There was one clear highlight for me on the second day of the 2010 American International Toy Fair: meeting Reuben Klamer, the inventor of The Game of Life. Mr. Klamer, on hand to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his creation, was in the Hasbro showroom and I was able to spend a few minutes speaking with him.
The Game of Life was first unveiled at Toy Fair in 1960, and Mr. Klamer said the room was "packed with buyers." Still, he never imagined that 50 years later his game -- the first he designed, and bought by the first company he showed it to (Milton Bradley, now owned by Hasbro) -- would have sold more than 50 million copies. "I wasn't sure," he said. "But I had high hopes."
I'll post more from my conversation with Mr. Klamer soon.
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