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

Hi Everyone,

Confession time: who's a nerd? *Ryan puts up his hand*

So I LOVE Star Wars Lego, because as far as I was concerned, putting together Lego and Star Wars was like combining pumpkin and pie. Well, I'm not sure that metaphor works exactly but pumpkin pie is amazing and so is Star Wars Lego. Working as a Toy Buyer at Mastermind Toys has been excellent, ESPECIALLY because I am the Lego buyer, and get sneak-peeks at all of the new Lego sets well before they come out! Now, I would love to share the exciting details with everyone (for example, I happen to know the entire lineup for 2010 Star Wars Lego already!), but with great power comes great responsibility... and for doing so I would probably be abruptly silenced by a Lego Darth Vader who would find my "lack of faith disturbing."

So what is a Lego Star Wars fan to do? I have the answer: there is a really cool site that I found as I was nerdily trolling the 'net for cool Lego minifigures (the term "grown man" applies to me in the loosest sense). It's called "From Bricks to Bothans" (www.fbtb.net) and it is devoted entirely to Star Wars Lego. These guys get early pics of all the new sets, run great contests, and generally have a lot of cool info overall on the topic. I highly recommend this site for anyone who knows what it is to buy multiples of a single set to build your Clone Trooper army!

So be sure to check them out, and check out all of the latest Fall 2009 Star Wars Lego that are available now at MastermindToys.com! My personal favourites:

The Battle of Endor Set 8038: lots of Lego Ewoks. Hilarious.

Echo Base 7749: Snow Troopers!

Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser 8039: This would be my daily-driver if I lived in a galaxy far, far away.

-- Toy Buyin' Ryan

It's Melissa and Doug month at Mastermind Toys (September 2009)! We have a lot of great things going on for this (check out our monthly special) so you'll definitely want to stay tuned to this blog, or sign up for our eUpdates to not miss out on the coupons.

OK: so "Melissa & Doug"... great toys, right? They make high-quality wooden toys, and all sorts of other toys as well, like costumes, puzzles, and more. In fact, when we visit the New York Toy Fair in the Spring each year, the Melissa and Doug Toys booth is a BEHEMOTH. Filled with toys, and packed with fun people. It's a highlight each and every year. But why are they called "Melissa & Doug"? And have they always been a massive toy company like they are today?

Well, here's the thing: there really is a Melissa and a Doug. AND they started a little toy company years and years ago (originally called "Lights, Camera, Interaction!") with some folding tables at the toy fair and a bunch of cool puzzles. AND... they're married! With a bunch of kids (when you meet them, they totally strike you as the types of people who must always have kids hanging off of them and just be so comfortable with it. Definitely the right kind of people to be making toys!). AND they're really funny too... this is the best part. Sometimes people can get a little bit... serious... about the toy business (this is a business after all, and many people depend on it to make their living and provide for their families). Melissa and Doug are two people who give the impression that they haven't forgotten what the business is all about... toys! Fun toys! Silly toys! Having fun! Refreshing, right?

Here's a good example: check out the "about us" portion of the Melissa and Doug website (see? I told you there really is a Melissa and a Doug).

And another: recently, there's been a lot of gloomy-type talk about the recession... Melissa and Doug, on the back of their catalogue (which they issue to retailers like us so that we can choose the toys that we want in our stores) had a little fun with the whole concept, and put down some ideas of how they were planning to keep costs down during the tough times:


So there you have it: a real Melissa and Doug, and very cool toy people at that!

-- Toy Buyin' Ryan (a much better name for me, don't you think?)

“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.”

I had lots of fun on the radio show this morning with Tim (here is a link to his homepage: http://www.610cktb.com/shows/510269)! We chatted for a few minutes about hot summer toys, and I got to toy # 4 on my list of 8,312 hot summer toys. Oh well…

For any of you who were listening this morning and heard me say that I tried to stick the zart to my head (zarts are a great active toy for the summer… check out the Zarts Fun Pack here), I want you to know that I wasn’t kidding. I get a little antsy before radio or TV appearances and so I was sitting at my desk waiting and tried to stick the zart to my head. It will stick to almost any flat surface, but not my head. Not flat enough. I was a little bummed.

