The Blog is Moving …

The blog has now been relocated to the following address:

www.scalliwagtoys.ca/blog

We’ll leave the archives here for a while (although they are all at the new address as well).  But if you’re looking for new posts, that’s where you’ll find ‘em.

A Perilous Pile of Pigs

Blue Orange Games makes clever games for children — and has a shelf full of awards to prove it — so their newest game, PigzUp, looks sure to follow in the footsteps of Gobblet, Froggie Boogie, and other Blue Orange winners.

Like most games from this publisher, PigzUp makes lavish use of painted wooden pieces, in this case 8 smiling pig heads (this is not as weird as it sounds, truly) which have a nice heft to them.  The heads are stackable, with tops and bottoms of differing sizes, painted noses in one of four different colours, and cute pink felt ears.

Players simultaneously flip the top card on their stacks; as soon as two cards match, the players involved must race to stack up the requested number of piggies.  Cards may be any one of four colours, or may be multiple colours.  The top card’s colour indicates the required colour of the top stacked pig’s nose.  There is also a D6 included for a game variant in which the picture on the die dictates how the Pigz may be handled (this variation recommended for somewhat older children).  The first player to successfully stack his pig retires that card from his hand.  First player to get rid of all his cards wins.

This is an enjoyable game for children aged four years and up.  In stock now.

I’m Doing a Little Maintenance

I’ve just noticed that, while using Apple’s built-in browser Safari, some of the photos and other formatting in past posts are not behaving properly.  Some illustrations are not loading, for example.  I’ve no idea why this should be so, as they work just fine in Firefox, but have put it down to general computer software quirkiness.

So I’ll go back and fix the things that I find, and from now on will keep in mind that not everyone in the world is a fan of Firefox.  (Are all you people using iPhones browsing with Safari?  I have to admit that I don’t know.)

My apologies.

Do Good Toys Cost More in Canada?

Map of Canada

The answer to the question “Do good toys cost more in Canada?” is a definite “No.”  And a definite “Yes.”

As Canadians, some 75% of us live close — very close — to the world’s longest undefended border, shared with the United States.  Canadians are, in a sense, bi-cultural:  we watch American television as well as Canadian television; we listen to American radio stations; we read American magazines, websites, and newspapers; and often, when the Canadian dollar is drawing close to parity with the U.S. dollar, we travel to the United States.

And, when we travel or watch television or browse websites, we shop — and when we do, we may notice a disparity between Canadian and U.S. pricing on similar (or identical) goods.  What on earth is going on, we wonder?  Are we being ripped off by Canadian retailers who often charge higher prices?

In almost all cases, the answer is no.  Canadian retailers are very focused on creating fair and reasonable prices for our customers.  Price differences between American and Canadian retailers on identical goods reflect some fundamental differences in the circumstances between the two countries.

The first difference, of course, lies in the two currencies and how they relate to one another, as well as how they each relate to other world currencies.  When the Canadian dollar falls in relation to the U.S. dollar, goods that we import from the U.S. become more expensive for us to buy.  When the Canadian dollar approaches parity, as it has done over the past year or so, American prices look better to us, as the Canadian dollar buys more than it did previously.  World currencies act in more or less the same fashion. Believe it or not, a change in the value of the U.S. dollar in relation to the Thai baht may mean a change in Canadian retail prices for certain products manufactured in or close to Thailand.  This sort of world currency fluctuation — which has become more frequent and pronounced over the past couple of years — can put the squeeze on importers, and Canada is a nation that relies heavily on imports.

The second thing that has an upward impact on Canadian prices is shipping cost.  Like it or not, there is an additional cost associated with bringing goods over the border –  for the supplier, there’s extra paperwork to be filled out, and brokerage costs to be paid, and a greater distance for the cargo to travel (just think how much more it costs to send a parcel across the country than next door.)  Fuel prices are steadily inching up, so that it costs more to truck goods across the border and from coast to coast.  All those costs generally get passed on to the retailer, and thus to the Canadian consumer.

