While we like to show the fun that we have here in the office in our videos, the truth is that we do work pretty hard at finding the very best toys and books for our Mastermind Toys stores and for MastermindToys.com. It takes diligence and determination to maintain the high standards that we've set for ourselves, and so we have to work extremely hard at what we do.

Of course, that's totally boring to talk about. So let me tell you about this cool toy/game that we invented by playing it here at the office! On our one of our many toy-buying trips across the world, we found a magnetic dartboard that offered classic darts play in a much safer (both to kids and to the basement wall!) package. What's more, we were inspired by a "baseball" version of the darts that we'd seen, and we thought that it would be AWESOME to have a hockey version of the board... and what's more, we could make it 2-sided! Classic darts on one side, and hockey darts on the other side! So we had the hockey board designed (this design was even created by one of our store managers, James at the Mt. Pleasant store!), and we set about having them produced.

Now, problem: what are the rules to hockey darts? How do you play? We knew that it was a fun concept... but we still had to come up with the actual specific game! So of course, here in the office, we set about to playing with our game to discover the best possible approach (like I said: hard work, determination, blah blah blah and FUN!).

We came up with a few different variations, but the BEST is "shootout"... one player is the shooter, and one the goalie. The shooter goes first, and tries to hit the "net" targets with their 3 darts for the maximum score; then the goalie follows and tries to hit the goalie for the maximum score with their darts. If the shooter has more points, they score! If the goalie has more points... big save! And then the roles are reversed to complete the round. You go for 5 rounds just like a regular shootout, and the person with the most goals wins!

Toy Buyin' Ryan and Sal-a-Saurus Rex (Sal is our "creative monster" here in the office) have an ongoing competition with Sal-a-Saurus in the lead by one highly disputed game... but the competition is ongoing!

We hope you enjoy this great game as much as we do!

-- Toy Buyin' Ryan