Regrouping for Our Focus Group

We met for the first time today since summer, and also put our games to the test by having our first focus group with elementary school children- our target market! Six new people joined us from Stuyvesant High School as we took a short trip to the Manhattan Youth Community Center in Tribeca. Everyone was quite nervous and antsy as we broke up into groups of two and headed to meet the kids. All of the kids were extremely enthusiastic about our activity book, and some even fought with one another to do them first, which we took as a good sign. As we tested the games, we found common complaints and confusions among the kids that we wrote down, as well as their reactions to each of the puzzles. The kids were very focused on the puzzles, and we got positive feedback from one of the teachers, who said that Flip 'N' Check was a brilliant idea due to its reusability, and that “the game calmed the kids down, even on a Friday, which was amazing.” All of the kids found the artwork to be great, and we even hosted a mini meet and greet to one kid who requested an audience with our graphic designer William Yen. By the end we were exhausted but exuberant that we obtained so much feedback to continue and improve our games.

Fist Full Of Orders

Pam arrives back from Canada with a fist full of orders and no time to waste placing our 1st order with the factory. First, we must make tweaks to our product after discovering a few glitches in the sample. Talking back and forth to China and waiting for a revised sample just added two more weeks to our pre- production schedule- grrr.

To speed things up we send a purchase order to the factory to begin talks, it’s inevitable they will have changes since we have never worked together before. Next, we rush our sample to a forensic lab in Texas to have the raw materials used in our product tested to make sure they meet US toy safety standards. 

Phew. We just got word from Armstrong Forensic Laboratory that all the raw materials used to construct our product meet US toy safety standards!

The last piece to this puzzle is to wire transfer money to the factory.

We are officially in production for our first product, FLIP N’ CHECK!