From the Editor's Desk

This Year’s Most Innovative Holiday Toys

Having gotten my start in the toy industry 35 years ago, I'm still amazed by the relentless creativity that shapes this field. Year after year, new and inventive toys appear, despite the highly competitive nature of the business. This ingenuity is fueled by the toy industry's wholehearted embrace of open innovation. These companies not only invite independent inventors to contribute, but actually rely on their seemingly endless flow of fresh ideas.

One tried-and-true strategy for producing innovation? Combining play categories. By mixing and matching elements from different types of toys, inventors create something entirely new. I used this technique myself when I designed the Michael Jordan Wall, which transformed the backboard of an indoor basketball game into a poster of Michael Jordan.


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