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Posted February 1, 2010 It is amazing that anything ever gets made. Hasbro’s game Lucky Ducks was almost killed a dozen times before it miraculously made it to market to become a hit, perhaps one day a classic. It is a great game - kudos to the inventors Fertig and Stubenfoll and to Harry Disko (rest in peace my friend) who was their colleague and backer, and who gave me my chance in the toy business. Who knows where I’d be now were it not for him. One of our team members is in Hong Kong, going back and forth into China, trying to save one of our big products for this year. The factory and the toy company's development team had not been able to come up with a manufacturable design of our new technology. The problems involved are myriad, and we are all working furiously day night to solve them. They work while we sleep, We work while they sleep. The material chosen won’t pass the 48-hour aging test, we are told. But is that true? The safe choice for the factory is to not use it because they are not sure, or unfamiliar with the material. If they do use it, and it fails later, whose fault will it be? I am sure the toy company will always blame the factory, just like with the magnets and lead paint issues of recent years. The factory takes the fall, even if it is the original design or material choice that is at fault. And they know that. So we try new materials, and some work, some don’t - some may be acceptable, some not. Paper was one solution. Whatever could be the problem with that? We had water initially, but water (regular, everyday drinking WATER mind you!) had to go through eight weeks of safety testing. Holy Cow, as Harry Carry would say. Un-freakin-believeable! This is the world we live in.
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