American manufacturers and wholesalers also have a fundamentally different cost structure than do their Canadian counterparts.  We pay higher taxes, by and large, than do the Americans, with which we fund our excellent, universal, and free health care system, not to mention our comparatively inexpensive colleges and universities.  Americans may pay less for their retail purchases because of lower corporate and personal taxes, but it’s more than made up for by the health insurance premiums and medical co-payments demanded by their system — among those whose employer offers health-care benefits, the average American family’s insurance premium is around $14,000, of which the employer pays about $10,000 and the worker about $4,000 annually.  (And that’s for families without any pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, cancer, or heart disease.  They may not even be able to get insurance.)

Finally, in some cases, American companies furnish their Canadian retail customers with a Canadian dollar price list in which the Canadian prices are grossly inflated  –  way above what could be explained by the exchange rate and the cost of shipping (which is billed separately anyway, usually).  Most suppliers in this situation seem genuinely surprised when we point out this huge discrepancy between what an item would cost if we paid them for it in U.S. dollars and what they have decided the Canadian dollar cost will be.  Over the past few years, many American suppliers have decided to do away with the Canadian dollar price list altogether, so that Canadian retailers may now purchase directly from them at a lower cost.  This lower wholesale cost can then be passed along to the consumer as a lower retail price.

As Canadian consumers, we may always pay slightly more than Americans do for some goods and services because of these various factors, but Canadian retailers work very hard to keep prices as low as possible.  In our store, the ideal situation would be one in which the Canadian cost of an item is the same as the American cost, once currency exchange and shipping costs are factored in.  And we’re working on getting there, penny by penny.

Another Argument in Favour of Wooden Toys

Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick

Check out this graphic of the cumulative total number of gallons spilled into the Gulf of Mexico since this whole thing started on 20 April 2010. You can play with the sliders, too, to estimate the total if our best guesses about the volume of the gusher are wrong …

I know that toys made from wood and other renewable resources aren’t perfect, but last time a tree fell over, it didn’t start leaking wood into the ecosystem, either.

Thanks to PBS for this sobering graphic.

Game Review — S’Quarrels

S'Quarrels

Under a nearby oak tree, embark upon the rigorous task of collecting and storing acorns before winter sets in.  Your opponents are trying to take them all before you do.  Whirlwinds, Ambushing, Quarreling, and Hoarding are all just part of the fun.  Get the coveted Golden Acorn, but watch out for the dreaded Rotten Acorn.  The more Acorns you get, the better chance you have of surviving Winter.  The player to store the most Acorns before Winter arrives WINS! Gather your friends and NUTS with S’Quarrels!

Basic strategy plus action elements triggered by certain cards (Quarrel, which is like a mini game of War; Hoard, in which one player acquires all cards in the discard pile; Whirlwind, in which all players’ hands are shuffled together and redistributed; and Winter, which ends the round when played) make this much more than a regular rummy-type card game.  Lots of fun.

Designed for 2 to 6 players, ages 7+.  Playing time is 20 minutes or more.  A great family game from Home Lantern Games.

Map Yourself!

This is our Frappr map. Well, actually it’s our second Frappr map: I managed to accidentally delete the first one, that had been up on the blog since October last year. Oops.

Feel free to add yourself (only if you want to, of course.) No pressure.

Christmas Shopping Hours

As of December 10, we started our Christmas Hours Marathon: we’re now open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4:00 p.m. (If we look a little wonky you’ll know why … too much coffee, too little sleep.)

We’ll be closing at 4:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, as well (that’s what we say, but in practice there always seems to be a last-minute customer) and will remain closed till December 27 at 9:00 a.m. Yes, closed both Christmas Day and Boxing Day …

We’d like to wish all our customers — our friends — a peaceful and happy holiday season. May you all be blessed by health and happiness.

A Large Helping of Crow, Please

Each year, we get shown a lot of new products by eager sales representatives, proud inventors, and enthusiastic importers. Each of these products is, of course, touted as being the next big thing, the best idea ever, the one that’s going to be the next “pet rock”.

Yeah, sure, we think, and roll our eyes in disbelief. An unproven product — no track record, no feedback — with a minimum order quantity of a dozen, and no other items in the company catalogue to flesh out the order? No, thanks. I’ve got a few “sure winners” from years past languishing in the back room already.

