburger managed to produce all three...
4/1/2008
ZEN™ Challenges Players’ Concentration Jerrett Metzger, founder of Silly Willy Toys, hopes ZEN, his fortuitous creation, becomes one of those celebrated stories about accidental inventions that made millions...
2/1/2008
Paradoxy Products' Simple Puzzles Conceal Challenges Paradoxy Products Founder Daniel Young always harbored a passion for designing and inventing, but as an international trade lawyer for more than 30 years, was far removed from the toy business...
10/1/2007
Why b. dazzle, inc. Chose North America Since the founding of b. dazzle, inc. in 1993, Marshall and Kathie Gavin have built their company into one defined by hard work, excellent customer service and uncompromising quality...
8/1/2007
Figure It Out Kids been forgetting things lately?...
6/1/2007
Sudoku Takes a Slide As the industry welcomes the addition of several new puzzles, just as many pieces — including some that bear the name Sudoku — are becoming misfits in the specialty market...
Liberty Puzzles Fought for Freedom Christopher Wirth had what many would consider a great job making good money as a corporate attorney for a financial firm. But after eight years .....
10/1/2006
A Puzzling Business Since childhood, Andrew Snowie has been fascinated by construction and logic toys...
Curiouser and Curiouser What is the key to a good puzzle? Is it the difficulty? The inventiveness? That it looks cool? TDmonthly Magazine talked to manufacturers in order to take the puzzle out of puzzles...
Specialty Puzzles: A Unique Fit Casual puzzlers are now being introduced to mind-boggling puzzles as they become increasingly available at mainstream retail locations...
4/1/2006
Sudoku Fans Spawn Toy Inventions The popularity of the one-digit Sudoku electronic puzzles, developed from the forerunning puzzles that appear in newspapers, is just beginning to grow in the United States...
A Sensible Dream: elogIQ Dror Rom began designing his own puzzles long before he could afford to bring his ideas to fruition. Twenty years later, he is realizing his dream...
5/1/2005
These Aren´t Your Grandma´s Puzzles For many, nothing could be further from hip than the time-honored puzzle. Yet, as consumers increasingly demand challenge and beauty, size and intricacy, a few leading puzzle makers have emerged, pushing the borders of puzzle design in their wake...
4/1/2005
b. dazzle, inc. and its 21st Century Business Model Kathie and Marshall Gavin started their company, b. dazzle, inc., maker of the hit puzzle Scramble Squares®, from the ground up, starting like all entrepreneurs with ambition and an idea...
4/1/2005
Game On: Traditional Escapes for 2005 The 2005 American International Toy Fair displayed many of the newest toys of 2005. A majority of the products highlighted by the national media were electronic in nature. Yet, traditional toys are as strong as ever. Below, TDmonthly staff has spotlighted a number of our favorite puzzles and games of 2005...
4/1/2005
Games & Puzzles Move Beyond the Box Taking a simple medium to whole new level, these familiar pastimes—whether shared with family and friends or played solo—have evolved considerably over the past few decades. Now, puzzles and games often involve interactive components that stretch the mind along with the field of play. The following innovative games and puzzles reflect the expansive market,...
1/1/2005
Heritage Puzzles: A Beacon of an Idea If there is a special landmark in your memory, there is a good chance that it has been made into a quality puzzle by some local artists and Karen Everhart. She searches out some of the best works by well known local artists and makes them into jigsaw puzzles for the sophisticated puzzler. Heritage Puzzle Inc., with a distinguished eye for marketing, works very hard to stand out from other puzzle makers by using well-known local artists to depict historical landmarks...
12/1/2004
b. dazzle inc. Introduces a New Exciting Puzzle for All b. dazzle, inc.´s (ToyShow) “American Native Flowers” Scramble Squares has recently been named one of Dr. Toy’s “10 Best Socially Responsible Products” in October 2004. b. dazzle, inc. collaborated with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and they created “American Native Flowers,” as a first installment of a series...
11/1/2004
Puzzles Uniset Inc. Want more from a puzzle than a pretty picture? With the Uniset Magic Puzzle by Uniset Inc., you use geometric Magic Stickers to form a picture. The fun continues when the puzzle is complete. Find hidden characters and objects in the scene, count up who shows up...
Hot Board Games for 2004 Board games are back in vogue. Following are some of the new board games that will surely have people talking and playing...
3/1/2004
GAMES & PUZZLES UDE Launches New Trading Card Games New from Upper Deck Entertainment, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trading Card Game features the shelled crusaders as they battle their arch nemesis, Shredder and the Foot Clan. BreaKey is a strategic battle game where two or more opponents use collectible keys, knowledge...
3/1/2004
Featured Products in TDmonthly Magazine: Puzzles & Skill
The Canadian Group is one of the fastest growing puzzle & game companies, with distribution to over 40 other countries around the world. Founded in 1999, the company has won the trust and support of major toy retailers worldwide with its incredible product assortment. Specializing in trend conscious, quality products that offer exceptional consumer value. Our puzzles feature Sure-Lox® technology so that pieces that go together, stay together, creating a crisp and quality image. The growing collection of images captures the beauty... More information on THE CANADIAN GROUP products.
The Eni Puzzle is designed to enhance problem solving and dexterity. A workout for the mind while using motor skills.(EQ & IQ)The object of the puzzle is to place the tiles into a variety of patterns by making the rotating and sliding moves that use one empty space. With multiple solutions, the puzzle encourages creativity while hepling children recognize patterns.Contact Information:... More information on ENI Puzzle Land Co. products.
