Toy of the Year Awards 2017For its next Toy of the Year Awards, granted annually at New York Toy Fair, the Toy Industry Association is eliminating gender categories. No more Girl Toy of the Year or Boy Toy of the Year. For 2017, the categories will be:

  • Action Figure of the Year (new)
  • Active/Outdoor Toy of the Year (formerly Outdoor)
  • Activity Toy of the Year
  • Collectible of the Year (new)
  • Construction Toy of the Year (new)
  • Doll of the Year (new)
  • Game of the Year
  • Infant/Preschool Toy of the Year (formerly two separate categories)
  • Innovative Toy of the Year
  • License of the Year (formerly Property)
  • Rookie [Company] of the Year (new)
  • Specialty Toy of the Year
  • Tech Toy of the Year (formerly e-Connected)
  • Vehicle of the Year (new)
  • People’s Choice Toy of the Year
  • Toy of the Year

In addition to the new categories, a new streamlined selection process in being implemented. Also worth noting, public voting this year will result in a separate “People’s Choice” award for Toy of the Year.

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Toy-Fair-2014-logo-150wideAt the Toy of the Year Awards opening Toy Fair, Spin Master’s Boom Boom Balloon won Game of the Year. A company representative also told me that HedBanz topped sales charts this past holiday season.

Boom Boom Balloon Game of the Year 2014But in terms of new products, Spin Master was showcasing two. One was Shark Mania ($20, available fall), a real-time game about pirates running from an attacking shark. The core of the game is roll-and-move—players roll a die to move their pirate figures down the dock. However meanwhile, a moving shark piece destroys the dock, knocking the pirates in to the water, as it follows them from one end to the other.

The second was Moustache Smash ($16, available fall), again, at the core a typical grabbing game, but with the addition of a cute mustache gimmick. Each player is given a wand, at the end of which is a mustache with a unique combination of shape and color. Also at the end of the wand is a suction cup. Cards picturing mustaches are flipped over while the players hold their mustache wands up to their faces. The goal is to be the first to smash and grab a card with the suction cup when the mustache on the card matches in either color or shape.

Spin Master also plans to release in 2014 The Best of TV & Movies ($25, available fall), which is based on the gameplay of Logo and features 400 question cards of TV and movie trivia, and Win the Gold ($20, available fall), which pits parents against kids in four challenge categories: sights, smarts, action, and luck.

Spin Master’s licenses will yield in 2014 a Paw Patrol Adventure Game ($10), Paw Patrol Lookalikes (a matching game for $6), Disney Fibber ($18, available spring), and Disney Beat the Parents ($18, available spring).

Disney FibberDisney Beat the Parents

 

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