Greg, it’s always great to catch up. I wanted to kick off by diving into all things Khadou – for anyone new to this division of Heathside, how would you describe it?
Khadou is the collectible and kidult manufacturing and distribution division within Heathside. Heathside is known for several things – one being the closeout business – but Khadou is not related to that.

It came out of an opportunity we had to distribute collectible and Kidult products into the value channels. That started five years ago, where toy and collectible companies came to us and said: “You have that direct relationship with all these value channels – but instead of just selling products that you bought from us, would you be interested in distributing for, let’s say, standards clients?” So Khadou started with distribution and that went well, so we soon thought about designing our own products.

Fantastic – and which line kicked that off?
Our first real big foray was to sign a pan-European deal for South Park and Only Fools and Horses – so two sides of the spectrum!

Yes, what made those appeal?
They both have a long history, have passionate fanbases and were underserved. We also like innovative IP that we can embrace when it’s on the fringe, before it becomes mainstream. A good example is that we were one of the first to embrace Steal a Brainrot and a lot of Roblox brands. We also – along with Moose – were one of the first to sign Digital Circus. And our latest unserved audience IP will be Mr Bean – we have a lot of SKUS for 2027!

Terrific! And does Heathside’s history in closeout shape how you see opportunities for Khadou when it comes to the kidult market?
Well, recently the closeout space became value channels – stores where no one wanted to see their normal ranges products being sold because the feeling was that it would damage the brand. But, with the evolution of these specialists – and places like Lidl and Aldi being seen as normal food stores – there’s been a shift there. And we try not to generate reorders – we try to generate repeat purchases.

Repeat purchases, not reorders. Talk me through that.
We are not here to push a lot of volume into the market and move onto the next thing. We’re here to manage the life cycle of our products in relation to a community of fans and make them stay with that community for as long as we – and the IP – are relevant to them. That comes from our background in trading card games. Now, you can be very successful with a traditional toy mentality, but this is not really how we see ourselves – we are more collectibles people. In a way, we want to be category managers for collectibles and Kidult items for the retailers.

With Khadou, we are on a path that is quite the opposite of a standard toy business. That model is where a toy company starts with mass – like Smyths – and then tries to penetrate the value channels and the independents. Whereas we started with the value channels, and ramp up the other way.

You mentioned about the stigma value channels previously had, and the evolution they’re going through. So what makes these sorts of retailers a great place to sell kidult items and collectibles?
It’s the repeat purchase model. They need to have the latest trendy stuff – even obscure stuff – and then they refresh constantly. It’s a very difficult business to manage because they need people like us to clear their stock, while still being able to build a brand – stores like Action, B&M or Stokomani still want a prime offering for their customers. So we had the edge that we knew these players really well through Heathside’s history, and we really understand what we buy. And the reason these retailers suit the collectibles space is that repeat purchase model – refresh, refresh, refresh. It’s exactly the same as Pop Mart and Miniso.

When we build a selection of blind boxes, we’re not doing so with an opportunistic view of ‘Everyone wants to buy Labubu, let’s do something like that!’ Doing that – pushing sales and then getting out – would be a more standard toy industry approach. Our approach is to go to retailers and say: “You trust us for selecting trends… You know we understand the repeat purchase model and collectibles… We have built a selection of well-established blind boxes that are performing well in Asia and that are already in Series 6, 7, 8 – so there is longevity. Our proposal is to build a dedicated space for you that we manage and that we will refresh every X weeks.”

We’re not here to sell a lot of volume at once. We’re here to build a destination within their store to create traffic. That’s the big difference between a traditional toy retailer and someone like a Pop Mart, a Miniso or even a B&M. You go into a traditional toy store when you know precisely what you want to buy. But with a Pop Mart, a Miniso or a B&M, you go there because you want to be surprised. It’s an experience.

I’d never thought about Pop Mart and B&M having that connective tissue but you’re absolutely right.
Their shelves are refreshed all the time and you know you’ll see something new. That’s what makes somewhere like a B&M a powerful place to sell these items – just like Pop Mart is. That’s the approach we’re taking and time will tell if it works.

You’re CEO of Heathside and Co-Founder of Saga Alliance. How do you approach being a leader of an organization?
I don’t know if the term leader applies. You have to ask people that I’m supposedly leading! It’s like being a parent, you need to ask your kids! But no, it’s very humbling experience, to be honest. And yes, Saga Alliance is my company, but my jobs have always been personal for me. I turned my passion into a job because that’s the only thing I liked in life. I got fortunate that people trusted me and that I made more good choices than mistakes – but mistakes were made for sure and they will continue to be made.

And let’s be honest, I have no experience and no real credentials when it comes to the closeout business, so on that front I’m highly dependent on the quality of the people that have built this business for the last 20 years. It’s definitely a team effort.

From previous roles, I know you have a lot of experience working with inventors. Do you see a time where Khadou takes in inventor concepts?
Yes, and we started this year, at London and a bit at Nuremberg, to engage with some inventors. We’re at a point now where I can explain the vision for the company and articulate how inventors could help us. We have signed two inventions – Delicious Heroes from Caleb Paullus and another one with an American inventor that is going to be to be showed quite soon.

So yes, there will be more and more space for inventors to work with us within our parameters – a collectible, a platform for different licenses and something that works for kidults. We need to have at least two of those three checked.

And what are some recent or upcoming launches that we should keep an eye out for?
We are very excited about the blindbox line we are building and the long-term, sustainable vision around that. I’m also very excited about what we’re building with trading cards. We started with Steal a Brainrot, which is being sold all over the world – including in the US –very successfully. We are also selling quite a lot of Grow a Garden training cards and we have more that we’re going to announce soon there.

When it comes to distribution, we’ve had an amazing success last year with Console Heroes – they come in old school game cartridges and open up to reveal a diorama. We started with SEGA Megadrive and we’ll be launching PS1 titles to that line. We have big expectations for that this year. And this year, Dandy’s World has been a big hit.

Last question, are you now a card-carrying Only Fools and Horses fan?
The honest answer, because I cannot bullshit my way out of this, is that I’ve watched three episodes. But it’s growing on me because I see the passion of the fans when they see our product. the booth. I have no personal connection because I did not grow up with it, but whenever Brits see what we’ve done, have a smile on their face. And that’s our business. Our business is to create these moments. And we are really excited about the new release of the exclusive Batman and Robin characters this year!

Greg, it’s always great to chat. Thanks again!

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The post Gregory Benassar on Khadou, kidults – and why Pop Mart and B&M have more in common than you might think appeared first on Mojo Nation.

Mandela, welcome! For those unfamiliar with your games, what are some of the titles on which you’ve worked?
The first game I got out there was called Glasgow. That did quite well internationally. It’s more for the hobby and two-player gamers. I also did a game called Overstocked with a smaller publisher, Play for Keeps. This is a very interactive game for between one and six players. Beyond those, there’re two kinds of games I’ve ended up working… The first are heavier games like Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa, for example that’s a very complicated game about the university in Mali reaching its prime through the funding of Mansa Musa when he was emperor of the Mali Empire.

Yes – very much a heavier game…
And then Ayar: Children of the Sun, which is, again, very much for hobby gamers. That follows the birth of the Incan Empire and the mythology around it. My family – on my father’s side – are Indigenous South Americans, and the legends and myths around that have always interested me so I wanted to convey that in a game. Those last two are both co-designs with the Euro hobby-designer Fabio Lopiano. The second kind of game I’ve ended up doing is more for gift and bookshops…

For example?
I’ve done The Shakespeare Game, The Jane Austen Game, and a game called Hire Me! which is a social party game. All of those are with Ellie Dix, whom I’ve seen featured frequently on Mojo Nation.

Absolutely. I’ve got a lot of time for Ellie Dix! I’ll link to a series she did a about pitching here and here and an interview with her here…
I saw she’s up for some of the Mojo Play Creator Awards this year, which is lovely. But yes, I have those with Ellie Dix, and we have some more on the horizon. I’ve also had one game released this weekend just gone at UK Games Expo. That’s called Green City; it’s a family plus game I’ve done – again with Fabio.

And what is Green City about?
It’s about trying to make cities commutable by public transport – which maybe doesn’t sound like the most thrilling theme! In fact, it’s quite a fun, light family plus game with a good dose of luck, a decent bit of strategy and a nice, fun presentation. A Japanese company is bringing that out initially.

Interesting. I get the sense that all your games have a bit of mind and a bit of heart in them. Is that fair to say?
I think that’s fair to say, yes. I definitely try to get some heart in them. As for the mind, I think I’m naturally inclined to quite a systematic view of things – possibly because of my background as a scientist. It ends up being difficult not to approach things that way.

In saying that, I do think I’m a bit all over the place in the design sphere because I also like making and playing very silly games! The ideal for me is, I think, when a lighter game has the thinky bit hidden from the players… I like it when we, as designers, do the thinking so that the players don’t have to. They’re just immersed in the fun of it.

Fantastic! You said there that you think of yourself as quite systematic because of your background as a scientist. I want to come back to that! For now, you’re a great one for collaboration, aren’t you?
Yes. I started designing on my own, but now co-design most things. I think working with others offers such a list of benefits… Primarily, they tell you when to stop and when to keep going. One of the major issues I have with game design is the way that – once you have an idea concept – you may be excited about it, and it may be good. But then the path bifurcates: this could happen, or that could happen…

During development, you mean? The idea could go in more than one direction?
Exactly. And then each of those forks could also split – you end up with this whole network of possibilities as regards what the game could be. To me, it feels like a lot of the process is basically cutting down these paths to the one that’s best going to suit what you’re aiming for. But I find that bit challenging.

