Play Creators Awards 2026 winners revealed

A celebration of the industry’s inventor and designer talent, among the winners this year are Open 2 Design, Big Potato’s James Vaughan and Tricky’s Geoff House.

As nominated by their peers, the winners are:

Toy Designer of the Year (Sponsored by Jazwares)
• 2 Much Fun – Make & Bake Pies Playset (Melissa & Doug)
• Cheeky Donkey & Make It Real Advanced Design Team – Quick Twist Bracelet Maker (Make It Real)
• WINNER: DiscoNifty & Spin Master’s New Brand Group – Magic Jellykins (Spin Master)
• Lucas Tyler & Doug Taylor (Fuse) – Monster High Potion Reveal (Mattel)
• Moose Girls Team – Gui Gui Slime Mega Haul (Moose Toys)
• Nynke van Dijk (Goliath) – Clickeez (Goliath)
• Pace Development & Toy Venture – Barbie Roll & Reveal (Mattel)
• Sanne van den Bosch (Goliath) – Princess Castle Jelly Blox (Goliath)
• Tantrum Innovation & Hiram Johnson – Barbie Petal Pop (Mattel)

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Game Designer of the Year (Kids Games)
• WINNER: Big Potato – Stomp Stomp Chomp (Big Potato)
• Carlo Molinari & Martino Chiacchiera – Matsch Party (Schmidt)
• Ellie Dix – Early Bird (Hootenanny Games)
• David Yakos (Streamline Design) – Queen Swarm (Mindware)
• Fun-Damental Invention & Xavier Mendoza and Kristina Moulden (Educational Insights) – Snack or Splash (Educational Insights)
• Raf Peeters & Leighton Rees (Smart Toys and Games) – Hansel & Gretel’s Candy Adventure (Smart Toys and Games)
• Seven Towns – Cats & Robbers (Relatable)
• Seven Towns – Pooch on the Loose (Jazwares)
• This is YARD & Design Edge – Drop N Roll (Blast Off Toys)
• Thomas Favrelière & Adrien Pedron – Archeo (Gigamic)

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Game Designer of the Year (Family Game)
• Don Ullman, Bob Driscoll & Brad Ross – Rubik’s Rush (Spin Master)
• Elizabeth Hargrave – Sanibel (Hasbro)
• Ellie Dix – Seeker of Spells (Mindware)
• Gareth Edwards – Cat Earth (Outset Media)
• WINNER: Longshore & Gunter Baars – Deep Sea Diamond Dive (Mattel)
• Markus Slawitscheck – Morty Sorty Magic Shop (Schmidt)
• Richard Garfield & Takashi Ishida – Magical Athlete (CMYK)
• Rob Sparks & Brett J. Gilbert – Barbecubes (Alley Cat Games)
• Seven Towns – Banana Panic (Jazwares)
• The Fantastic Factory – Topple (The Fantastic Factory)

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Game Designer of the Year (Party Game) (Sponsored by Playtime PR)
• Ceri Price & Natalie Podd – Breadcrumbs (Confident Games)
• Ellie Dix – Roughly (Laurence King Publishing)
• WINNER: Don Ullman & Bob Driscoll – Murder Phone (Spin Master)
• Big Potato – Noodle Flip (Big Potato)
• Joe Barron, Brady Peterson, David Yakos, Sophia Ricciardi, Grant Lyon & Danielle Standring – Cross the Line (Gray Matters Games)
• Jon Gracey, Viv Egan & Matthew Hancock – You Know It! (Invisible Typewriter)
• Jon Perry – Hot Streak (CMYK)
• K.C. Schrimpl, Corey Schrimpl & Cameron Ring – Burst (Lost Boy Entertainment)
• McMiLLER – DUMMEEZ (McMiLLER)
• Stephen Wilson – You Read My Mind (Ridleys Games)

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R&D Team of the Year (Sponsored by the British Toy & Hobby Association)
• EXG Pro
• Gigamic
• Jazwares’ BlueJ Team
• Lost Boy Entertainment
• Make It Real Advanced Design Team
• Mattel’s MOTU Team
• Moose’s RADAR Team
• WINNER: Spin Master’s New Brand Group
• The Op Games
• YuMe Toys

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Invention Studio of the Year (Sponsored by Hasbro)
• Bang Zoom
• Fugafour
• Fun-Damental Invention
• Fuse
• Indy Toy Lab
• WINNER: Open 2 Design
• Seven Towns
• So Sound
• Streamline Design
• Tantrum Innovation

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Inventor Relations Exec of the Year (Sponsored by 7Towns)
• Alex & Whitney Kimerling (Hootenanny Games)
• Becs Henchey (Golden Bear)
• Dan Luther (Hasbro)
• Erik Quam (Smart Toys and Games)
• Helen De La Cruz (Spin Master)
• WINNER: James Vaughan (Big Potato)
• Lee Allentuck (The Plan A Group)
• Magdalena Eichhorn (Jazwares)
• Tara McGrath (Mattel)
• Tony Serebriany (The Op Games)

