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

Howdy friends of Mastermind,

So we have a video channel on YouTube and we have a lot of fun here at the office making all kinds of toy videos. We use a lot of these videos on our website store to help explain the great products that we carry, and since we started the program we've also been putting the videos on our own Mastermind Toys YouTube channel as well. The Youtube channel is awesome... it's like a video search engine and all sorts of different people find our videos and comment on them. Most of the comments are really nice, as many of our viewers are very generous with their praise of our videos (we definitely aren't professionals, but like I said, we have a lot of fun.)

Some of the comments we get, however, are pretty funny when you think about them.
Our Thomas the Train video has been one of our most popular videos of all time, since there's a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine fans out there. And the video has gotten quite a few comments too, like:

"I would love to go to that store:)"... a very nice comment. Or...

"I WANT ALL OF THAT STUFF"... also a nice comment... if not a bit more forceful. Does all-caps mean you're yelling? Or...

"isn't he a bit old for playing with Thomas LOL"... referring to our video host Steve, who is DEFINITELY not too old to play with Thomas. Fact: Thomas the Train is great for ages 2 - 102 (forget it 103 year olds, you are out of luck.)

Now, these people were pretty nice. The Internet is also home to people with all sorts of opinions, however, some of which are a bit weirder. Take these Thomas the Tank comments:

"OMG Neville!"...was Neville the train in the video? Did he startle you?

Or this comment, definitely up for the 'weirdest on our YouTube Channel' award...

"lol this guy has fails" ... Toy Buyin' Ryan likes to think he is on top of the lingo, but 'having fails' is still new to him. Well, you can't please everyone all the time.

Anyways be sure to check out this video it's still one of our favourites, and you'll see all of these comments and more (I promise I didn't make them up, I don't have fails like that.) And check out our YouTube Channel too to see all of our videos!

-- Toy Buyin' Ryan

Ryan the Toy Buyer and DanTheToyMan went to the 12:30 puppet show . . .

“Hey honey, remember that time that you said you wanted an 8 ft plush-toy replica of the most fearsome predator the world has ever know for the front hallway? What do you mean you don’t remember?!? I distinctly remember you saying that exact thing. Mmmm-hmmm. ‘Most fearsome predator the world has ever know,’ that’s what you said.”