Having ideas isn’t the problem? Refining them is?
Yes – cutting down ideas and keeping them slim. I find having a co-designer much more efficient in that element. They’re more easily able to say ‘Nope.’ They also tend to say something that plays off it and takes it in a better direction. So I find it useful having more inputs like that. But you know, Deej, another big thing about collaborating is sharing the enjoyment of the process.

Understood. And is there a particular type of person with whom you enjoy working?
One thing I will say is that I always try and work with people that I think are better than me in many ways. That way, I can always learn from them. But it’s also about having somebody else to share the whole experience with. Whether an idea goes ahead or falls through, you still have somebody else in exactly the same boat as you. You can commiserate with them or, when a wonderful opportunity comes to light or you get nominated for an award, you have a co-designer sharing all that with you.

Perfect. Now, we had a conversation recently about your presence in the playtesting area and – indeed – your own events. They had a wonderful name; what were they called?
Ha! Yes… Ellie Dix and I were arranging some development events for designers – we were just calling them designer weekends. However, some of the attendees started calling them by a nice little portmanteau of our names: MandEllieCon.

Ha! And is that now official?
We’ve sort of adopted that ourselves now, yes. These events go back to what I was saying earlier… Both Ellie and I immensely enjoy playtesting. It’s very fun being exposed to new ideas. So we started out participating in weekday events primarily run by Playtest UK, which is a wonderful organisation set up and run by Rob Harris. That’s been a great service to us.

But I’ve also enjoyed many scientific conferences, and the best one of those I’ve ever attended was one where we all stayed in the same hotel for the duration. It was a smaller group, so you really got to know one another through it… Interesting ideas got thrown around at breakfast and lunch and all during those quieter times. We were all mixing with different people that we might not otherwise have taken the time to chat to, so had that chance and that exposure.

Fascinating. I do think some people see reciprocal playtesting as a chore they have to do. But you love it?
I do! It’s just one of my favourite ways to spend time. I’ll happily sit down and play games of all kinds, qualities and complexities, from all kinds of designers. I really enjoy doing that. And if any of the feedback that I can offer is of use to people, then all the better. It gives me a small sense of satisfaction to be part of that and to enjoy the community that builds up from it.

And that’s what led to MandEllieCon?
Right. Ellie and I both wanted to do something that was a little more in that vein and we set up these designer weekends. The main idea is that we get a bunch of designers together, staying on site, and have people playtest games throughout the event. We try and break up the testing with other things so it’s not too intense. We stop to eat all meals together, for example, so that there’s that more natural downtime.

Sounds really useful…
We’ve done it several times and learned some valuable things from each one.
It’s just been a great chance for people to socialise, to push forward their games, to learn from people of different experience levels as well. And this year, we’re scaling it up a little.

How so?
Well, it’s always been a bit limited because we want it to be as accessible and we want to reach as wide a range of designers as possible. That can be difficult because, I think, there tends to be quite a challenge in terms of the socioeconomic backgrounds of who ends up designing games. For the most part, it’s those of us who are comfortable enough, financially, and therefore have more leisure time to engage in this kind of thing on the side.

Right…
But to make it more accessible, Ellie and I have always wanted our event to be completely free of charge. For that reason, we’ve covered the cost of all the food and the hosting of it; there’ve been no costs associated with accommodation. I mean: people chip in for the food if they want to; but that’s entirely optional. We’ve also offered travel support for people if they needed it – all to help reach different people from different backgrounds with different ideas.

I think this is fantastic! But this is not a big, public event?
No, I should stress that this is just something we organise because we get great joy from doing so. But yes, we always want to reach a wider audience of people; people that are less likely to have access to these opportunities, and maybe people that are a bit less represented in the game-design space. Because otherwise, we do get a lot of people from more affluent backgrounds – primarily, we get a lot of white males. So as much as possible, we try to create a balance of different individuals, different representation. So if anybody is out there and does want to contact me – and thinks they fit that bill – that’d be great.

And, you have slightly more scope this year, do you not?
For this time, yes – we’ve actually got a donation from Corey Thompson of the Rose Gauntlet Foundation to help underrepresented professionals in tabletop games industry… So we’re very grateful because they’re going to cover our costs for this one. That allows us to scale up a little and host slightly bigger numbers.

Well, that’s amazing. And I know places are still very limited, but it’s worth designers reaching out to you if you think they fit the bill. What’s the best way to drop you a line to find out more?
If people feel they’re a good match to that description, and they want to connect to other designers and playtest opportunities, then please reach out to me on mandelagrandon@gmail.com. We may be filling up for this event, but it’s always good to connect with more folk for possible future opportunities.

And just before we wrap things up, Mandela, you mentioned earlier your background in science. What is it you do when you’re not inventing games?
I’m an Associate Professor at a university.

Oh! An Associate Professor of what?
Of chemical ecology and insect behaviour.

Of course. That would’ve been my first guess.
Ha! I work on pheromones and things like that, primarily focusing on insect behaviour. Most of our work is in low-income countries trying to improve people’s livelihoods by developing technologies that might help in agriculture or reducing the spread of disease.

Incredible. I’d like to hear more about that once we’re finished with the interview – sounds fascinating. To wrap things up then, Mandela, tell me: what’s the most interesting object in your office or on your desk?
Well, my desk’s kind of empty right now, so I’m now looking at… Here! This is a painting of two grains of maize together…

Two grains of maize? Like corn maize?
Yes. So this is from my partner. She worked in Guatemala for some time as part of her PhD. And there’s a saying in a book by Rigoberta Menchú, one that I was reading at the time that we met. I don’t know if you know this, but Rigoberta Menchú is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work with indigenous communities and representation in politics. I’ve met her, actually.

Wait a second… Hold the maize story! You met the Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú?
Yes. When I was a kid, she visited our house. In fact, I slept on the couch so that Rigoberta Menchú could stay in my bed! Before accepting the Nobel Prize, she was in Glasgow as part of her ‘500 Years of Resistance’ speaking tour… And apparently when a Nobel winner comes to visit, they get priority over the children!

I’ll keep that in mind! So now: back to the maize!
Right! So there’s an expression within Mesoamerican and Indigenous communities: “somos maiz” – we are maize. Historically, this phrase represents the idea that our identity connects deeply with the earth.

The maize is more than just food?
Exactly right. So my partner painted this lovely picture representing the two of us as maize.

Oh, this is an amazing object! Great answer, Mandela!
You might be interested to know that I occasionally slip maize into my games! The last big, complex hobby game I did had maize in it and some camelids as well.

Some camelids… Just for good measure.
Exactly. It had to have some llamas in there.

I’d have been disappointed if it didn’t. Fantastic! Thanks, Mandela.

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The post Inventor Mandela Fernández-Grandon on design, collaboration and the joy of playtesting appeared first on Mojo Nation.

Dina, it’s great to connect. How did you find your way into toy design?
I’ve always been drawn to toys. Obviously as a child, you play with toys, but as a younger adult, I was always collecting toys. I was originally going to school for illustration, but about two years in I realised: “Crap… This career path is going to be harder than I realised.” This was during the 2008 recession. I was at the Fashion Institute of Technology, which also had a toy design program, and they essentially guaranteed you’d have a job when you graduated.

One of my good friends – Rocío Cintrón, who’s an incredibly talented designer at Disney – followed the same path. She convinced me to join the toy program at FIT, and since I was already such a huge toy collector, I thought: “Yeah, why not?” It wasn’t something I originally imagined for myself, but it wound up being the perfect fit.

Terrific. And where did you work first?
After I graduated, I was at Jazwares and then I went over to Just Play. I was there for quite some time before joining The Loyal Subjects in 2024.

Does being a toy collector steer how you approach design?
Absolutely. I think it makes you a better designer because you naturally put yourself in the mindset of a collector, fan or customer buying your product. I know what details people focus on because they matter to me too – the eyes, the articulation, the softness of the fabric… Those little details really stand out to collectors.

The Loyal Subjects works with some terrific brands. How do you get to grips with an IP when creating licensed toys?
I usually start with the emotional hook – what is this product supposed to make someone feel? From there, I look at references of what’s been done, what’s out there, current trends and fan expectations. I’ll also dive into the fan community if I’m not already familiar with the product itself.

That part is really important because it helps me understand what fans actually expect. For example, I never watched M.A.S.K growing up – it just wasn’t on my radar. But once we started developing the line, I spent a lot of time exploring the fan community, looking at what collectors already had, what they were commenting on and what they wanted from us.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m a huge Jem and the Holograms fan, so I naturally know what I’d want – but that’s also why it’s important to have a team around you to help keep things balanced.

Yes, I suppose one fan isn’t all fans.
Exactly. You can fall down a rabbit hole of designing too much for your own tastes. At some point you have to step back and ask: “Is this actually going to improve the product? Is it worth the added cost? Is it integral to the item’s success?” If the answer is no, then it’s probably just something you personally want to see.

When designing for fans, how do you balance creating toys with two audiences in mind – kids that will play with them, and collectors that might display them?
It’s a delicate balance of making sure it’s accessible for everyone. If it’s a $150 transforming vehicle with tons of features, you want it to look amazing on a collector’s shelf – but you also want it to be genuinely fun and playable for a child. And toys do have universal appeal – kids still want to consume everything, adults still want to consume everything – so we try to keep it cool for everyone.

What makes The Loyal Subjects an exciting place to work?
Well, for one, it’s full of creatives, from the top down. Jonathan Cathey, the owner, is a creative himself, and that was a huge draw – having a CEO who ‘speaks the language’ and really understands the toy making process. He drives the creative vision and fosters an environment where people are encouraged to think creatively and collaborate. Everyone there is genuinely passionate about what they do, and that creates a really unique energy.