Stay tuned to this blog… like I mentioned previously we have another big PR appearance this week that we’ll be announcing soon!

--Ryan the Toy Buyer

610 CKTB heard throughout Toronto and the Niagara Region here in Southern Ontario! I’ll be speaking with host Tim Denis at around 7:50AM to describe our hot toys of the summer! Radio interviews are great and also kind of funny; we’re used to be on TV and showing the toys in action. On the radio we have to paint the picture in the listener’s mind’s eye, and we tend towards hilarious descriptions. Picture this: the toy buyer is sitting at his desk early on Monday morning surrounded by great summer toys, speaking animatedly and frantically into his phone about what makes the toys the coolest on the PLANET, resorting to silly metaphors and descriptions. Awesome. We took a picture below to show you what we mean…



If you’re outside of the listening area for this show you can also hear it online: http://www.610cktb.com/

And stay tuned to our blog next week… we have some other BIG PR announcements for you!!

This morning I took a trunk-load of toys over to Oakville, a neighbourhood in Toronto where we have one of our Mastermind stores, and I visited a moms group that meets there every week. We do quite a lot of this at Mastermind; various groups that meet in and around the city (and more often than not these are moms groups) have us come out to show them some cool toys and just to give a rundown on what is new and exciting in the world of toys! Frequently the groups are also looking for great toy tips: what makes a great toy, how some toys work, what to look for when you’re toy shopping, and this sort of thing.

Today I brought along a lot of our hot toys for the summer, kind of like what we did for Breakfast Television earlier this week. What’s really neat about these groups though is that we have lots of time to show the toys, explain why we think they’re so great and really just chat about this fun topic! The group this morning was really great and enthusiastic, and we had a lot of fun firing some flying toys around… and especially playing with our toy lacrosse sticks, believe it or not! The group also really loved our neat kite-like toy glider and the trapp ball game. Trapp ball is actually especially cool…

If anyone out there in and around Toronto is interested in having some crazy toy people come out with a mountain of cool toys to speak to their group, let us know at feedback@mastermindtoys.com!

A quick update on our warehouse sale for 2009:

• remember, it starts on Wednesday May 20th and is located at 415 Milner in Scarborough. Click here for the deets!


• This year the space is HUGE… much wider aisles… much more space for the product… LOTS of room to move!


• And the selection of product is shaping up to be AWESOME!

Our summer TV season has kicked off! One of the things we do here at Mastermind is come up with a list of our favourite summer toys each year, which we then release to the press. We generally get a lot of interest from different media outlets because we always bring a TON of fun toys wherever we go. We’ve just prepared our hot toy press release for 2009 (see it here) and we’ve already got some great TV appearances lined up!

One of the big ones is Breakfast Television (BT), a morning show here in our home city of Toronto. The show has a really wide audience and it’s a great format for us to show our toys! Our head buyer, Jon Levy (he’s also one of the owners of Mastermind Toys) goes on the show and plays with a bunch of different toys with the hosts. Very fun.

Even more fun is coming up with what we’re going to bring on the show! We go through our hot toy list, and all of the different summer-themed toys that we carry, to come up with a selection of toys that would be fun to play with on TV. Obviously, we try to pick toys that are a little “flashy” too; hey, they’ve got to look good on the big screen. And for us “flashy” means “flying;” oh yes, tune in to BT this Monday to see some very fun flying toys!

We have our selection all ready to go, and we’ll pile it all into a van and leave for the studio at about 5:30 this coming Monday morning (May 11 2009). BT is live on the air from 6AM-9AM… watch for Mastermind!

Here’s some snaps of us getting our toys ready. What a fun job.

