www.ToyQueen.com interviews Rory Story Cubes game inventor at Toy Fair 2011

Video Transcription:

Keri: Hi, this is Keri Wilmot from ToyQueen.com. We’re here at the
Gamewright booth for Toy Fair 2011, and last year we were here and we took
some video of Rory’s Story Cubes and its original debut. But now, this year
we’re bringing you something new because we have the inventor of Rory’s
Story Cubes with us. So, hi, Rory.

Rory: Hi.

Keri: Nice to meet you.

Rory: You too.

Keri: So, why don’t you tell us a little bit about your story behind your
story and about Rory’s Story Cubes.

Rory: Okay. Well, Rory’s Story Cubes is a very simple story telling game.
It’s got 9 cubes with 54 images. Every time you roll it, you get
one of over 10 million possible combinations, and the goal is as
simple and as hard as you have to tell a story that starts with
“Once upon a time,” and you somehow link together all nine face-
up images on the cubes. So there’s no wrong answer. It’s played
by children, grandparents. They spend quality time together.
They bring it when they’re traveling.

Keri: Right.

Rory: The reason why we created the game is that, for us, it’s very
important to promote creativity and creative thinking, and
that’s all about being able to make connections. So the story
cubes, the way it works is that we can’t help but, when we look
at one of these images, find some meaning in it. So when you
say, “There’s a story in there,” our brain wants to solve it and
figure out what that story is. So it’s a very simple game. It’s
nonthreatening, and again you can play it in 60 seconds on your
own, or we hear of families spending 2 hours together. They put
away their electronic devices, and they share stories together.
They learn about each other, because the story you tell will be
different from the story that I tell.

Keri: Absolutely

Rory: So the children will talk about what they’re interested in or what’s
going on in their life, and the grandparents will tell, you
know, they might reminisce or tell topics that are of interest
to them.

Keri: I’ve had a lot of great success using the game over the last year,
because I work with children on their handwriting. So I’ve been
able to use your concept, and we’ve been recording the stories.
It’s been so exciting for me to see the kids kind of create the
story, and they write it down, and then they actually have
something to keep with them to remember.

Rory: Yes.

Keri: And we’ve drawn pictures to go along with it. It’s really been a
wonderful tool for children’s development.

Rory: You might like to hear then how we got to that point, because
originally Rory’s Story Cubes was developed as a creative
thinking and a creative problem solving tool for the likes of
organizational trainers, coaches, and that’s our background is ,
in creative thinking and problem solving.

Keri: Yeah.

Rory: One day my colleague’s daughter came home and said, “I use these in
school. I have to practice my handwriting, but it’s so boring
having to write that out.” So she used the story cubes to come
up with a story. She brought it in and showed it to her teacher.
Her teacher said, “Oh my god, this is brilliant!” She came back
and told us, and we thought, “There’s something going on here
that we haven’t really been paying attention to.”

Keri: Right.

Rory: And the more we showed it to teachers and the more feedback we were
getting from them, we realized that this was a tool that they
were crying out for, because on one side it’s like a [inaudible
2:53] in a pocket. She can always create a lesson with it.
Others were saying it frees them up to use their creativity, as
well, in the classroom. And again, it helps the children,
because I don’t know if you’ve ever had a blank page syndrome.

Keri: Absolutely.

Rory: Yeah. So, with this, these act as like stepping stones to create
stones.

Keri: Exactly, and I think that’s what a lot of children need. You have
that moment of, “Oh my gosh, I don’t know what I’m going to
say.” But the pictures help them to kind of organize their
thoughts.

Rory: Yes. Our view and our experience is that we are inherently creative.
As human beings we solve problems all the time, and we need
creativity to do that. And sometimes we forget, or you might say
we get a bit flabby. We don’t practice it. And so, just like you
wouldn’t get up and run a race if you hadn’t been exercising,
it’s the same with this. We are creative, but we might have not
been exercising our mind in that area. So the way story cubes
work is that they allow you to exercise your mind, and, we say,
within two or three goes, that spark will have kicked in again
and you have that confidence. If you tell a story, so you roll
the cubes and you make up a story starting with, “Once upon a
time,” and that links them together, we do it with children and
adults where they tell one story, then roll them again and tell
another story. We’d say, “Do you reckon if I rolled it again,
you’d come up with a story?” And they say yes, and you go, “Oh,
that’s interesting, because there’s over 10 million combinations
in here. So does that mean you’ve got 10 million stories inside
you?” You just see this kind of penny drop. They go, “Oh, right,
yeah.” So for us it’s about realizing that it’s not about
getting the one thing right or perfect, but it’s about being
willing to take a risk, and try and experiment and pick out the
best bits. That’s what great writers do.

Keri: Right. Well thank you so much for being with us here today, and it
was great to meet you. This is Keri Wilmot from ToyQueen.com
showing you practical ways to play every day.

Hasbro ToyFair 2010 Event

Today we had the pleasure of being invited to the Times Center in New York City to preview Hasbro’s newest products for 2010. Though I always knew that Hasbro represented a multitude of brands, seeing them all under one roof and in one room was exciting to think about all the fun to be had in the upcoming year.  I never expected to feel so nostalgic since many of the toys I grew up enjoying are still on the market for our children to play with, in a new and improved, up-to-date version for today’s market.

The day began by presentations from Brian Goldner, Hasbro CEO; Jane Pitson Parsons, Hasbro’s Global Consumer Insights Leader; and Jerry Perez; Hasbro Senior Vice President Global Brand Leader Preschool Marketing. They all spoke about Hasbro’s plan to Reinvent, Reimagine and Reignite the brand. Not to mention their commitment to the social media space and to parents and caregivers worldwide, to maintain an open dialog, so that Hasbro can be the best they can be to provide an immersive play experience, as well as to foster innovation, ideation and creativity.

I was on such a high after taking a walk down memory lane remembering all my childhood experiences with Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, the Easy Bake Oven, Mr. Potato Head, Play-Doh, and Candyland. After all that excitement, don’t forget the brands that exist in Hasbro’s effort to encourage family social interactions with Family Game Night such as Monopoly, Life, Trivial Pursuit, Clue, Battleship, Boggle, Guess Who, Connect 4, Sorry, Jenga, Yahtzee and Scrabble. Who knew GI Joe and Transformers were part of the Hasbro family either, as my brother and I also were able to play with these together.

However, working with young children on enhancing their development, there isn’t a day that goes by where that I don’t use Play-Doh or engage children with one of Hasbro’s awesome preschool games. Over the next few posts I’ll plan to highlight some of my 2010 favorites with Hasbro brands.