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A Game Maker’s Life: A Hall of Fame Game Inventor and Executive tells the Inside Story of the Toy Industry by Jeffrey Breslow

Millions of people around the world have played with games and toys that Jeffrey Breslow and his partners invented. In A Game Maker’s Life: A Hall of Fame Game Inventor and Executive tells the Inside Story of the Toy Industry (Post Hill Press), Jeffrey Breslow tells the remarkable story of how a flash of inspiration, followed by hard work and ingenuity, brought these wonderful games to life. (See our review of the book here.)

In a recent interview, the author offered some insights into how you spark genius, build a business, and develop products that help shape our youth – and beyond.

Q&A WITH JEFFREY BRESLOW

Q: Coming up with games for a living — is it all fun and games? Describe the very serious, security-crazed side of the business.

A: The serious security is because what we are developing has a potential of great value in the marketplace. We get a fixed royalty rate on the wholesale selling price of the product, The selling price of Ants In The Pants has gone up quite a lot over the last 50 years, so the money being made by our company increases. We guard all ideas, because we can’t predict which of the small number of toys and game that get into the marketplace will be successful.

Q: Where do ideas come from — specifically in the case of game development?

A: A lot of the game ideas come from idioms, Break The Ice, Hands Down, Bucket of Fun and Ants In The Pants. The last two, Bucket and Ants, I developed from long lists of idioms that I collected. I would look over the lists and try to figure out how to get ants to jump up in the air and fall into a pair of pants.

I know most people are unaware that a great many toys and games are designed by independent design firms that get paid a royalty. I worked for the man, Marvin Glass, who invented the business of independent design in the late 1950s. All companies that license the outside ideas have their own development departments, but the lifeblood of the companies is new products that replace the ones that are dying out. That’s where we come in, showing them ideas that they did not think of.

Q: You certainly had mentors and inspirations along the way. Tell us about them.

A: I have had four mentors, most people have one or none. I was lucky, but I searched them out and once found one, hung on for as long as possible. Hazel Loew, high school art teacher for two years, , Marvin Glass for seven years, my sculpture teacher, Susan Clinard for four years, and Ed Zagorski for 65 years overlapping Glass and Clinard. These mentors built and completed my life.

Q: What are you most proud of in your professional career?

A: Over the entire career of 41 years I was designing products that entertained, educated and created lifelong memories for children and adults. The other thing I am proud of is that I was part of building a company that is still continuing to this day without my original partners and myself. Big Monster Toys is still thriving. That is what being a great boss is all about.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from your book?

A: Enjoying and reminiscing about their childhood and the importance of play in fulfilling their and their children’s lives. That the harder one works, the luckier they become. Overcoming tragedy and moving on and living in the present every day.

 

About Jeffrey Breslow:

Jeffrey Breslow, a preeminent toy and game inventor and designer, spent more than 41 years inventing toys and games since graduating with a BFA from the University of Illinois in industrial design. In 1976 at the age of 34, he became the youngest managing partner of Marvin Glass and Associates, the leading toy design company in the world. Glass and Associates created games such as Simon, Operation, Guesstures, the Evel Knievel Motorcycle, Mousetrap, and UNO Attack! Breslow was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in New York City in 1988 and left the toy business in 2008 to sculpt full time. His sculptures are on display at the University of Illinois and the Lurie Children’s Hospital and on permanent display in Vermont, California, New Jersey, and Uruguay.

A Game Maker’s Life: A Hall of Fame Game Inventor and Executive tells the Inside Story of the Toy Industry by Jeffrey Breslow
Author: Jeffrey Breslow
Jim Alkon

Jim Alkon is Editorial Director of BookTrib.com. Jim is a veteran of the business-to-business media and marketing worlds, with extensive experience in business development and content. Jim is a writer at heart – whether a book review, blog, white paper, corporate communication, marketing or sales piece, it really doesn’t matter as long as he is having fun and someone is benefitting from it.

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