What new launches are you excited about?
We’ve got a lot of exciting things coming. One is our Palworld line, which is tied to one of the biggest modern gaming franchises with a massive global player base. We’ve got a huge assortment launching this summer across collectibles, figures and plush.

On the theatrical side we have Hunger Games product launching this fall, aligning with the release of the Sunrise On The Reaping movie coming out this November. It’s a mix of fashion dolls, our stylised small figures, and micros, all spanning the entire Hunger Games universe.

Another theatrical is Angry Birds, with the third movie releasing this Christmas where we have some fun collectibles coming out. M.A.S.K continues to be huge for us. It’s such a legendary toy line with so many iconic characters and vehicles, and we’ve got a lot of fun new additions planned – more heroes, more villains and some really unique toys that I think fans are going to love.

Amazing. And you’re also developing your own IP these days too?
Yes, we have Skittens launching this fall. They’re stylish kittens inspired by streetwear culture, with really fun personalities and fashionable looks. Expect cute plush with awesome outfits and lots of character.

Are you a cat person?
I am a big cat person.

So that’s exciting for you on many fronts.
Ha, it really is!

And you mentioned you have plenty of classic brands, like M.A.S.K, Jem and Rainbow Brite. What is the balance like between retaining what people remember about a brand, while making the toy work for today?
We always look at what was done previously, and how well it was received – and we look at whether it’s a matter of honouring the past exactly as it was, or evolving it. Do we want to upgrade what was done before and reinvent it? Or is it something we’re bringing back exactly as it was and expect people to react the same way they did 30 years ago…

A lot of the time we do choose the option of going down the route of improving it or upgrading it to be a bit more modern. The 80s had a very classic look to it – we have to respect that, rather than replicating it exactly. Otherwise, it might not resonate with a younger audience.

And what would improving or modernising one of these toys look like?
It can be things like updated eyes, brighter colors, improved articulation, better materials or newer production techniques. It’s really about asking: “How do we improve this while still respecting what people loved about it originally?”

Before we wrap up, how do you fuel your creativity?
I like seeing what’s out there – whether it’s looking at classical artists or contemporary artists – or travelling. Experiencing different cultures, environments, and retail spaces can be incredibly inspiring. But honestly, I think creativity also comes down to mindset. If you stay curious and open-minded, you can find inspiration almost anywhere.

And last question! What’s The Loyal Subjects’ most underrated line?
From my time there, I’d probably say Rainbow Brite. There’s so much of that universe I would have loved to make!

Looking at TLS more broadly though, I’d say the Action Vinyls line. They were incredibly cool products and did really well for the company. I’d love to see that line come back because I think it would resonate even more with today’s collector community.

We’ll keep our eyes peeled for that! Dina, a huge thanks. Let’s tie-in again soon!

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The post Dina Al Rifai – Creative Director at The Loyal Subjects – on how being a collector shapes her approach to design appeared first on Mojo Nation.

Tim, it’s always great to catch up. How has Hasbro’s 2026 been so far?
We’ve had a strong start to 2026. New York Toy Fair was an important moment to showcase the breadth of our portfolio, from iconic brands like Monopoly, Play-Doh, NERF and Transformers, to premier partner brands like Beyblade X and KPop Demon Hunters.

We’re continuing to build momentum for Peppa Pig following the introduction of baby sister Evie, alongside a meaningful brand evolution that revealed George as moderately deaf. These developments are driving new opportunities across toys, collaborations, and live experiences.

We’ve also begun celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie. Toy Fair marked the debut of our ‘Apology Tour’ campaign, a self-aware, fan-driven approach that taps into decades of conversation around the film. And that’s just the beginning! We’re looking forward to sharing more at Licensing Expo and San Diego Comic-Con in the months ahead.

Busy! Now, the Kidult audience has been hugely important to the toy and licensing industries in recent years. How has that manifested when it comes to your brand extensions?
Adult fans and collectors continue to be a key growth driver across our portfolio. Many of our brands, from My Little Pony and Jem and the Holograms to G.I. Joe, Transformers and Dungeons & Dragons, span generations and naturally lend themselves to this audience.

While nostalgia remains a powerful driver, we’re also seeing increasing demand for premium, authentic expressions of fandom. Today’s adult fans are looking for products and experiences that reflect a deeper connection to the brands they love.

Through our global network of licensed partners, we have expanded into a wide range of categories, including collectibles, publishing, music, fashion, live experiences and food and beverage. This allows us to meet fans at different points in their journey and extend our brands into new aspects of their everyday lives.

I imagine with the rise of Kidult, there comes a worry that the pendulum swings too far in that direction and toys for kids take a ‘hit’. How do you manage that dual focus?
That’s a great point and one we’re very intentional about with our multi-generational brands. We do not see it as a trade-off, but as an opportunity to serve fans at different life stages in meaningful ways.

Play is evolving. It’s becoming more gamified, more entertainment-driven, and increasingly shared across generations. Our role is to deliver the right experience for each audience, whether that’s a child discovering a brand for the first time or an adult engaging with it more deeply.

For kids, that continues to mean leading with imagination, accessibility and great play experiences. For adult fans, it’s about authenticity, craftsmanship and emotional connection. When done well, those two ends of the spectrum actually reinforce each other and strengthen the overall brand.

We’re seeing across our portfolio, from premium collaborations like our Transformers Robosen line to entertainment-driven experiences like Dungeons & Dragons live shows and Peppa Pig theme parks. It’s all part of creating a connected ecosystem where fans can engage with our brands in different ways at different times.

Are there lessons from the rise of kidult that can be applied to the kids’ space?
Absolutely. The rise of adults who play has shown us the importance of authenticity and storytelling. Adult fans expect depth, consistency and a strong connection to the brand – and those expectations are increasingly true for younger audiences as well. Kids today are growing up in a much more connected world. They’re discovering brands across platforms, engaging with them through content, gaming and social experiences, and forming relationships with those brands earlier than ever.

So, we’re applying those learnings by building richer story worlds, creating more immersive play experiences and thinking more holistically about how our brands show up across touchpoints. At the end of the day, whether you’re five or 50, great storytelling and meaningful play experiences are what create lasting connections.

Great answer. Earlier in the year it was revealed that Hasbro will be making toys for Harry Potter, Street Fighter and Voltron. If it’s not a silly question, what makes these brands exciting ones to partner with?
We’re very intentional about the IP we bring into our portfolio, and each of these partnerships reflects strong, long-term potential to build fandom and deliver a lifetime of play.

Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products’ Harry Potter offers one of the richest storytelling worlds in modern entertainment, filled with unforgettable characters, emotional depth, and a multigenerational fan base that’s eager for new ways to engage.

Street Fighter, from Legendary Entertainment, is a homecoming for us. Having worked with the franchise before, we understand what makes its characters and visual identity resonate, which gives us a strong foundation to build from. Amazon MGM Studios’ Voltron, with its roots in classic 80s action‑animation and themes of teamwork, heroism, and transformation, fits perfectly alongside many brands in our portfolio.

Across all of these partnerships, authenticity is critical. We’ve built trust as stewards of global franchises like Disney Consumer Products brands Star Wars and Marvel by understanding fan expectations and delivering high-quality, innovative play. We’re bringing that same expertise to these brands as we look to expand their reach across categories and markets.

You have a terrific KPop Demon Hunters range landing throughout this year. Has the ‘surprise’ success of that movie changed anything about the sorts of IP you seek out partnerships for?
We are always closely tracking cultural trends and the stories shaping global entertainment. At the same time, we’re deliberate about the IP we pursue. Our strategy, across products, licensed collaborations and broader IP ecosystems is built around delivering a lifetime of play for fans and ensuring that every collaboration aligns with our commitment to innovative, authentic storytelling.

What stood out to us about Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters wasn’t just its undeniable global momentum, but how naturally it fits within our portfolio. It’s a culturally relevant property with a strong point of view, and it lends itself incredibly well to play-driven innovation. We’re bringing it to life across multiple touchpoints, from NERF roleplay to interactive Furby Furblets and Monopoly games. It’s about creating multiple entry points for fans to engage in different ways.

So while its success didn’t change our strategy, it reinforced it. When you pair compelling storytelling with thoughtful execution, you can create experiences that resonate far beyond the original content and deepen fandom over time.

Before I let you go, you recently celebrated three years with Hasbro. How do you reflect on your time here so far?
It’s been an incredibly rewarding three years. What stands out most is the strength of Hasbro’s brands and the passion of the teams behind them. We’ve made meaningful progress in sharpening our focus, while continuing to expand how brands show up across toys, games, licensing and entertainment.

We’ve also deepened our connection with fans, particularly as we’ve leaned further into aging up for adult fans and built more direct, data-informed relationships. A highlight has been seeing how our brands resonate across generations, whether through a new product, a live experience, or a global collaboration.

At the same time, we’ve laid important groundwork for the future, from strengthening our licensing ecosystem to building out richer storytelling across platforms. What excites me most is that we’re just getting started. The opportunity ahead of us, to grow our brands into even bigger global franchises and continue delivering a lifetime of play, is incredibly exciting.

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The post “Play is evolving…”: Hasbro’s Tim Kilpin talks kids, Kidults and KPop Demon Hunters appeared first on Mojo Nation.

For anyone new to Hellbreak, how would you pitch this exciting new Trading Card Game?
Hellbreak celebrates the world of horror in a fast, bloody, highly collectible TCG. It brings together the ultimate killer line-up of horror icons from across the genre, spanning multiple studios and properties to create an unprecedented ‘Monster Sandbox’. Developed in collaboration with Ghost Galaxy, it’s a head-to-head game that gives players the opportunity to finally play out their dream – or nightmare: match ups of horror titans they’ve known and loved.

