It’s Hit And Miss For Toy Inventors

Miami Herald:

Santa’s elves have some important helpers in South Florida, only they start their work years before the holiday season.

These are people like Richard Levy. Even at age 60, Levy believes in the Peter Pan syndrome because as a toy inventor he has to stay young at heart. Levy is a leader among the small group of independent inventors in South Florida, who are constantly trying to create new toys and games that they can sell to the major toy manufacturers.

Levy’s successes have been very real. His biggest hit: Furby. Levy was part of the three-person team responsible for creating Furby, which turned into one of the all-time hottest toys. At last count, Levy estimates they’ve sold around 50 million worldwide since the 1998 launch of the furry robot.

Creating that hot toy is as much about luck as anything else. ”Anybody who tells you they know how to make a hit is blowing smoke,” said Levy, who has probably invented well over 1,000 toys and game concepts over the past 30 years and licensed about 175 to toy companies. “We’re in the hands of the toy gods. There’s something magical that happens with the right item. It just spontaneously combusts and you’re off to the races.”

The problem: Toy manufacturers are increasingly reticent to introduce new toys not associated with a major license like Elmo, Dora the Explorer, Hannah Montana or Spiderman.

Read more.

Photo by Richard Levy.

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