And that was my reaction to Ruk-shuk, a game from a small Canadian startup called Zabazoo. I got a telephone call from the company in the autumn of 2006, suggesting that I buy 12 of the games. I listened to the spiel and felt vaguely sorry for the guy, imagining him sitting in a whole warehouse full of games, all destined to remain unsold. His family and friends would be getting these as gifts for the next decade, I reckoned, just to get rid of them.

“Look, I’m sorry,” I said gently, when he had ground to a halt. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this story before. I’ve had it to here with new products, and with companies with one product only. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.” And I hung up, feeling that glow that comes with finally having asserted oneself.

And then the phone calls started, from customers who had somehow heard of this game. The first couple of calls I put down to fluke. I didn’t feel too bad about saying that no, we didn’t have Ruk-Shuk in stock, how about trying something else? The next few, however, engendered some anxiety, and I quietly ordered three copies of the game from my favourite games distributor, at a higher price than had been offered by the manufacturer itself. I figured that with only three copies, if I got stuck with two it wouldn’t be too bad.

As soon as they came into stock, the three copies sold out. Boom. Out of the packing case — they didn’t even make it to the shelf. I ordered three more; same thing.

So, I called Zabazoo and ordered a dozen. I must say, they were very gracious about it. They didn’t gloat or anything (they were probably just too busy filling orders.) And as soon as these came into stock, they sold out.

I ordered, and ordered, and ordered. By dozens, and then two dozens, at a time. By the end, I was keeping the games under the counter, as special order items only, in order to keep people from buying four or six at a time. This was a phenomenon. Ruk-Shuk became one of our best-sellers, within the space of two or three weeks of its introduction.

What did I learn from this? Well, even after twenty years in the toy business, I can be wrong. Sometimes one can be too cautious. Sometimes you have to take a chance on something, even though it may turn out to be a dud, because who knows? The thing you pass up may just be the best thing to come along in years ….

Webkinz — The Price of Popularity

Here’s the way the telephone calls usually go. The phone rings, and when I answer, the voice on the other end is hesitant, apologetic: “Hello. I was just wondering … I know you probably don’t have any … I’ve called all over …”

By now, I know.

“Are you looking for Webkinz, ma’am?”
“Yes, yes, I am! How did you know?”

Then there’s a little pause.

“Oh, I see. This isn’t the first phone call you’ve had about Webkinz, is it?”

No, it’s not. Not the first, not the tenth, not the hundredth. And I don’t have good news for her.

“I’m afraid that we are all out of Webkinz. Not a single one left in the store, nothing.”

“I see.” The resignation in her voice is palpable. She needs one for her little girl’s birthday, or as a gift for her nephew, or even to add to her own collection. But there are none to be had.

“And you’re not expecting a shipment in the near future?” she asks wistfully. When I tell her that the next expected ship date is some four to six weeks away, she sighs gustily into the telephone, thanks me, and hangs up.

Webkinz, in case you have been marooned on a desert island recently, or have no contact with young children, are cute little stuffed animals from a toy company called Ganz. Now, the fact that they are cute is neither here nor there; most stuffed animals are cute. Webkinz are also reasonably-priced, at CDN$12.00 for the “babies” and CDN$14.99 for the “parents” (just raised from $10 and $13 respectively), but there are plenty of inexpensive plush animals on the market that don’t get a zillionth the press.

What Webkinz do have is a virtual-world playspace, inhabited by cartoonish avatars of the “pets” themselves, and amazing word-of-mouth advertising. The child (or adult — these are not purchased solely for children, by any means) uses a unique PIN number to gain his or her pet entry into the website, where the pet can live, play, and do chores with his or her young owner. Doing these things, in turn, earns the owner KinzCash, which can be used to purchase such items as toys, furniture, and clothes for the pet.

The whole thing is sort of reminiscent of the Tamagochi craze — but way cuter. Children can interact with a representation of their favourite stuffie in a completely new way — including a constructed text-chat function that allows them to formulate sentences from options in drop-down menus, and chat with their friends. This “canned chat” restricts text options, thus making children using the site safe from predators.

The problem lies in the popularity of the things, alas. The maker of Webkinz toys, Montreal-based Ganz, cannot supply enough to meet the demand — which increases the risk that, by the time their inventory levels recover, the fickle interest of the toy-buying public will have moved on to something else.

Although I sincerely hope not, since I’ve got a huge restocking order scheduled to arrive in June.