Hellbreak kicks off with a Universal collaboration. What makes horror IP a great fit for a TCG?
Horror is evergreen, has global appeal and yet remains surprisingly under-represented as a core theme in trading card games – despite being one of the fastest growing and most culturally relevant genres in entertainment today. There’s also tremendous crossover between the two categories, with six out of ten TCG players being dedicated fans of horror.

With Universal as our cornerstone studio, we’re kicking off with a deep catalogue of legacy of Universal Monsters through to modern franchises. We’ve had a fantastic relationship with Universal for many years, spanning several existing licensed partnerships. Now we get to take our relationship in a completely new direction – creating a property for an older demographic – while leveraging an amazing track record of engaging deep fandoms. And who better to work with than one of the studios who pioneered the horror genre?

Amazing! How did you develop things so that it’s set up for the long-term?
Hellbreak is built as a full trading card game ecosystem. Our first core set features roughly 250 unique cards, spanning iconic horror characters, locations and memorable moments from multiple studios and franchises. We’ve built a long-term content roadmap – with plans for new waves, booster packs, starter sets and booster bundles – to create the excitement of collecting, trading and deckbuilding that drives the category.

We’re taking a strategic and methodical approach, working closely with our partners to organize game competitions, introduce innovative mechanics, expand our player base, enhance card collectability, and build a strong community that drives long-term brand value. Our goal with Hellbreak is to create a living horror universe that evolves through new expansions, card reveals and community play over time.

How did you ensure the card effects authentically capture these iconic horror characters?
Faithfully representing these beloved characters was our design team’s top priority. When developing the card effects for each character, we worked to mechanically express their unique traits so that players feel they’re truly embodying them. For example, players taking to the sea as the shark in Jaws to play an aggressive game befitting an apex predator, while players donning the cape of Dracula play a more calculated game worthy of a sophisticated vampire.

And talk me through the art style here – how are you bringing these iconic characters and locations to life?
We’ve amassed a talented group of artists who have deep experience in creating art for this genre. We’ve also worked very closely with the studios to ensure we remain authentic in the depiction of the monsters and villains. Hellbreak features 100% new customized art for the game – which is exciting for horror fans. We want the art to celebrate the scares that stuck with you and immerse fans in their favourite moments of suspense and dread.

Looking ahead, how do you see Hellbreak evolving as new sets launch?
Each wave incorporates a new slate of fan-favourite characters that draw from all eras of the genre… And the characters come packaged with brand new mechanics to enjoy. Additionally, each wave features a new, special-treatment, collectible alternate-artwork series that celebrates the history of horror. With best-in-class partners, investment in organised play and a steady stream of new characters and premium card formats – along with collectability and chase elements built into the release plan – we expect to create and sustain demand for Hellbreak within the horror and TCG community long-term.

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The post Spin Master’s Angus Walker on bringing classic horror brands into TCGs with Hellbreak appeared first on Mojo Nation.

Dom, it’s always lovely to catch up – and we’re doing so shortly after you’ve retired! Congratulations on a remarkable career. When you look back, do you think toys have proven a good fit for your ‘design sensibilities’?
It’s funny because I mentioned in one of our other interviews that I’m more a product designer than a toy designer. But looking back, I may end being the toy designer in the world with the widest spectrum since I designed dog toys, kids’ toy and adult toys – and adult toys as in sex toys, not kidult!

Oh! What was that for?
Back when I had my design consultancy, we met a guy who had a company that made small appliances and stuff like that. He played hockey with a sex therapist, and the sex therapist had an idea for a sex toy – or a ‘therapeutic tool’ as it was called because at that time, sex toys were very pornographic. So that was one early project!

I like how you saved this for the retirement chat! And did having that design consultancy shape how you approached being an in-house designer?
Certainly, but looking back, I should have done the reverse! We were four barely graduated partners at the consultancy – and we were quite naive about how difficult it would be. I did that for 12 years and worked on fascinating projects like transportation projects, medical projects, scientific projects, dog toys… I learned a lot. And I’m sure if I worked in-house first instead, I would have learned in a less difficult way!

And where did you go from the consultancy?
Mega Bloks. I joined the company as a design manager, but the company was growing very fast and we needed a better structure for how new product development was managed. The company put in place a gate process and they asked me to be a project manager. At the time, I felt I had to mourn the design aspect, but maybe six months into it I realised that I was now involved with marketing, manufacturing, graphic design… You name it! It provided me with a very holistic vision of product development, which was invaluable.

The other key thing with Mega Bloks was that we were manufacturing productson-site here in Montreal, with only a door separating the design department and the factory. I could sit for half an hour looking at people and machines assembling stuff. That was really enlightening in terms of how things are done and where a portion of the money is going.

Before joining Mega Bloks, did you have any pre-conceived ideas about what the toy industry would be like?
Yes – all smoke and mirrors! And there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors in the toy industry. For good or bad, we’re all targeting for that TV moment – which may not last a long time. And for me, it was difficult when I made the transition between Mega Bloks and Spin Master. At Mega Bloks, a good product was a product that sold by itself; that doesn’t need TV. You look at the box, you get it. For a very long time, the strategy at Mega was basically: ‘Let LEGO make TV ads to bring people to the aisle, and we’ll catch them while they’re there.’ But after a year at Spin Master, I realised the importance of the TV moment.

I remember one project that we proposed in our team – it was some sort of suitcase for Kinetic Sand. But when we presented the thing, people were saying: “This is such a boring product!” But sometimes you need staples… Something that is perhaps not that inventive or spectacular – there’s no wow moment – but people need them. And activity products are different – there’s a need for such product. And when I walk the aisle, 10 years later, it’s still on the shelf.

And that process helped you adjust to life at Spin?
Yes, and so did a training session we had about leadership. Before you joined the training, you needed to define the reason why you wake up in the morning. For me, my goal every morning was to design products that generate instant emotion and everlasting memories. That always grounded me and was really helpful.

A great north star. Let’s talk about some key products you’ve worked on across your career. The first you wanted to discuss was iCoaster back at Mega Bloks.
Yes, this was a big bet for us. There was a lot of money involved in tooling because we started from scratch… I recall a meeting where the design department was looking at the prototype – and the CFO was there… Everybody was nervous about the price point! But it really aligned with our Magnext brand. We had the ball climbing up the side of the elevator… It was quite ahead of its time.

One of the principles here was ‘If you can’t put it on the front of the box, don’t put inside the box’. It has been super important to me because most of the time, you don’t have access to TV or a huge marketing campaign – people need to look at the box and understand what’s inside. Another guy at Mega said: “If it doesn’t scream value, it’s worth nothing.” So if it’s a $20 item, you have at least $20 of fun packed into that box. This one was a good example because we got that box to fit a certain size, but the product itself was twice the size in reality. And the product was $90.

Amazing. And you want to credit the entire team behind this one – so there’s Ans Beaulieu, Guillaume Guyader, Jonathan Jaget and Patrick Latour. Good work team! And was there a big push marketing-wise for this?
We didn’t spend a lot of money on TV. It was very rare. But we did shoot a TV ad and we did a market test in Denver. We put the product only in Toys ‘R’ Us in Denver. We aired the TV ad and the lift was 10 times compared to the market where there was no TV ad. That told us we needed TV.

Did it do well?
It did very well, especially for a $90 toy.

From iCoaster to i-loom. This came from Wooky Entertainment and a team spanning yourself and Samuel Beaupré, Alfredo Chavez and Dominique Fleurant. What made this a special project?
I actually left the company before it hit shelves, but was there throughout its development. I don’t think it was a huge commercial success and Wooky had some difficulties and vanished a couple of years after that. But with i-loom, the concept calls for a non-complete play experience in a box – which may explain the results.

And this sees you place your iPad into the device and it tells you how to create complex knotted bracelets.
Yes, and we looked at the penetration of iPads in US and it was already quite high, like 60% to 70% of households had an iPad at that time. We took a proven play patten with the friendship bracelet, but wanted to allow people to create more patterns and make it way more open-ended than just doing candy stripes. So we came up with that idea of using an iPad to deliver real-time CGI video instructions.

Basically, you select a pattern, design your bracelet and the iPad delivers fully customized step-by-step instructions on how to knot it. It was a very powerful idea and very well executed, but it didn’t sell as much as we invested in terms of energy into it.

Did that experience inform anything about how you approached the KumiKreator from Spin Master?
I’m sure it did – and I will say, the KumiKreator is probably the best invention I’ve ever been pitched. It came from Fuse and you see their video and say: “Oh my God, that’s it – we need to do this!” And our job was to not spoil it. The main contribution we made was to get to the fun faster – so eventually we came to a machine that loaded the spool at factory level. It was just fantastic.

Absolutely. And as you say, this came from Fuse, while the team at Spin included Arta Alagheband, Mollie Jameson and Audrey Tam. Was it a hit immediately?
No, when we launched, the first month was not that great – and people started getting nervous. So a decision was made to lower the price point by $5… And it totally exploded. The number of units we sold were just incredible. I’m very proud to have been involved in this one.

Did that reinforce the value of working with inventors?
I learned about the existence of toy inventors while at Spin. We had an inventor relations department, and I was inspired by how Spin managed inventor relations – they are great at it. One of our successes at Make It Real is that we went from being showed items by inventors that had already been turned down by several companies, to having inventors come direct to us with concepts designed for us. I think that’s because the Make It Real is great at executing inventor concepts – and hopefully we improve the product in the process.