---- Ryan the Toy Buyer

One of the main things that we pride ourselves on is finding great toys that you won’t necessarily find at other toy stores. We travel to toy shows around the world (in future posts we’ll tell you lots about this!), and on one of our trips to the Nuremberg fair in Germany (the world’s largest toy fair. Picture a hockey arena filled with toys. Now triple the size of the arena. Now picture 12 of those arenas connected in a sprawling complex filled with toys. Yep.) we found one of our all-time favourites: Aquaplay.

Aquaplay is like a wooden railway system… except instead of trains it is boats in canals. You connect the canal pieces into different layouts and then fill them with water, and the play comes when you add boats, pumps, cars, trucks, people and fun! You begin your system with a start set, and you can add pieces to the layout from there. We even designed a waterproof set of table legs (using recycled material… very cool we’ll tell you about that sometime!) that you can use with the most popular start set (the deluxe 540) to prop the set up to perfect play-height.

We just love this toy; toys like this make you appreciate the people who designed them. Aquaplay takes the fascination with trains and boats, mixes in the “wooden railway” play pattern (designing layouts and pushing along the trains), adds water, and takes the whole thing outdoors for the summer! By the way, have we mentioned that Aquaplay is 15% off this May at Mastermind?

What a great toy. This year I want to develop an Aquaplay canal system that circles our office. Instead of emails, we’ll put messages in bottles and let them float from office to office. Sure, totally impractical, but tell me that wouldn’t be awesome.

---- Ryan the Toy Buyer

We are p-u-m-p-e-d PUMPED for our Webkinz Extravaganza Weekend! We have had lots of calls and lots of people have responded to our eUpdates as well. Mastermind has always been the place to be to get Webkinz, and we’re the place to be for the Webkinz Extravaganza as well!

So… in case you missed it… here’s the scoop: you come to our Mastermind stores on Saturday or Sunday, and you spend $15 on ANYTHING in the store, and you then have the option to purchase a special Webkinz Extravaganza Pet for only $1 more! Webkinz are normally $15, so this is a pretty fantastic deal. We’re also giving away random prizes throughout the day, so you might even get a Webkinz prize free, just for showing up and taking part in the fun! There is also face-painting for the little ones

Now, here is an insider’s tip for you Webkinz scoopsters out there: it’s best to come first thing in the morning on either day for the best selection. We have LOTS of interest and we could only get so many giveaways, so there is a good chance that we’ll run out during the day. There will likely be a small shipment going to each store overnight for Sunday morning as well, so if you miss out Saturday, first thing Sunday morning is your best bet!

Thanks everyone and have fun at our Webkinz Extravaganza!!

---- Ryan the Toy Buyer

OK. It’s about to rain here: brutal. The other day on our Twitter account we tweeted about one of our favourite products, the Jumpsmart Electronic Trampoline, and how it would be a great toy for indoor active fun. As cool as Twitter is… it’s no place to relate a lot of info. So here’s what we meant :)

The Jumpsmart Trampoline is like a mini indoor trampoline with a handle for little kids (ages 3+ and probably 4-5 years old is the sweet spot) to hang onto and bounce like crazy. Now that in itself would be enough to make a great toy but we’re always looking for those extra-special toys here and the Jumpsmart is no exception! Underneath the trampoline there is a sensor; every time you bounce, it triggers the sensor. The whole thing is hooked up to a mini-speaker in the handle, and the result is silly sounds while you bounce (bonk, boing, smash!). Awesome! Even better is the fact that it goes beyond the silly sounds… it counts while you bounce, plays games as you bounce, and asks you simple questions that you need top answer with a certain number of bounces on the trampoline.

Kids can’t get enough of this toy either… check out the video that we made with some little friends of Mastermind involved!

Also: very important! It has a volume control :) And we don’t recommend adults bouncing on this trampoline because it does have a weight limit… but we maaaaaaaay have tried. C’mon it’s raining out and we’re toy people. Cut us some slack.

---- Ryan the Toy Buyer

We've posted some new videos on YouTube for some really cool toys and games.

