Smack N Cheese   Gameplay Smack N Cheese is a fast-paced card game all about mac and cheese! Players compete the complete their Smack N Cheese set by collecting cards with all the necessary tools and ingredients to build the perfect mac and cheese meal.   The game comes with a deck of cards and two Smack-A-Roni noodles, which are giant elbow macaroni noodles that squeak when you smack them. The deck of cards consists of four different categories of items: a vessel—either a plate or a bowl, a utensil—either a fork or a spoon, a cheese—yellow or orange, and a noodle shape—elbow macaroni or shell pasta. Each card may also have one of three toppings on it: blue cheese, green onions, and bacon bits.   To begin, divide the deck evenly among players and place the Smack-A-Roni noodles in the center of play. If there are only two players, just one Smack-A-Roni noodle is necessary. Players then take turns playing cards face up into a central pile. If a match comes up, players race to smack the mac! Whoever smacks first earns one of the two matching cards.   What constitutes a match? If the same item appears on two cards in a row, it’s a match. Alternatively, if the same topping appears on two cards in a row, regardless of what item it accompanies, it’s a match. Note: if someone smacks the mac and there is not a valid match, they must give back one of the cards they’ve collected from winning.   Play continues until one player collects the full Smack N Cheese set, which consists of at least one vessel, utensil, cheese type, and noodle type. First to complete the set wins!     History Gummy Grab was invented by Jordan Goddard and is published by Vango Toys. Vango Toys is an award-winning toys and games company based in Oregon. They are dedicated to sparking creativity and eliminating boredom through engaging, interactive play. They pride themselves on enlisting the target audience to test and experiment their toy products before they are released—children!   Reception & Awards Smack N Cheese is currently a finalist for the 2026 People of Play TAGIE Award in the Game Innovator of the Year category.
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Gummy Grab   Gameplay Gummy Grab is a fun and fast-paced family card game that incorporates both color and number recognition. The colorful cards and game pieces and nonstop gameplay keeps everyone engaged and is fun for all ages!   A cross between classic card games Spoons and Spit, players race to get rid of all their cards by placing them onto piles based on corresponding color combinations or numbers. The first player to get rid of all their cards grabs a gummy worm, and play continues until all the gummy worms have been grabbed. After three rounds, whoever has the most gummy worms wins!   The game comes with 13 toy gummy worms and 81 colorful worm cards, which makes it easy to pack and take on the go. Each worm card has a multi-colored worm on it that’s twisted and bent to form a number. To begin, each player is dealt a hand of cards and four cards are placed in the center of play. Gummy worms are also placed in the center of play—one for each player minus one.   When play begins, players race to place their cards on one of the four face-up piles. In order to place a card, it must match either the color combination or the number of the top card in the pile. As soon as you run out of cards, grab a worm! Play continues until there are no worms remaining. After three rounds, the player with the most gummy worms wins.    Gummy Grab is not just a fun card game, it also encourages color and number recognition for young players. Children must recognize that their card might have the same number as one of the face up cards, even if it doesn’t share the same color pattern, and the same goes for recognizing the similar color patterns even if they’re displayed on different numbers. Fun and great for development!   History Gummy Grab was invented by Jordan Goddard and is published by Vango Toys. Vango Toys is an award-winning toys and games company based in Oregon. They are dedicated to sparking creativity and eliminating boredom through engaging, interactive play. They pride themselves on enlisting the target audience to test and experiment their toy products before they are released—children!   Reception & Awards Gummy Grab is currently a finalist for Game Innovator of the Year at the 2026 TAGIE Awards and has been recognized by the National Parenting Product Awards.
