ThinkFun, Preschool Line

 

Services

• Project Management

• Product Development: Brainstorming, Playtesting

• Industrial Design: Product Concept Sketches, Mockups & Prototypes, Package Construction

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The Challenge

A long-time client came to us requesting help project managing and developing a trio of preschool products designed to introduce younger children (age 3+) to logic-driven puzzles and games, complementing their existing collection of brainy products.

 

• Using the client’s internal project management system and working under the guidance of the senior project manager, our team led project management efforts on all three products

 

• We assisted with brainstorming to finalize three product concepts using ideas from the client’s inventor archives 

 

• Our team facilitated multiple rounds of playtesting with families from our database and examined difficulty levels to ensure progression was present in each play pattern

 

​The client was looking for games to cover three different price points, box sizes, and complexity levels while creating an ecosystem of playful characters shared across all three games to build recognition.

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The Three New Products

 

1. Play Date: Tiger’s Seek & Find Game

 

Play Date is a matching game for kids, originally launched decades ago as Pet Hunt, from the inventor of Guess Who and Zingo. 

 

Our team assisted in a range of areas by:

• Leading brainstorming efforts to transform the Pet Hunt theme to Play Date

• Providing sketches for packing and overseeing costing and the Bill of Materials

• Adjusting the complexity level to simplify the three versions of gameplay and streamline the instructions 

• Helping with the pack out, eliminating a big plastic tray to preserve space and save money  

• Elevating the quality of materials by increasing the size and thickness of the game cards

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2. Splish Splash: Pig’s Pool Party Puzzle

 

Splish Splash is a fun introduction to jigsaw puzzles with a pool party-themed game of 10 leveled challenges. 

 

Our team helped make the concept manufacturable by: 

• Designing the shape of the puzzle pieces and creating the actual logic-based puzzle challenges using an initial concept from the client

• Helping keep per-unit price down by identifying which features should be painted versus separately molded in a different color of plastic 

• Working with an external 3D sculptor to develop manufacturable character models and molds 

• Overseeing pack out and Bill of Materials, and cost negotiations with the factory

• Changing the materials to make the product more durable after evaluating the balance between materials and safety. This included helping navigate the design of the characters’ ears and other small pieces to maximize safety 

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3. Treehouse: Frog’s Super Slide Game

 

Treehouse is a game with three levels of play encouraging early learners to practice matching pictures, shapes, colors, and numbers on tokens. The client wanted a mechanism where a token could go in, flip over, and come out at the bottom revealing the reverse side of the token, based on an original inventor’s idea.

 

From concept sketches to final delivery, our team helped all along the way by:

• Pioneering the concept of a treehouse, which the client loved immediately! The final design really bears a lot of resemblance to the initial sketch

• Engaging in multiple iterations of product design due to complex manufacturing considerations

• Figuring out how to functionally make the token flip itself upside down while traveling through the contraption using a method that lets the token roll with gravity 

• Using CAD for the general form of the tree and working with a 3D sculptor to incorporate surface details like leaf and wood texturing 

• Building a compartment on the back to hold the tokens, per the client’s request

• Determining the rules for how the tokens work, with each level using a separate set of tokens for a wider range of play and learning

• Ensuring that for each of the three levels, players can start with any token and the game loop will work out correctly as it cycles through each token

 

Our team had a blast working on this new line of products for preschoolers and even tested them out with our own children, to great success! The client is thrilled to see their collection of brainy puzzles and games reach younger ages with this launch into a new product category.