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Tim Walsh: Toy Inventor Spreads Joy in AnonymityTim Walsh might have put fun into the hands of more than 4 million people, but hardly any one of them would recognize the toy inventor if they passed him on the street.
Instead, he is among the unknown pioneers of play, one of those unsung heroes of Christmas mornings and rainy days who endured a litany of rejections before turning their brainstorms into big bucks for toy companies.
Then they fade into anonymity.
It's a story that Walsh has lived himself perhaps destined when he was born on Christmas Day 1964 and chronicled in his book, "The Playmakers," which tells the behind-the-scenes toy stories of some of the world's most beloved playthings, from Flexible Flyers to Beanie Babies.
In the 1990s, Walsh collaborated with two college friends to invent the game TriBond, which sold 3 million copies in the 1990s, and followed it up with his own invention, Blurt!, which sold more than 1 million copies.
For Walsh, it has been a happier ending than some of the inventors who have gone before him, leading him to become a full-time game designer and author who is eager to share his fascination with all things fun.
"It's not just about the things they had. It's the people they played with," Walsh said, explaining the emotional connection he finds that adults have with toys. "If they had a Radio Flyer wagon, it was
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25/12/2004 | Viewed 6,853 time(s)
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