Fastrack from Blue Orange Games - super fun!

We just got a new game from our friends at Blue Orange Games in San Francisco. They're the people who make games like Gobblet, Yamslam and last year's megabit Spot It!
Our choice to be this year's breakout hit? It's Fastrack. It's fun, it's fast and it's really simple. It's sorta like Gnip Gnop with checkers. (You remember Gnip Gnop, right?). Each player starts with five wooden discs and your job is simply to slide all your discs through the hole in the center to your opponents side before he slides all his into yours! Sounds simple, right?
Wanna try it? Come in, we have a demo set up in our store. It's a fun game for ages 5 & up and makes a great gift. You can also buy it online at yoyojoes.com and we'd always happy to wrap your gift for free (whether in the store or via an online purchase).

Come check it out!

Have Toys, Will Travel

Going away for spring break or planning a summer vacation? Stop into Yoyo Joe's before you pack your suitcase and pick up a few travel friendly activities for the road. These games have no pieces to lose, but lots of fun to be gained. They are also quiet in case your trip includes boarding a plane.

"Find It" is a contained treasure hunt; Search for hidden objects in colorful recycled pellets. With themes like At the Zoo, Sports, Kids, Glitz and Glamour and the Wizard of Oz there's a version for everyone in the family.

Or turn off the electronics and turn on the conversation with "FamilyTalk", 100 conversation starters designed to keep families connected. With questions like, "If you could be any animal, what would it be and why?" and "What was your favorite lunchbox as a kid?", you'll get an interesting peek into the thoughts and feelings of your family. Also available in Teen Talk, Grandparent Talk, Camp Talk, and Buddy Talk.

Check out all our "Flip-to-Win" games-Bingo, Hangman, Bear Hunt, Memory, and U.S. License Plates-with flipping pieces, there's nothing to lose.

"Double Shutter" will have your kids practicing their math while away (just don't tell them!) The game is contained in a lidded tin box.

Imaginetics play boards, and Melissa & Doug magnetic mazes and picture maker also provide great entertainment for the journey.

Before you know it, you'll arrive at your destination without ever hearing, "Are we there yet?"

The 'Wall of Fame'

If you've ever come into our store and walked back by the pirate ship, you'll see dozens of certificates on the wall, each featuring a YoYo Joe's yo-yo club 'Wall of Famer.' 

Believe it or not, the 'Wall of Fame' is actually older than YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun! The 'Wall of Fame' started back at Mitchell's Trains, Toys & Hobbies about 5 years ago. We started hosting a weekly yo-yo club meeting at Mitchell's and part of yo-yo club was a big trick chart with 25 tricks on it. As people came to yo-yo club, they learned the tricks on the chart. After successfully performing the trick, it was checked off and they got to move along to the next trick on the chart. The tricks get progressively harder. If they finished the chart, they were officially inducted into the Mitchell's 'Wall of Fame' and their photo was put on the wall at Mitchell's. 

We moved the 'Wall' over to YoYo Joe's when we opened back in November of 2008, and since then the wall has exploded! The original 12 members of the wall at Mitchell's are still enshrined at YoYo Joe's, but 28 people have joined them by finishing the chart at YoYo Joe's. 

The wall features lots of interesting names, ranging from local kids who worked on the chart over time to National and even World Champions who stopped in at YoYo Joe's during the past 2 1/2 years. Two of the current US National Champions grace the wall at YoYo Joe's (National 1A Champ Sebastian Brock and National 5A Champ Migeul Correa). Also on the wall are the four best yoyoers ever to come out of Delaware - former Yomega pro Justin Weber from Newark, Team YoYo Jam member AJ Kirk from New Castle, former US National and World 5A Champion Tyler Severance, also from New Castle and 5A Legend Jonathan Robinson from Wilmington! The youngest member was 11 when he finished the chart, the oldest is just over 40. Oddly enough, there are no girls yet on the wall - but there's several who are getting close! 

Well, we just inducted two new members of the Wall-Of-Fame - Stu Branoff from San Francisco, who stopped in over the holidays and YoYo Joe's yo-yo club regular AJ Busch from Philadelphia. Congrats to the newest members of a legendary group! 

 

Toy Fair 2011 - more fun than you can shake your stick it!

One event I look forward to each year is the 108th New York International Toy Fair. It is, by far, the biggest event of the year for the American toy industry. It's a huge event, which includes award dinners, events & a HUGE building filled to the rim with toy vendors booths. 

Now, when I say 'booths,' you might picture 4x8 tables with toys on them. It's such a wide range of people exhibiting. You have independent entrepreneurs who go out on a limb and are trying to sell their ideas to the toy buyers of the world. You also have tried and true toy companies displaying toys they've sold for years. You also have the mammoths of the toy world - Mattel, Melissa & Doug, etc that have massive booths that could qualify as events within themselves.

Take the Melissa & Doug booth. When I first started going to Toy Fair, they had a small booth downstairs at the Javits Center. (The Javits Center has two massive floors, the top floor generally have the bigger, more established toy companies while the downstairs has the 'up and coming' as well as the 'low and going' toy companies. Now, Melissa & Doug have the biggest booth at Toy Fair. They have a popular coat check (checking your coat at Javits costs $3 an article, M&D do it for free - even eschewing tips!). They also serve food through the day - pretzels, ice cream, beer, wine, etc. They used to serve breakfast and lunch until they determined many of the people enjoying the meals were competing toy companies! Their booth is guaranteed to be mobbed during the day as they roll out their new toys. One thing that sets Melissa & Doug apart from many other companies is their employees inhuman ability to stay chipper and friendly at all times...