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Hey, it's Katherine.   I have been collecting and archiving Bop It games for almost 18 years now, and I am premiering my video for obtaining 300 Bop It units tomorrow on my YouTube channel for my birthday.   My first Bop It was the Bop It! (2009). I was 7 years old and I remember getting it for Christmas that year after playing with a Bop It at one of my first-grade events they had, like the Halloween party or whatever it was. I don't remember any of that whatsoever, so I'm getting a lot of this story from my mom. I still have my first Bop It (pictured in the cover of this post), and it's still in very pristine working condition, unlike some of my channel viewers who have pushed their Bop It far into an identity crisis because the logo is completely scrubbed off it...   I may have gotten it for Christmas in first grade, but I didn't actually start collecting until 2009, where I had made my first video that had Bop It in it. I still have to find that video if I still have it, because I haven't seen it in 15 years... not sure if it even still exists or not since it's been so long.   Over time, I went through different processes to log my collecting. When I started my channel in 2020 during my senior year of high school, I didn't realize my passionate interest of Bop It would become a niche interest that has brought in over 13,000 subscribers and counting on YouTube. I went from collecting just the certain versions of Bop It and not counting duplicates, to then counting duplicates, and just recently I decided that I want to only count the electronic versions of Bop It that were battery-operated in my closet, and leave all the non-electronic ones for my Bop It memorabilia world record.   I've had 3 milestones happen so far. My 100th Bop It was kinda tricky to be able to determine, as I didn't count duplicates in 2021 when I stayed in a dorm in college, but since I got a lot of Bop It! Micro Series units back then, I decided to make one of them my 100th unit, and since it's my legend, I have the freedom to kinda write it how I want with my own supporting claims.   My 200th Bop It was in 2024, and it was a modified version of Bop It Extreme (1999), that the programming was reworked with a speed knob. My 300th I can't really say what it is right now because my video has not premiered yet (happening tomorrow night), but I acquired that here in 2026.   I already have plans in mind for my 400th and 500th, with an estimated timespan in which the 400th and 500th Bop It events will occur, in late-2027 and early-2029 respectively. I also have plans on how I want to decorate my milestone Bop Its in the future, and place them in display cases. I'm gonna swap out the modified Bop It Extreme (1999) with a regular Bop It Extreme (1999) to decorate, but the modified one will still count. The milestone units are not just regular Bop It units to me; they are what collecting, archiving, logging, analyzing, and delving for most of my life have all been worth it for.   I'll be turning 25 tomorrow, and next year will be 18 years since I started collecting Bop It, and you better believe I am not stopping anytime soon.
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“It was such a special and fun night bringing together the toy industry and the comedy world. Both are in the smile business, bringing joy, laughter, and connection to people around the world! A huge thank you to Mary Couzin and Bob Fuhrer for bringing everyone together, and to Howie Mandel, Kevin Nealon, Elon Gold, Caroline Rhea, Chris Spencer, and Nikki Osborne for filling the evening with laughter and making it so memorable!”  -David Fuhrer - President, The Laugh Factory     Comedy Stars Celebrate LA Fall Preview with the Toy Industry on Toy Night at the Laugh Factory!     "Great night!" - Matt Nuccio      "Such a great night!" - Rich Thurber     "I sure enjoyed this evening!" -Julien Sharp     "So fun!! Thanks, for the good times David, Bob and Mary!" - Jon Vanderbeek                                                                          
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Game Review: Smack N Cheese
Game Review: Gummy Grab
Katherine Kaiser: How 300 Bop Its Got Me To Where I Am Today
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Connie Vogelmann designed Apiary & Wyrmspan!
Bob Fuhrer... Is THE Crocodile Dentist!
Tom Dusenberry... Bought Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Avalon Hill!
POPDuo: Richard Dickson, Mattel’s President & COO, and Kedar Narayan, Young Inventor Challenge AMB
POPDuo: Will Shortz and Josh Wardle
POP Duo: Elan Lee, Co-Founder, Exploding Kittens.and Jeff Probst, Host and Exec Producer, Survivor
POP Duo: David Fuhrer, MNG Director, Blue Sq Innovations & Shawn Green, past Dodgers & Mets MLB Star
POP Duo: Bob Fuhrer, Founder, Nextoy and Tom Fazio, Golf Course Designer
Specialty Stores are locally-owned independent neighborhood toy or game stores that specialize in customer service and have staff that is very knowledgeable about toys, games and play.
Submitted by People Of Play