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Toy Designer of the Year (Licensed Product)
• WINNER: Bang Zoom – PAW Patrol Megasaurus Dino Vehicle (Spin Master)
• Fuse – Pokémon Carry Case Lighthouse Adventure Playset (Jazwares)
• Lorena Montalvo, Olivia DeLuca, Madolyn Miller & Kendrin Geerdes (TOMY) – Momiji (TOMY)
• Mark Grote (Spin Master) – Hatchin’ Yoshi (Spin Master)
• Katy Kedward (Craft Buddy) – Disney Crystal Art Advent Calendar (Craft Buddy)
• Super Fun Innovations – Super Strike Batman (Mattel)
• Tantrum Innovation & MB Creations – Gabby’s Dollhouse Fairylandia Kitty Fairy’s Flutter-riffic Playset (Spin Master)
• Tantrum Innovation & MB Creations – WWE Slambulance (Mattel)
• Tom Yamazaki, Emma Costa Lascelles, Matt Jordan (TOMY) – My Mario Toomies Bath Range (TOMY)
• Wow! Stuff – Pikachu Puppetronic (Wow! Stuff)

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Game Designer of the Year (Licensed Product)
• Arnaud Perez & Yannick Beaulé – PAC-MAN Craze Maze (No Loading Games)
• WINNER: David Winter (Jazwares) – Love Island: Villa Life (Jazwares)
• Jeremy Posner & Ken Gruhl – Survival of the Weirdest (EightyTwo)
• LA Brands – Cryptic Killers: Peaky Blinders (LA Brands)
• Luca Bellini – Brick Like This (Dotted Games)
• TJ Spalty, Nathaniel Basch-Gould, Kyle Hussa-Lietz (Spin Master) & Ghost Galaxy – Hellbreak (Spin Master)
• Don Ullman & Bob Driscoll – Jumanji: The Ultimate Level (Spin Master)
• Moose Games Team – Bluey: Here Comes the Grannies (Moose Toys)
• Moose Games Team – Crunch Labs: Squirrel Dash (Moose Toys)
• Matt Leacock – The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Z-Man Games)

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Play Innovator of the Year
• Jason Tremblay – Hummingbirds (The Op Games)
• JMP Creative – Slime Riders (ArtSkills)
• Katia & Gigi Funnovation & Make It Real Design Team – Salon Style Fashion Studio (Make It Real)
• LEGO Education Team – LEGO Education Science Kits (LEGO)
• Make It Real Advanced Design Team – Ultimate Spin Art Studio (Make It Real)
• McMiLLER – JOLT (McMiLLER)
• Moose STEM Team & Crunch Labs Engineering Team – Crunch Labs Range (Moose Toys)
• Moose Youth Electronic Team – Little Live Pets Mama Surprise Kitty (Moose Toys)
• Stickerbox Team – Stickerbox (Stickerbox)
• WINNER: ZB Designs – Wigglitz (ZB Designs)

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Rising Star (Sponsored by Spin Master)
• Brooke Cherry (Big Potato)
• Emma Costa Lascelles (TOMY)
• Gareth Edwards (Frog Hall Games)
• WINNER: Heftzi Zion-Mozes & Vered Bahat (2 Much Fun)
• Ian Clayman (Exploding Kittens)
• James Sheeler (Mattel)
• K.C. Schrimpl, Corey Schrimpl & Cameron Ring (Lost Boy Entertainment)
• Stephani Belmonte (Spin Master)
• Stephen Wilson (Ragged Owl Games)
• Tyler Morton (KidKenn)

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Unsung Hero
• Amanda Bright (Spin Master)
• Bethan Stone (Big Potato)
• Brian Greenwald (The Op Games)
• Brian Wan (Zuru)
• Judi Stonecipher (Mattel)
• Laurence Andrault (Seven Towns)
• Mark Aaron, Artist
• Paola Dyboski (Bubbles Not Bombs)
• Paolo Olimpio (EXG Pro)
• WINNER: Rob Harris (Playtest UK)
• Rory Kelly (Zatu Distribution)

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Debut of the Year
• Benjie Talbott – Tenby (Cosy Cub Games)
• Brady Smith – Graphic Novel Kit & Character Design Studio (Educational Insights)
• Dan Linden – Offshoots
• Diane Alber – A Little Spot Sensory Toy Line (All 4 Fun Toys)
• Florian Bohr – Kapti (Wilton Bradley)
• Heftzi Zion-Mozes & Limor Hershco – Simmer & Stir Stove-Top Playset (Melissa & Doug)
• Jason Tremblay – TACTA (The Op Games)
• Max Gelbert, Deb Raisner & David Raisner – Spellio (Jazwares)
• WINNER: Pablo Clark – The Old King’s Crown (Eerie Idol Games)

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WINNER: Geoff House – Tricky

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