Absolutely. I know you also wanted to mention a recent Make It Real launch as a career highlight – the Mini Pottery Studio. This came from you and Friday Fu, Josiane Geoffrion, Marie-Michèle Girard-Rheault and Jonathan Jaget. Talk me through this one.
Yes. Vic Bertrand – one of the two brothers behind Mega Bloks – used to say: “Toys are always about refried beans”, which referred to there being a lot of reinvention in toys. And there is, especially in the activity category, where you always try to use existing play patterns and innovate on them. But as we discussed with the i-Loom, there’s always a risk of over innovating. Another saying I remember is “Know your shit” from Spin Master’s Ben Verardi. Both sayings come into play with the Mini Pottery Wheel.

I knew the play pattern and I did a lot of testing in my basement – testing existing products. I also knew this space as we did a Pottery Wheel project at Spin. And if you go to Amazon and look at ‘Pottery wheels for kids’, you’ll see that there’s a lot of them – that’s a great indication that it’s still relevant. When we presented this one internally, one of the first things I heard was: ‘Kids don’t want to do pottery anymore’ – but pottery is universal. It’s just about finding the right twist to make it new.

And this ended up being the product I’ve been involved with that has been copied the most. And copied very fast! The first copies came from Asia and they were pretty close – different from a styling standpoint, but the colour scheme was the same. Since then, we’ve seen close to 10 copies of this product. They were all infringing the patent and once the patent was issued and public, then their strategy changed. They changed the process in order to go around the patent. It’s kind of the holy grail for an inventor to have a patent, and we don’t regret it, but I’m very cautious about it in that sense that the patent process is not designed for toys. Between filing and getting the patent issued, it’s a two- or three-year process, which is sometimes the life expectancy of a toy from a mass market standpoint.

Good point. And how do you reflect on what makes a product a success? Or a failure?
Well, my rate of success is not great. Like most of the people in the industry, we talk a lot about the successes but I have a bunch of products that didn’t succeed at all – even if I believed they were fun. In order to make a success, you need an incredible alignment of the planets – marketing, manufacturing, positioning… So many things that need to happen, it’s just insane.

One thing I do very frequently is go to a chain of stores here called Winners. They sell end of line – products that probably never sold well somewhere else. And I see toys there that look quite good and fun to me. Many are great ideas, but clearly, for whatever reason, have not succeeded. It makes me very humble about how many things need to happen – and how many talented people need be involved – in order to create a success.

I’m at the end of my career now, so it’s the short window where I can give advice – because after that, I don’t want to be that uncle that gives advice.

Ha! Go for it!
I would say that failure is very important. I gained a lot of knowledge because I failed a lot. As they say, you either win or learn. And I learned the very hard way. But I would invite any inventor or toy designer to be curious about literally everything – marketing, sales, other industries, manufacturing, engineering, costing, pricing, branding, positioning, culture, photography, museums… At some point it will percolate in your product and bonify it. I’m convinced of that.

Great advice.
And when it comes to success, I feel that innovation needs to be at the core of a company to succeed. If a company aims to be innovative, innovation needs to be linked directly to the individual who drives the company’s vision. Otherwise, innovation becomes random. If you just look at the top and bottom line of any toy company, there’s many ways to succeed. There are companies that are known just to copy stuff and they do very decent numbers. And let’s be honest, we’re here to sell products and this is the ultimate way to assess the success of a product. As an example, at Mega, we were very successful with the Dragons line. At some point, we saturated, so we created a line called King Arthur – and the castle we did for the King Arthur line was the best we ever did from a design standpoint… But the line was a failure.

On the flipside, I won’t name the product, but I worked on something where both the designer and I said: “That’s not great…” there was a license attached product and although it wasn’t a good product per se from a design standpoint, the things sold like crazy. So the reverse exists, too. But even though you design something once, the injection machine will pop one unit every 30 seconds. When you consider a 24/7 production schedule, you end up shipping a lot of units that can/will end up in a landfill somewhere, that’s a serious responsibility. Add-in the fact that we’re making toys, and that’s an extra layer of responsibility. We need to take it seriously.

Before we wrap up, is there a toy out there that you wish you’d designed?
There’s a bunch! Hatchimals is a huge commercial success, the spark of that idea is pure magic too. I didn’t work on that but when I was interviewed at Spin, they were about to launch it and everyone there was excited. That’s one of the things I admire most about Spin Master – they believe they can do it. Look at Hatchimals, there’s lots going on there, but they believed they could do it and absolutely nailed the unboxing process.

It’s also very elegant from a mechanical standpoint, which I think is the essence of this innovation – it’s why innovation needs to exist within a special, protected environment in a company. And Spin (and Mega at a time used to) do it very well. Vic Bertrand used to say – and this sounds terrible but is full of wisdom – ‘Kill the puppy’. When we have an idea, it’s a very sentimental thing. We’re attached to it and will fight for it. But at some point, you need to say: ‘The planets aren’t aligning here. Let’s kill it’. And I’ve seen Spin kill similar projects. But Hatchimals made it to the shelf and is a historical success.

Last question! Now you’re retired, what are planning to do with your time?
I will be building a house. I will be an IKEA cabinet hacker. Lots of woodworking and architectural photography when I have the opportunity. I will ski, I will mountain bike, I will do nothing, I will read, I will swim. And I hope I will be in a position to still get involved with inventing products – but that will happen when it’s raining.

Ha! Here’s hoping for many rainy days so we see you pitching inventions soon! Dom, this has been a joy. Huge congrats on an incredible career and happy retirement! Do stay in touch.

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The post As he retires, Make It Real’s Dominique Roy reflects on career highlights, mentors and lessons appeared first on Mojo Nation.

Rory, you’re celebrating ten years in the games industry – and one year at Zatu! How’s that first year been?
It’s been an incredible journey. As you know, Zatu started as a retailer in 2016, then went into fulfilment services a couple of years later. But in June last year, we officially launched as a fully fledged distributor! February this year marked my one-year anniversary with them. And it’s been great– I think we’ve achieved a lot in one year.

And we did have a short chat in Brands Untapped about your signing Fighting Fantasy for Peasoup’s Smart Books recently… People can read that here. On the games front, though, you had a terrific stand at London Toy Fair. In no way did you look like the new kids on the block!
Well, thank you! That’s very much what Rob Trounce and I hoped to achieve when we sat down thinking – you know – what can we do?! How can we make this look like we’ve been here for a long time? We set things up ready to show a great range of product and demo a couple of interesting, undiscovered items that people would benefit from seeing played in person.

Of which: you’ve brought a fantastically interesting co-op game to the UK… Yubibo. Rob Trounce briefly discusses that with Billy Langsworthy here. But you touch on something I find interesting: games that hugely benefit from proper demonstration. Yubibo is one… Happy Salmon is another… The Sock Game, I think!
Yes… Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Sticky Chameleons, Happy Salmon, Flickin’ Chicken… You know people are going to have fun and enjoy coming together to play that kind of party game on a stand. And definitely The Sock Game! You’ll remember the Toy Fair when The Sock Game was in the Greenhouse at London Toy Fair… Everyone was talking about it because of the demos. I think we were able to get a little of that with Yubibo this year. And I hope that if you were to see Yubibo on the shelf, that little see-through panel that shows you what’s inside gives you a sense that it’s a very different game and sparks a curiosity to want to try it.

In terms of what we demo on a stand, though, my attitude to games is more than just to demonstrate it myself. I want to get people laughing and having fun by themselves… So I start by demonstrating a game that breaks down boundaries very quickly. That way, you get to physically see the product work its magic. You might have a resistant mum come to the podium, for example, thinking she’ll try a game because her kids want to play. It’s always beautiful to then see mum’s handbag come off the shoulder and down to the feet!

Ha! All of a sudden, she means business?!
Yes! I remember playing a game once… The daughter had brought her mum to play on a stand. The mum stood back and watched for the first couple of rounds, then joined in a little. By round five, the mum was pushing the daughter out of the way to better her chances! Ha!

Ha! Apart from the handbag, what other little signals are there?
It’s lots of little things… The odd eyebrow raise to someone who’s come along with a friend is always a good sign. And I love the body language that I see if strangers come to the table as I explain a game before the first round. Then, by round two or three, they’re pulling people in themselves to experience it better. You did that yourself in London with Yubibo!

Yes, we pulled together quite a bunch of ne’er do wells! Ha! And are you saying you always like to step back like that, then?
If I can, yes. If I’ve done my job right, or the team has, we can take a step back and just let everything unfold as it’s going to unfold. Because the secret is, I think, that if I can explain it within 30 seconds so that someone else can pick it up and explain it, I’ve done my job. And that’s something that really benefits the whole stand because that clear, friendly approach humanises it… If you came onto the stand, had fun for ten or 15 minutes or whatever, and left with a smile on your face, then we’ve done our job.

Fantastic. And you’re not really selling it at that point; they’re selling themselves, I suppose.
I think a lot of that came from my pre-pandemic experience when I opened my own retail concept stores, Merchants of Fun. The philosophy for me there was that we would introduce you to three games by the time you entered the front door – and by the time you’d spent maybe 30 or 60 minutes at that store, you’d absolutely leave with games for yourself or your kids or whoever. But they’d be games you want to play again and again. That’s important because I do think the industry is guilty of creating products that won’t stand the test of time…

Knowingly?
It happens, yes – we can’t help it happening from a commercial point of view. You see it if you look in any charity shop across the UK, or any discount store. You’ll find big, licensed products on the shelves – some still in the shrink wrap; others hardly touched because someone hasn’t been able to get the rules quickly, or explain them to someone else, or someone has played it once and realised it’s not anything like as much fun as it looked…

What I’ve always wanted to be able to do is work out how we take that away. How can we and the retailer help you understand and love the game? So the industry needs to get better at creating games that people will enjoy for three to five years – longer, if it’s the kind of game you don’t outgrow.

