Profiles of Ingenuity

This German company pivoted from making casket accessories to producing plastic playthings and became one of the country’s most successful toy companies along the way.

ThinkFun rose from obscurity to become a respected game publisher thanks to the tenacity of the founders and its clever brain-challenging games.

Steiff grew from a one-person seamstress business to become a pioneer of plush toys and maker of the highly collectable Teddy Bear.

Leslie Scott turned childhood play with wooden building blocks into Jenga, a game that continues to attract board game enthusiasts of all ages almost four decades after its initial release.

The couple who created Slinky, one of North America’s most popular toys, saw their personal lives spiral in unexpected directions.

From dime-store toys to action figures and playsets, Mego Corporation led the industry in manufacturing efficiencies and display packaging innovations.

This family business weathered economic and cultural shifts to become one of the most recognizable European and international toy brands.

Founded by three brothers in Toronto in the 1920s, Reliable Toy Company grew from tiny toy producer to become the British Empire’s largest toymaker.

Ernő Rubik evolved his idea for a simple teaching tool into an international bestselling exercise in frustration and triumph.

Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. evolved from distribution to manufacturing and battled a video game giant along the way.

At Ganz, the dream of one family evolved to change an entire industry.

Founded by two entrepreneurial brothers, O-Pee-Chee gained fame for its signature trading cards packaged with a stick of bubble gum.

A modest home-based operation that evolved to serve American toy manufacturers and Canadian consumers, Irwin Toy Limited pioneered toy licencing and distribution agreements.

A group of friends joined forces to create a toy company and ended up entertaining generations of children and families.

Watching children play baseball inspired Mullany to create a new form of play that transformed his personal prospects in just a few years.

With a keen eye and mind for business, Donald Franklin Duncan Sr. brought yo-yos to the masses and inspired a new pop-culture craze.

Originally a picture-frame manufacturing business in 1908, Ohio Art Company took risks, diversified, and flourished thanks in part to the success of the now-iconic Etch A Sketch.

More than 100 years after it was founded, Radio Flyer of Chicago, Illinois continues to produce one of the most iconic symbols of childhood today, the little red wagon.