DIRECTIONS

Welcome to the 2010 New York Toy Fair!

With over 25,000 attendees, 345,500 square feet of exhibit space, 100,000 products with over 7,000 never before seen in the world, 1,200+ exhibitors, 1,000 global media representatives, and four days under one roof to do an entire year’s worth of business, Toy Fair is where the industry gathers. 

Whether you are a buyer searching for the hottest trends, an exhibitor ready to showcase your innovative products, a trade professional wanting to discover the next great toy or a member of the media looking for the toy story of the year, Toy Fair has it all!

The atmosphere is juxtaposition: you’re surrounded with endless booths of fun, but everyone walking through those very isles are there on business. They are examining the fun toys, with soley the success of their business in mind. They are competing to be a better business over another—to win. It all comes down to a smart selection of toys.

Items Included: 20-page board game tablet (only one used per play!) 1 die 4 player pieces 4 markers (coordinated to color of player pieces)

Who Are You?Each player is a buyer. As a buyer, you will be experiencing that very juxtaposition of fun and

business that could only be found at the Toy Fair.* To succeed, you need smart! You own your own toy store back home, and have come to the Toy Fair to find the new toys you will be carrying throughout the next year.

What Do You Have to Get?

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Each rectangular space represents a booth selling an item. They are identified by a number. That number tells you how creative and innovative that product is, and hence how valuable it would be to have in your store.

You must find these items to carry in your store: 2 Tech/Gaming items (Purple) 3 Children’s Books or Music items (Blue) 4 Dolls/ Soft toys (Green) 3 Purchases from one of the 4 big companies upstairsYou obtain a product by landing directly on it. Upon doing so, you will mark it with your initials.

How to WIN:The player who has collected the most points will win the game. Each

player plays all the way through until they have every single item needed. So, players will finish at different times, BUT we’ll see who’s strategy of maneuvering through the Toy Fair won them the most points!

The Catch:There is a limited amount of each item, so plan your trip wisely!

The Board:There are two areas in which to move around: the first floor, and the third

floor. Many guests tediously map out their routs for efficiency but to the side of the board. A methodology is great, but you are free to move in any direction around the board. A player may start at any of the marked entry gates on the bottom floor.

The first floor holds all of the big-time, multi-million companies such as Hasbro or Mattel. Collectively, they only have one of each 1-12 item to sell- so it’s competitive. However each player is required to obtain 3 items from Level 3—so watch your fellow buyers!

Landing Spaces: Elevator—you must LAND on an elevator space on Level 3 to take it

upstairs. You can move down anytime from Level 1. The Toy Industry Association! (pink)

o You may either enter into the ring voluntarily or be sent to its entrance by landing on one of the commanding board spaces.

o Starting from the Entrance space, you will have 3 chances to roll just the right number to land on the WIN space.

o What you win: the ability to steal any ONE card from another player

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NOTE FROM THE CREATOR

I attended the 2010 and 2011 Toy Fair as a seller for The County Fair Game—a board game my mother and I created. Both years, we felt like two tiny fishes in a big pond.

Upon entering the Javits Center (the location of the fair), I was in awe at the endless rows of colorful toys. Right away my mother and I promised one another we’d “man” the booth alone at times to give one another a chance to explore. Being that my mother is the head and voice of our business, I ended up having the freedom to observe quite a bit, both in walking around and from behind the booth.

Over four days, thousands of people in suits file down these isles, each wearing a yellow tag marking them as a buyer, with their name and store they were representing. (Vendors wore red tags). They stopped at your booth with specific questions or to hear your well-rehearsed brief sales pitch. A common greeting was, “Explain your game to me in 30 seconds.” Neighbor vendors assured us it was normal when they walked away 15 seconds into the explanation.

Time was of the essence for the buyers. Many explained that four days wasn’t nearly enough time to see everything exhibited at the show. In fact, the majority of the sales my mother and I completed from the show were made after the event. Buyers had taken our brochure and name to follow up with us after the event.

From behind our booth, I watched buyers pull to the side of the steam of people in the isle to check their map. The majority of buyers mapped out the booths they wanted to see, and in order of importance. (For example, a buyer from Toys R Us stopped by our neighbor’s 5th-year booth on Monday, and ours on Wednesday. He had little interest in ours, but had came with a business card ready for our neighbor.) Some people chose to start their Toy Fair on the top floor, and some chose to start on the bottom. One woman explained to me that both she and her husband were there buying for their store, and he started upstairs and she started downstairs. This was not only in effort to see all they could, but also to make sure they got the available business.

This game delivers to you a lesson of two years of experience at the Toy Fair. My mother and I had entered the Toy Fair wide-eyed at the spectacle that appeared to be a fair of toys and games. We wanted to go see and play them all. By the time we left, we saw that our initial view was a spectacle of sellers all trying to reel in business. All

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the colors and glitter were to attract. (Booths even hired undercover models and actors to “pose” as company representatives to play with the toy, looking entertained, to lure in buyers.) After walking down a few isles myself, I understood this set up. There are roughly 300 vendors in one isle. I wanted to look at them all, and they wanted me to look at them. It would take years!!!

So time is of the essence and planning is key. As a buyer you need to keep your head focused, seeing the toys and games as BUSINESS!!!

…but still have some fun :D

Leslie

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