To what degree do you think that might also be to do with expectation management on the shelf? A breakdown between grabbing attention with the front of the box, selling the idea with the back and explaining it with the rules?
There’s got to be a pretty smooth transition between the three – and you have a very small window of time in which to do much of it. It takes a special product to really communicate totally smoothly. That’s the genius of Rory’s Story Cubes, for example. Rory O’Connor was able to take a much-loved phrase in Irish culture – “Rory Rory, tell us a story” – and tap into that. That’s something that would’ve been very much part of 70’s and 80’s culture so he had a head start. But for him to take that, then put it onto the cube system and start the play with “Once upon a time…” was great. Straight away, you knew what you were going to get and how you were going to play.

That’s fascinating. I want to stay with that, but I’ll just mention an article about using Rory’s Story Cubes to brainstorm here. But as I recall, Rory’s Story Cubes had a very clear strapline as well: ‘Roll the cubes. Make a story.’
Right! So you know exactly how to play while you’re standing at the till! Actually, I remember when I first signed the original game with Rory… I was still working in Waterstone’s in a very small, north-coast of Ireland store. At that point, HMV owned the business. They’d come up with a new strapline for Waterstone’s, which was ‘Feel every word.’ And I think that struck me since the essence of Rory’s Story Cubes – roll and tell – fitted so well with ‘Feel every word’ because you had a whole story in your hands.

Right…
Now going back to rules being too cumbersome, a lot of people’s attention spans now are very short – and we’re being SO saturated with messaging. But some people do still slow down and make time to go into a different world for a while… So it’s not necessarily that all of our attention spans are always so short that we can’t now get people to play a complicated board game. It’s more that you have to unpack the information in a way that keeps attention…

The difficulty is that our end users sit somewhere between the purest gamer at one end of the spectrum and a very casual gamer at the other. So a lot of gatekeeping goes on. There’s a lot of, ‘Well, if this is a strategy game, it has to appeal to this audience, and we have to make sure that they’re going to become fully invested in it.’ But on the opposite spectrum, you’ve got Flip 7, say, which gives a lot of play value with about two-and-a-half minutes of rules. It just nails it; you very quickly know how to play that game.

Yes – the problem being that if your game belongs at one end of the spectrum, but your rules appear to be from the other end, then it’s going to be a disaster!
Ha! Yes! Maybe some developers just need to realize that the final destiny of their game isn’t heavy strategy… It’s a family friendly weekend. And remember: there’s a game for everybody out there. Actually, this is why I’ve intentionally set up Zatu’s distribution side not to distribute more than 500 products at a time… That way, we can make sure that we love the games equally and make sure our retailers are able to explain the games to consumers very, very quickly.

To start wrapping things up, Rory, I’m going to borrow a question from Billy: what do you think is the most underrated game you’ve worked on?
We launched a game at Coiledpring Games called Baobab or Tumble Tree. It was a can that acted as the trunk of a tree. You had a series of circular leaf cards inside…

Each card was like a canopy of leaves…
Right! And what you had to do was toss the cards and land them on the can; the trunk of the Baobab tree. Great fun! I was absolutely sure that was going to win the UK – but it didn’t seem to find a home. It just didn’t break into mainstream in the way I thought it would.

I remember that game – you’re right; it deserved to do better! Well, thank you Rory – I can’t believe it’s been five years since we last chatted on the record.
Is it five years?! Wow! Well, I’ll just tell you this story… For me, day one in the toy industry was Rory’s Story Cubes at Nuremberg ten years ago. I’d just left Apple the week before, and I remember coming into the games space and looking around… Nuremberg Hall 10 was full of men in suits with briefcases and everything – and I remember this awful feeling that I was the youngest rep there by a country mile… So I wasn’t sure if I was going to fit in. But just last week, I looked around at AireCon I thought, ‘My god! Now I’m the OLDEST rep here!’ Ha!

Ha! I had a horrible feeling that’s where that story was going, Rory! Ha! Let’s see how you fare at UK Games Expo. Thanks for making time.

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Hi Kevin! Lovely to meet you. I’m sorry our paths didn’t cross at London Toy Fair – but the Orchard Toys stand looked amazing!
Thank you, Deej! Lovely to meet you, too. I wasn’t at London Toy Fair this year – but I did hear your kind feedback. Thank you!

Not at all; my pleasure. Now in the past, of course, Mojo Nation has spoken to your colleagues Heather Yates, Rowena Isotta-Day and Alice Morley… By some magic, their names will turn into links so readers can find out more about Orchard Toys. The reason I wanted to interview you, though, is because of your work updating the Orchard Toys packaging. Before we come to that, what are your general responsibilities at Orchard Toys?
Well, I’m the Creative Manager and I’ve been here exactly ten years! In general, my responsibilities are overseeing anything creative and design related within the company, be it product or marketing-wise – a brand guardian as such! We don’t outsource anything here, except the manufacture; everything you see on an Orchard Toys product is designed here: from the concept that one of the design team has come up with all the way through to final artwork – which is where I tend to come in and get the packaging as polished as it can possibly be.

A lot going on, then!
Always a lot going on! We’ve got a small but wonderfully talented team of in-house illustrators and designers here, some of whom you mentioned just now, who all generate ideas for exciting new products. So the game artwork, layouts, sketches – the concepts all come from them. I’ll usually come into play to work on the artwork style of the packaging. Alongside our core range of products, we’ll also be working on our Baby and Toddler range, licensed ranges – including Bluey and Peter Rabbit – and bespoke lines for supermarkets and other customers.

You mean like white-label work?
No, not quite! We do exclusive designs for some of the big supermarkets and toy stores, for example. The product still looks like it’s Orchard Toys, but it’s a range just for them.

I had no idea! But then, I suppose that’s because I tend to think that Orchard Toys has got that distinct, signature look… It’s very consistent. And you recently updated a lot of the packaging?
Yes, for the first time in a long time… Come to think of it, I last did it when I first started at Orchard Toys, which is around ten years ago. The original idea was for us to just update how our characters looked; the people. As we began, it morphed into a much bigger refresh – we redesigned the whole lot! Ha!

What were some of the changes you made? And what did you keep?
Well, we’ve kept our bold colour scheme, but we changed a lot! One of the big differences you’ll notice are the boxes and the orientation on shelf. We’ve turned some of our £10 games onto the short side so that they’re upright. The thinking was that going portrait would just give us a different canvas to work with and therefore a fresher look. In practical terms, though, we can now get seven of those boxes on a one-metre bay where we used to just get five. So I think that ‘shelf efficiency’ delivers more value for the retailers.

So getting more on shelf wasn’t the main driver?
No, I wasn’t given a remit to make it like this or like that because we need to sell more. It wasn’t that at all. It kind of came naturally out of looking at different things… box sizes, orientation and so on. It gave us a different canvas to work with, plus we’re all aware how tight space is in retail so it worked out well. On the front of the box, you can also see we’ve made our age ratings more prominent. They’re much bigger and bolder in the corner.

And less prescriptive, I see! They used to say age 3-6, didn’t they? Now it says 3+…
Yes! We figured that this helps quickly gives granny – or uncle or whoever is out there shopping for a child’s gift – a clear idea. It’s immediately very easily identifiable. That needed to be a bit more in your face, I think, to grab attention… Also, the age range formatting used to be inconsistent – sometimes 3+, other times 3-6, so we’ve standardised it across the board on all products. That reminds me! I once saw a graphic – I think for LEGO – that said something like age 3 to 99… And someone had posted a picture of a sad looking woman celebrating her 100th birthday on social media. The little caption said: “Does this mean I can’t play LEGO anymore?”

Ha! Very good. And actually, I think LEGO just played on that idea to celebrate David Attenborough’s 100th birthday. So let’s see… You’ve turned some product on its end. You’ve tweaked the age ranges and made those buttons bigger. You’ve updated the people while maintaining your unmistakable style. I’m curious: is that style enshrined in a style guide?
No, it’s just a house style – the Orchard Toys DNA! There are four different illustrators here and they all create that style. A lot of people might suppose we’ve just got one person doing it – since everything is so consistent in style – and that’s testament to them!

In addition, we didn’t use Beatrix Potter’s illustrations for our World of Peter Rabbit range, for example; we were fortunate enough to be given free reign to reillustrate in our Orchard Toys style which was just brilliant, and a real privilege! I’d love to say we had a beautifully designed brand bible that lays it all out, we don’t as such… We just know what we like and we like what we know, and that’s continuing to design our products in our wonderful, unmistakeable Orchard style.

Wow. From this conversation, it doesn’t feel like anything’s being driven just by an Excel spreadsheet – I love that!
Well, the technical info is – but that’s about it! Going back to the actual illustration on our boxes, we’ve tried to bring in a lot more ‘breakout’ from the swoosh on the front of the packaging, trying to give it a bit more fun and movement; making the box front more more dynamic.

And when you say you’ve made it more dynamic, what does that mean? In terms that even I can grasp!
Ha! I’ll give you an example here, look… So this game is our older version of Shopping List. It’s looked like this for the last 15 years or so, but it’s a 30-year-old game. We sell oodles of them, but it was beginning to look tired… Two very static looking kids and they’ve got a list. With our new one, you’ve got the kids actually in the supermarket setting; they’re racing around to fill their trolley. And that’s more to the point of the game: race to collect your shopping in this best-selling memory game…

Got it!
Also, you can see the kids have been freshened up on the front. In some ways, Deej, what’s nice about this is that it’s not necessarily reinventing the wheel – it’s just about improving things, you know? Taking something already popular and gently improving it, modernising it. Orchard Toys is a very well-regarded and well-loved company; a leader in their field – so we didn’t want to make complete, wholesale changes; rather gently caressing it forward. Being a heritage brand, we have a robust approval system with many long-standing members of the company acting as ‘brand guardians’.

