A book review of A Game Maker’s Life: A Hall of Fame Game Inventor and Executive Tells the Inside Story of the Toy Industry by Jeffrey Breslow with Cynthia Beebe
Stars: *****
Post Hill Press (2022)
Memoirs
232 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary: How do you spark genius? How do you earn a profit from fun? And how do you overcome unthinkable challenges? The developer of Simon, Fashion Polly Pocket, UNO Attack!, My Size Barbie, and Operation explains it all in this fascinating story of toys, transformation, and murder.
In his captivating memoir, Jeffrey Breslow tells how:
• Creating a game is a mix of Rube Goldberg, Santa’s elves, mass production, and the bottom line.
• He oversaw two multi-million dollar businesses that earned profits for more than four decades. Even while the industry transformed itself from using cardboard and plastics into electronics, his companies never acquired debt and never borrowed money from a bank!
• He overcame the terrible misfortune of a deadly workplace shooting and led his shaken employees through the tragedy and back to running a thriving business.
Millions of people around the world have played with games and toys Breslow and his partners invented—perhaps you have, too! Now, read Breslow’s remarkable story and see how a flash of inspiration, followed by hard work and ingenuity, brought these wonderful games to life.
A Game Maker’s Life
This was a very interesting read. A behind the scenes look at game creators. This isn’t a company that manufactured games, just created them and then sold them to manufacturers. You don’t hear much about this. Jeffrey Breslow lived an interesting life, even before he was a toy maker. This would be a fun read near Christmas just because that’s when toy making is often thought about.
The author discusses when he first started inventing, how he got a job at MGA and where he went from there. He draws you in with the first sentence because he starts the book off with a shocking moment from his and his coworkers life. I won’t spoil it here but it’s shocking. After said event, he is made managing partner and has to take over the company at a young age. He does a great job!
Some of the toys he was responsible for is Bucket of Fun, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Ants in the Pants and Guesstures. The process of designing toys sounds so fun and I’m so glad I read the book.
Buy A Game Maker’s Life at Amazon.com and help support the blog.
Find A Game Maker’s Life at Goodreads.
About Kathleen
