Game and toy inventors hoping to see their design on the shelves of a major retailer have a unique opportunity over the next month with Target. The company has launched what it’s calling the Target Open Innovation Project and is taking applications for direct meetings at New York Toy Fair in February.

We want early access to inventors and companies with fresh ideas and in exchange, will offer the opportunity to pitch your idea to a panel of Target Toy buyers and get feedback from experts in Mass Retail. We intend for these meetings to produce a meaningful pipeline of innovation for our Toy Assortment.

Initial applications are due January 17th and require information on the product’s target audience and how it differs from current products. Also asked is whether the inventor has performed any market studies, patent searches, or cost analysis.

Target is looking for products in the following categories: games, dolls, activity sets, pre-school toys, and imaginative play.

• Comments Off on Pitch Your Game to Target

Retailing giant Target has an opening for a Merchandise Planner of Games and Trading Cards at its headquarters in Minneapolis. For Target, the position of Merchandise Planner serves as the interface between Merchandising and Supply Chain, is responsible for strategic thinking about sales, and involves a lot of detailed data analysis. But also…

In the Games and Trading Cards role, you will partner with the largest vendors in the Toy industry such as Hasbro and Mattel to drive sales on iconic board game brands and large franchises such as Pokémon. You’ll also have the opportunity to be entrepreneurial and help launch games from indie game designers from Kickstarter and other sources for new ideas.

Publisher All Things Equal needs a Marketing and Office Manager at its offices in Miami Beach. Responsibilities will include a mix of drafting marketing material and administrative functions. Some experience with Adobe Creative Suite applications would be helpful, as would being a fan of The Big Lebowski, for which the company is developing two new games in the coming year.

At Wizards of the Coast in Renton, Washington, two openings of note include Design Manager in R&D and Senior Content Designer. The former is a game development position for Magic: The Gathering that involves leading a team of designers. The latter involves building digital services and interactive content for Magic, D&D, and Avalon Hill games.

Don’t have the professional experience to qualify for one of these positions but still a fan of Magic? WOTC has launched the Great Designer Search 3 contest with essay questions, a multiple-choice test, and a series of game design challenges. The winner will be invited to a 6 month Magic: The Gathering design internship.

Goliath Games is recruiting for a Global Quality Assurance Manager and a Graphics Designer, both to be located in Plano, Texas. Applicants for the Global Quality Assurance Manager position should have at least 5 years of quality control experience, be familiar in detail with safety testing regulations, social compliance audits, and certifications, and be willing to travel 75 percent or more. Applicants for the Graphics Designer position should also have 5 or more years experience and be able to help with packaging, instruction manuals, game boards, display graphics, POP, and other assignments.

Games for Change is looking for a Communications Intern. The position is unpaid, can be in Boston or New York, starts in February, runs a minimum of 10 weeks, and will take 20-30 hours per week.

National Defense University, part of the U.S. Department of Defense, has an opening for a Wargaming Assistant in Washington, D.C. The role includes supporting the development and execution of national security exercises.

The UK’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory has similar openings, one for a Tactical/Operational Wargamer and two for Wargame Designer & Analyst. The announcement of the former position lists “experience of developing scenarios and vignettes” as a qualification. The announcement of the latter lists “hobby wargaming”. For both, knowledge of military history and excellent quantitative analytical skills are required.

• Comments Off on Hot Jobs in Board Games

A little while ago I had posted about how Breaking Games got The Game of 49 on Target shelves. Now they’ve got two more headed to the major retailer: The Game of Phones and POOP in a Bag.

Game of Phones is a card game that brings smartphones to the party. The game is available at Target starting August 1, 2016, for an MSRP of $20. Play the game with three or more players, ages 12 and up.

The game revolves around challenges that players have to complete using only their phones. “Find the best selfie;” “Take a photo of another player;” and “Show your worst or funniest text” are some of the examples given.

POOP: The Game was created by a father for his son to learn math in new and creative ways. POOP In A Bag holds two different editions of POOP, the base game and Party Pooper. The game is also available at Target starting  August 1, 2016, for an MSRP of $20. The game plays from two to 10 players, ages 6 and up.

I reviewed POOP a while back ago, and had a great time with my kids. We haven’t gone on a camping trip since where the game hasn’t come along.

• Comments Off on Breaking Games Get Two More Games on Target Shelves

Since we’re talking about Target exclusive games, let’s not forget about the exclusive King of Tokyo edition coming to Target on July 31st.

This edition replaces Gigazaur with Baby Gigazaur. As you can see, it’s extremely cute.

Other than a monster swap, this is the same King of Tokyo 2016 that we’ve previously posted about.

MSRP will be the same.

• Comments Off on Target Exclusive Edition of King of Tokyo

Pressman Games is releasing The Oregon Trail Card Game as a Target exclusive next week, but like Codenames Deep Undercover, Ticket to Ride First Journey, and Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City, the game has been showing up on shelves in some stores. The Oregon Trail, based on the video game, contains a laminated card where you can list the names of the members of your party and a card where you can transfer them to the tombstones when they invariably die on the journey. Fix a broken wagon wheel, obtain 200 pounds of rabbit meat, and try to ford a river by discarding sorely-needed supply cards or hope you roll well on a die or everyone in the party will DIE.

Codenames Deep Undercover is described as an “Adults-only” version of Codenames, geared towards the Cards Against Humanity crowd (with agent names like “Motorboat”, “Keg”, and “Commando”). Ticket to Ride First Journey appears to be a kids-friendly version of the popular rummy variant.

According to images posted on imgur, Codenames Deep Undercover retails for $19.99 and the new Machi Koro retails for $29.99.

Image from reddit user dwboso. Full gallery of The Oregon Trail images can be found on imgur.

• 2 Comments

Breaking Games is a fairly new company, only about a year and a half old. This week they hit a major milestone. The Game of 49, a bidding/bluffing 4-in-a-row game, just hit Target shelves. This is a major win for Breaking Games, and hopefully will open the door for more of their great games to be picked up by the retailer. I’ve heard some rumors that Poop may be hitting shelves soon.

The Game of 49 should be well stocked, and I was able to check and find that most Targets within 25 miles of me had at least 5 copies in stock. It’s a great game, and well worth the $25 and drive to Target.

• 1 Comment