With all that in mind, Kevin, what’s the furthest you’ve gone in terms of pushing the design envelope in one go?
I’ve tried to give all the packaging a more individual look, while retaining the look of a ‘range’. All our titles used to be very regimented – using white text with a blue keyline. We’ve kept this style for some of our more educational products, but have really been able to look at more individual styles for others. For Pizza, Pizza, it looks like a logo you’d see on a pizza restaurant… It’s in keeping with the game and the theme – without taking it fully out of the range if you see what I mean…

Similarly, the Mucky Trucks title features a big mud splat behind it to give it a distinct look. You’ve still got a bright colour in the background and you’ve still got our logo top left… You’ve still got your age and stuff at the bottom – but the pack now looks a bit more individual. Smelly Wellies has whiffy lines emanating from the title, Bug Hunters has a bug hidden in the ‘g’, and Unicorn Fun has a big fluffy cloud logo – but still with the easy-to-read fonts, obviously.

I’ve never really thought about this before: what makes a font easy to read?
Simple, well spaced and bold. We generally use a font that is educationally sound for both parents and children. It wouldn’t be italicized, by way of example, and not a serif…

Not a serif? What does that mean? No funny little feet at the bottom?!
Ha yes! Sans serif means no funny little feet!

Of course, I do know all of these technical terms. I just like to appear in incredibly naïve so that readers find me more relatable…
I believe you! All our products have a bold, rounded, sans font so that they’re easy to read, legible and simple; fonts that will be easily read by a child and parent alike. Similarly, for literacy reasons, you won’t see a Z stuck on the end of one of our titles!

Like no ‘kidz games’?!
Yes, you’ll never see that because it’s outright confusing for a child learning to read to see that. I guess the closest we’ve got to a misspelling or a punny name is on a dinosaur game about a sleeping T-Rex: Dino-Snore-Us.

Ha!
That’s about the limit! I’m sure we’ve also described something as “roar-some” before too! We don’t go crazy because we know our audience. We get people writing in to us and saying – very positively – we look at your toys as the leading light in learning and education standard for preschool games and puzzles. Sometimes it can be a challenge to win attention without being gimmicky because the base of the design is, obviously, a tried-and-tested method.

And with that in mind, Kevin, is it better to overreach and pull back on the design? Or play it safe and work up?
Oh, I’ve always worked the first way. It’s always easier to do something a little wild and then pare it back. I like to push it a bit –maybe not groundbreaking, but in our world, we can disrupt things a little every now and then and break from the standard template.

And have you any examples of that?
Sure! We have a big, beautifully illustrated 150-piece puzzle called Map of the World. It was calling out to me to be themed box and as it has a carry handle I decided to design it as a suitcase, with straps and travel stickers all over it. It just perfectly suits the theme; the idea that you grabbed this and go went off on holiday round the world! We’ve also got our At the Museum puzzle… For this, I asked our manufacturer customise the cutter guide and take the corners in on the top of the box…

Oh! So it looks like the museum’s roof! Love it! What’s your background, Kevin?
After I graduated from the Norwich University of the Arts in 2002, I went to work at a small design agency called Point Design in Essex. I was mentored there by a wonderful lady called Maria Kelly. Despite being a small company, they were on the design roster for both Tesco and Disney Store. I was quite surprised to learn that, at the time, Disney Store didn’t really have a big in-house creative-design team. As a result, we were working on all sorts of packaging, style guides and stuff…

Naturally, I was there as a junior at first, coming up with concepts and making mockups. I eventually got to work on packaging and realised I really enjoyed it. Disney Store would come to us and ask us to come up with all sorts of creative packaging ideas. For example, when the Cars film came out, they asked us to package up their flagship McQueen remote controlled car in a novel way. So, exploring various cardboard engineering ideas. I came up with a box that looked a red, old-style toolbox. This red styling, paired with a chequered flag border was then rolled out across the whole range. I also remember staying up late one night to come up with a design for the Cinderella range which was lovely and blue and sprinkled with silver foil block…

This would’ve been a re-release of something, presumably?
Exactly right. I think they were re-releasing the DVD. We had to come up with a style that would go across their whole Cinderella range – dolls, castles, puzzles and so on. During my time there, I also designed the graphics on a Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machine, some Narnia Christmas decorations and redesigned all of their carrier bags and gift boxes – never a dull moment!

We had access to loads of assets which proved useful when I had to design a Disney A-to-Z puzzle using their characters to represent the letters. I remember getting stuck on X and then tenuously shoehorning Stitch in as his proper name is Experiment 626 – so X626!

Ha! That’s rather fun! And that was with Point Design, did you say?
Yes. There were only three or four of us. We used to take great care in mocking things up and then courier them to Disney HQ in Hammersmith overnight. It was very hands-on work that helped me become more confident. It made me realise the beauty of coming up with creative ideas and I realised I had a real passion for it. Unfortunately, this dream set up didn’t last for too long – I was made redundant when some of the regular work dried up.

And after you were made redundant?
With a mortgage to pay, I took the first thing I could get and went to work for a signage and point of sale company in Great Yarmouth. I was involved in coming up with some design concepts for the National Lottery and Walls Ice Cream, amongst others, but t wasn’t a hugely creative time for me! So it wasn’t long before I got itchy feet, and a colleague showed me the advert in the local paper… It was for a job as a graphic desigher at Orchard Toys. The application period closed that day!

Wow! Well, it sounds like you found your vocation in a most fateful way! To finish things up, Kevin, what’s the most interesting object on your desk?
Hmmm. You know, if you’d asked me a few months ago, I think I’d have said my Feathers McGraw water bottle that my partner bought me…

Timeless! And why wouldn’t you say that now?
Well, my son got a 3D printer for Christmas. I can’t get my head around the whole concept of it, but he loves making these 3D-printed animals and nick nacks! They’re only small, but now I have a plethora of them on my desk – the collection grows every week! There’s a little piggy, a capybara… And I don’t know where he got the design from, but I’ve got a frog with a big booty.

Don’t we all?! Well, there’s no question in my mind, Kevin – the frog with a big booty knocks the penguin waterbottle into a cocked hat… And I don’t think anyone’s ever said that sentence before! Ha!

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Amanda, great to catch up! Tell us about the Children’s Digital Wellbeing Framework and how it came about.
We’ve been building accreditation frameworks since 2012, starting with the Good Toy Guide and expanding into apps with the Good Play Guide. We’ve since developed accreditation programmes for the Children’s Activities Association, the US Toy Association’s STEAM framework, and MESH Helps. Each of those has served a specific niche well.

But digital felt different. The scale, the speed, the diversity of what’s out there for children, from games and streaming to social platforms and connected toys, it’s a bit of a minefield. And the headlines made clear what happens when there’s no quality standard in place: concerns around game addiction, mental health referrals, smartphone bans in schools. It felt genuinely ‘wild west’.

There are two things we set out to do. First, give families and educators a clear, trusted signal for what’s genuinely good for children within the context of a Balanced Play Diet. Second, give the companies who are doing the right thing a way to prove it and be recognised for it. There are brilliant developers, studios and brands putting children’s wellbeing at the heart of what they build. They deserve to stand out. Innovate UK funding gave us the resource to make it happen properly.

Is the timing right, given the regulatory climate?
It couldn’t be better timed. The Online Safety Act has made clear how hard it is to regulate this space through legislation alone. There’s real appetite from both government and industry to find a better way. Voluntary codes of practice, credible quality standards, an accreditation mark that parents trust and the industry respects: that’s the space we’re stepping into. Legislation stops the bad stuff. But it doesn’t necessarily create the good stuff. We want to build something that actively elevates high-quality digital experiences for children, not just clears a minimum bar.

How has it been received?
Incredibly well, across the board. Policymakers, the industry, families, schools, teachers: the response has been consistently positive and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve always been clear that this can’t operate in a silo. It needs to be one mark that covers all things digital, and we need key platforms such as Google, the App Store, Amazon, BBC iPlayer and YouTube to recognise it. The goal is a standard that becomes as familiar to parents as a safety kite mark: something they actively look for when they’re choosing what digital activities to allow their children to use.

It’s important to stress that we want to go beyond ‘doing no harm’. Legislation handles the floor. We’re setting a higher standard: digital experiences that actively support children’s development and wellbeing.

It’s a complex landscape. How did you approach it?
There was a real learning curve on the technical side: reward mechanisms, algorithmic design, the vocabulary that sits behind how digital products are built and behave. But we didn’t try to master it alone. We went out to industry and asked for help, and the response was extraordinary. Over 60 experts contributed to the framework including industry professionals, academics, children’s rights advocates, developers and educators. That breadth matters. It means the framework is grounded in how the industry actually works, not just how regulators think it works.

The result is something that the industry had a hand in shaping and can genuinely stand behind – it’s what makes the accreditation meaningful.

How is the framework structured?
The Framework is modular. First there’s the floor requirements – general compliance and universal design principles. Then there are age-related design principles. Concepts such as agency mean different things depending on the age of the child. This is followed by specific modules based on the digital activity being developed. There are modules for online, AI, screen-based, solitary play, and multiplayer features – and the beauty of the framework is that people can just choose the modules that apply to the digital product/activity that they are developing. The accreditation programme is now in development, translating that framework into a practical assessment process for brands and developers.

How does working with the digital industry compare to toys?
In toys, you’re committing huge investment upfront before you know if something works. Digital is different: you can launch, learn and iterate. That’s a strength, but it also raises important questions about when in the development process you involve children, and how an accreditation programme keeps pace with constant updates and new versions.