Take a look:

Ripstik Air:



Poppin' Puzzlers




Blokus



Plasto Sand and Water Toys

We’re pretty excited because this weekend is our second ever “Webkinz Extravaganza Weekend” in our stores. Last year the event was a BIG success… lots of happy people with lots of great Webkinz freebies (as well as painted faces for the little ones!) at the end of the weekend.

What you might not realize is that a lot of fretting goes into this event- and into ALL of our events and promotions- before the fact. As much as we would like to wake up and say “You know what would be fun this weekend? A huge promotion! Minions! To work!” we can’t… mainly because we don’t have any minions (but we’re working on a team of toy robots to help us; I am hoping that the Wowwee people can make it happen).

Our Webkinz Extravaganza Weekend, for example, has a lot of planning behind it. We have to order the right number of freebies and goodies (too many and we have mountains left over; too few and we run out too soon!), decide on how everything will run in the stores, work with our different store teams to make sure that they schedule enough staff to have the event run smoothly (and work around any early summer vacations/midterm exams/family gatherings that staff may have!), get all the products to the stores in time, make our signs, eUpdates, digital animations (some of our stores have cool TV screen signs!) and everything else that we do to let customers know about the event… and all of this while running the day-to-day of a bustling toy chain.

Phew. This reminds me; I need to see how the minion project is coming along…

If you’re in Toronto this weekend, we hope you’ll stop by for our Webkinz Extravaganza Weekend on Friday and Saturday! For a full rundown of the promotion, click here.

... and people everywhere are coming out of their igloos to enjoy the sun!

This time of year is great for what we call “driveway play;” during the spring the grass can often be really mushy so the first good days of Spring are often spent at play on the driveway and other pavement.

So… here’s a great idea for driveway play to take advantage of the sun: skipping! The double dutch ropes from Maui are awesome… they are the perfect length for solo skipping, but they have a hook concealed in the handle that allows you to connect them. Take 2 of the solo-sized ropes, connect them together, and you have a full-sized skipping rope for 3 or more people!

Maui Double Dutch Skipping Rope

The Sky-O mega. We made a video for a recent eUpdate (the Sky-O was put on sale super-cheap for eUpdate customers only… make sure you sign up to get the too-good-to-be-true specials here so you don’t miss out on our next offer!) and it was awesome. There’s a park across the street from our office that we use to “test” (play with) our outdoor toys, and we whipped the Sky-O around for a good while.

Why it’s awesome: it floats really well and at the end of its flight, it comes down softly to the ground. You can really fire it out there, and then chase after it, catch up, and let it float down into your hands. If you’re good like us, you can catch it around your neck on your head. But we’re professionals, you see.

Sky-O Mega Flyer

Todays Parent loved some of our toys! Have a look here; they featured the Fropper Ride-on Toy, the Aquaplay Water Canal Start Set, and one of our all-time favourites the Jumpsmart Electronic Trampoline.

Awesome toys for the Spring/Summer… if you want to see them in action check out our videos:


JumpSmart Trampoline



AquaPlay




Fropper

We picked up a fabulous line of kites when we were at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in Germany this past winter, by a company called Gunther. Gunther makes kites: it’s what they do best. Their kites fly well, stand up to a few… “rough landings”… and have fun designs.

Now, once you can master the simple diamond shape, you need to step up to stunt kites. AWESOME. Stunt kites are 2-handled kites where each handle connects to a string line that runs to either side of the kite. Because you have these two lines on either side, you can actually STEER the kite in midair, and even do tricks. With a regular kite, it takes off into the wind and flies around on its own whims; with a stunt kite, YOU control the action.

Let me tell you, there’s nothing like launching a stunt kite into a moderate wind and letting ‘er rip. You can loop the loop, twist and untwist the lines, turn and swerve through the air… and once you’re really good you can even scream the kite along at only a few feet above ground level, skimming the grass with terrific speed (remember: we are professionals… we play with toys for a living. Make sure you’re comfortable before you try this!).

There’s no better way to spend a windy Tuesday afternoon! Note to bosses: Sunday. Sunday afternoon. We were testing toys. We promise.

Check out our 3 different Gunther stunt kites here. Have fun!