We’ve been pragmatic about that from the start. But one thing is consistent: the appetite is there. The digital industry knows it’s been getting a rough ride in the press. Some of that is deserved; there are bad actors. But there are far more companies who genuinely care about children and are frustrated that their work gets tarred with the same brush. The accreditation gives the good actors a way to separate themselves. And that’s commercially valuable.

What’s next?
It became clear that the framework was bigger than any one organisation and its integrity and independence needed to be protected so whilst we were delighted that FUNdamentally Children has been the steward during the creation of the framework, we are now looking to transition it into a not-for profit social enterprise – the Thrive Digital Alliance. This will enable us to continue the industry-led collaborative approach and ensure that it goes beyond a framework and becomes a force for good that benefits the whole industry and, more importantly, children.

Do you see the accreditation becoming a key metric for brand partnerships and licensing decisions?
Absolutely, and this is one of the most exciting aspects of the programme. There are two pathways to accreditation. One is product-based: your app, game, platform or service is assessed against the framework. The other is team-based: you can become a Thrive Digital Alliance accredited developer or studio, which signals to the whole market that children’s wellbeing is embedded in how you work.

Both are commercially significant. For brand owners and licensing partners, this gives them an objective, credible basis on which to choose who they work with. For developers and studios, it’s a differentiator that goes beyond marketing claims. It’s independently validated and built on a framework shaped by over 60 experts. That’s a very different proposition from a self-reported ‘child-safe’ label.

The digital world moves fast. How are you future-proofing the framework?
‘Future-proofing’ is probably the phrase I’ve used most across all the working group sessions. The answer is to lead with principles rather than prescriptions. The underlying principles of what supports children’s wellbeing don’t change as quickly as the technology does. If a framework is built around specific features or platforms, it dates fast. If it’s built around outcomes for children, it stays relevant.

Beyond that, we’re committed to an annual review: the latest research, the latest best practices, the latest expert input, every year. That will keep the standard current and maintain its credibility over time.

Where do you think we are with children’s digital wellbeing right now?
The current picture is concerning. The evidence on what children need, genuine social connection, the chance to develop resilience and problem-solving, time for unstructured play, is very clear. And we can see the costs when those needs aren’t being met.

But we’re at an inflection point. Parenting is evolving. Industry appetite is real. Policy attention is sustained. And the opportunity in front of us, if we get this right, is huge. We could see measurable improvements in teenage mental health. We could see children engaging with technology in more active, social and creative ways. We could see a digital economy that grows because the companies doing good work are also the ones that succeed commercially.

That’s what the Thrive Digital Alliance will work to make happen. And the companies that get involved now are the ones who will help shape what ‘good’ looks like for the next generation of children’s digital experiences.

For any digital brands or developers who want to find out more, what’s the best next step?
Come and talk to us. Whether you’re a global platform or an independent studio, if children’s wellbeing matters to your work, there’s a place for you in this. Visit ThriveDigitalAlliance.com or reach out directly. The earlier you’re involved, the more you can shape how the accreditation works in your sector.

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Jake, it’s great to connect. Talk me through your route into the industry – was this always part of the plan?
No, not at all. I don’t think I had a plan as a kid. I liked to play and hang out with friends and even at High School I still had very little direction. I had a natural acuity towards mathematics and problem solving – that kind of brain. I went to college for computer engineering and realised very quickly that I was not an engineer…

How so?
I think I’m more social than the typical engineer – I’m not a ‘squirrel away and do code’ type of person – no judgement, but it’s just not in my makeup. Yeah. So when I left school, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I was still into computers and technology so I got a job in a regional office for CompUSA. I did that for a few years and that’s where started to learn retail.

Then through a couple of jobs I ended up at a small electronics accessory manufacturer located here in southern New Hampshire. That’s where I started to get interested in business – in negotiating and doing deals. At the time we working with Apple before the iPhone launch. We went from hundreds of thousands in sales to many millions in sales and got really fortunate. That began a 10-year ride in tech and I really fell in love with consumer packaged goods and the whole sales infrastructure.

The technology industry changed a lot in the 2010s and it wasn’t my thing anymore – and I’ve always had an affinity towards games and toys, so I found my way through a couple of companies to Ceaco, now owned by Buffalo. I felt ‘this is where I belong’ and I’ve been in it ever since.

Terrific! Now, let’s talk RoseArt Games – for anyone new to the wider company, what should we know?
It’s a third generation, hundred plus -year-old company. Rosebud Art Company was founded in the 1920’s by Isador Rosen. His grandson, Larry Rosen owns the company today. The company started with learn-to-draw books and tabletop games. Big Apple, which is part of our launch slate this year, was one of the initial games introduced back in the 1920s – so games have always been part of the company. We became RoseArt in the 1970s and through the decades we’ve grown to be an industry leader in toys, crafts, school supplies and stationery.

So games became less of a focus?
Yes, but we launched games when we had opportunities. In the 80s and 90s, RoseArt had tremendous success with licensed games like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Strawberry Shortcake. Then more recently, Trudi Lazarus joined as EVP of the whole division and brought me in – both of us came from Ceaco/Gamewright. So we’re serious about getting back into games and that starts with this new slate of titles.

How have you found inventor relations so far?
I’ve been on the fringes of it for a long time, but this is my first time really doing it and guiding and it’s been really fun to learn. Firstly, the community is phenomenal. And then it’s about keeping your ducks in a row and make sure that you get back to folks. It requires a lot of planning and coordination, but it’s been really fun.

Terrific! Let’s dive into this slate of games. You mentioned Big Apple earlier – the one that first launched back in the 1920s?
Yes, I’m really excited about this one. When I first met with Larry, we were in his office talking about games and then we went into the archive – it was this total treasure trove! I gravitated to Big Apple – one of our first games – because apples are ubiquitous, multi-generational, and gender neutral. It’s a nice theme to build a game around.

Did the gameplay need updating?
Yes. It had a spinning board that earned you points – so it was not built with strategy in mind! We didn’t want to mess with the roots of the game, but we have added more strategy and updated the components. We turned the Apple into a puzzle because it certainly makes sense – we make puzzles already! But we’ve retained the spirit of that original game. That was important to us. We’ve even put a call out on the box to let people know it was first released in 1923.

Amazing. And what sorts of things were you looking for from the inventor community when building this slate out?
We’ve tried to come up with pillar games that occupy different lanes. Our company is a mass retail focused company, a high volume focused company. We’re not a hobby company and we’re not a specialty company. So we certainly have to think in terms of mass – so broad age demographics, gender neutrality… Things you would see at a Target or a Walmart. But essentially, we looked at ‘family+’ or ‘strategy-‘. Games that parents can get their kids into games with it, or gamers can get non-gamers into.

Nicely put! And one such title is Blooming Bouquets…
Yes, this comes from Eric Olsen and Ali Nooriala. It’s a dice game – and I love dice games. We had a game at Gamewright called Qwixx – it’s a phenomenal dice game and we always had dice games in the Gamewright line. And the reason we liked Blooming Bouquets is that players have a lot of agency – which isn’t easy in a dice game! Here you’re rolling dice, drafting flowers and completing bouquets. It’s a great game.

Looks fun! And then there’s Grand Photo Adventure?
Yes, this one came from Daryl Andrews. He’s maybe best known for Sagrada, and I’m a huge fan of that game. So I messaged Daryl on LinkedIn and said: ‘Sagrada is one of my all-time favourite games. It is absolutely beautiful. Do you have any games to show me?’ And he had a lot of games to show! But he said: “I’ve got this really cool travel-themed game and if we strip some stuff out of it, it could be mass market friendly.” So we stripped it down so that you’re just travelling, collecting photos and building a photo album. It had the most development of the four games to evolve it into what it is today – and Daryl’s been terrific to work with on it.

And how do you define that line between hobby and mass market?
With mass market, you maybe don’t realise how strategic you’re being – it’s a trick. Look at something like Azul which is sold everywhere. It’s very beautiful, very strategic and in the mass market because the strategy is very accessible. That’s the difference between a mass market with strategy, and something that stays in the hobby lane.

Great answer. And then, completing the line-up, we have Ferris Wheel Rush!
Yes, Ferris Wheel Rush is our game with April Mitchell. April is one of the best humans –I met her through Ed Gartin. He helped develop a game called Slanguage for a company I used to work and that game was a collaboration between Ed and April. I reached out to April to see her games but to also see if she could connect me with other designers, because she’s an amazing networker – and a lovely person!

And Ferris Wheel Rush is extremely unique. You have these Ferris wheel carts, but they’re out of order. You have a solution card in the middle and players must work together to move your ride engineers around to fix the Ferris wheel. And there are storm cards in the deck – if too many storm cards come out, you lose. The two things I thought were super unique about it was the working together to move these carts around, but also not knowing the length of the game. It could end at any moment, which makes each game feel very different.

Sounds like a winner! Before we wrap up, what fuels your creativity?
Well, I try to listen a lot more than I speak – and I try to ask open-ended questions. I’m only one person, so the bigger my community is, the more powerful I can be as a person in this community. So I try and take lots of meetings with people – you never know where a good idea could come from, so I really try to engage with people, listen and travel. We’ll be in Europe quite a bit next year and we’ll continue to travel and meet folks over there. I can’t wait to do that. It’ll be super fun.

The other thing I try to do is play a lot of games. I go to a lot of local game nights where people bring their games. And I try and play games that, on paper, I might not lean towards, because there’s always something interesting there… Maybe an idea or mechanic that inspires something else down the road.

Great answer. Jake, a huge thanks again and congrats on a cracking slate of games!

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