Perhaps one of my, er, 'favorite' booths at Toy Fair was 'Ring Toss.' Here's a photo of the booth in all it's glory

Yup, that's it. A dude in a booth with an exercise machine, Snapple bottles and rings made of paper that he tossed onto the Snapple bottles. He was directly across the aisle from my friends at the YoYo Factory booth and YoYo Factory's Ben McPhee snapped that shot. Keep in mind these booths are wildly expensive. Later our hero reclined on his machine and did some pedaling:

We speculated where there was some kind of hidden camera there, that they were recording people for some tv show, but Googling 'Ring Toss' and 'Toy Fair' doesn't hit anything...so...ok

Full-sized LEGO Lightning McQueen. 325,000 bricks! 

Splish, splash, I was taking a bath in Diet Coke

We spent lots of time at the Lego booth on the first day - one of the incredible displays they featured was a full-size Lego version of Lightning McQueen - it has 325,000 pieces in it and weighs 3 tons! Cars 2 is coming out this year and promises to be a massive hit, so there were lots and lots of Cars 2 toys at Toy Fair.Another booth that had lots of attention was the 'Be Amazing Toys' booth. Several years ago, they came out with a kit that included a sleeve to affix on your Diet Coke bottle and also a pack of Mentos. The sleeve allows the Mentos to slide into the Diet Coke and create the insane fountain spraying out of the top of the Diet Coke bottle. You probably remember the viral video that was out a couple years ago. Anyhow, they've turned it on it's side this year (literally) and allowed you to turn the bottle and place wheels on it to create a 'Geyser Rocket Car.'
Now, when they came out with the Mentos/Diet Coke fountain kit several years ago, they created a cool display which had a 20 foot plastic tower that let them shoot off the Diet Coke in the building without creating an insane mess. It was always a popular display. This year, to showcase the new car, they created a enclosed track that let the car shoot along. In the fountain display, the displayer put the coke bottle inside the plexiglass tower and pulled a string that allowed the Mentos to fall into the Diet Coke bottle. This year, they decided to forego all that neatness and simply place a sucker, er...employee, inside a plexiglass room. Their demonstration always drew a crowd. The guy doing the demo called upon someone from the audience to remotely pull the string and let the Mentos into the Diet Coke....with our hero in the room. So...the audience member pulls the string and the poor guy gets drenched in Diet Coke. He's absolutely drenched from head to toe and standing barefoot in a couple inches of Diet Coke at the bottom of the room. Then the poor guy loads up the car and sends it careening down the track - all the while Diet Coke spraying him as it goes.

The Diet Coke and Mentos powered car shoots away from our hero. 

I took these pics at their booth - that's Emily, my wife, pulling the trigger on the poor sap. I tweeted from Toy Fair that this guy had the worst job at Toy Fair and got a response from Be Amazing Toys offering to allow me in the booth. I tweeted back that I'd do it, but never got a response. Probably for the best.

Ravensburger showed off the 'World's Largest Puzzle' which has more than 32,000 pieces and weighs a hefty 42 lbs!

Third Annual 'Adult Swim' is Thursday, December 9th - 6-9 - Exclusive Specials & Win a $50 Gift Card!

YoYo Joe’s Toys & Fun will hold our third annual ‘Adult Swim’ night on Thursday, December 9th from 6-9 pm. That means from 6-9, YoYo Joe’s Toys & Fun will be off-limits to kids! (Hey, the other 4,000 hours of the year, we’re happy to have kids in our store!) We’ll even have beer & wine to make your holiday shopping experience as stress-free as possible!

We're upping the ante this year by giving away a $50 YoYo Joe's Gift Card to one lucky person who attends 'Adult Swim'  and we're gonna have exclusive specials for Adult Swim night only! Here's our list of items that will be on special:


Melissa & Doug Swivel Bridge Wooden Train Set - Normally $59.99 - Adult Swim Special - $39.99
'You've Been Sentenced' Game - Normally $24.99 - Adult Swim Special - $16.99
Melissa & Doug Bake & Serve Brownie Set - Normally $19.99 - Adult Swim Special - $13.99
Alex Toys Foil Bead Maker - Normally $19.99 - Adult Swim Special - $13.99
International Playthings Henrietta the Pull Along Hen - Normally $19.99 - Adult Swim Special - $13.99
Diggin Toys - Dodge Tag - Normally $19.99 - Adult Swim Special - $13.99
Lego Racers  Tiny Turbos Sets - Normally $15.99 - Adult Swim Special - $10.99
Green Toys Recycling Truck - Normally $25.99 - Adult Swim Special - $17.99 
Blockers Game - Normally $29.99 - Adult Swim Special - $19.99 
Diggin Toys Squap Game - - Normally $24.99 - Adult Swim Special - $16.99 

See you on Thursday 

Hey Look! We're in the Paper!

A big article in the Wilmington News Journal today rounds up the triple play of media coverage over the past couple of weeks (TV, Radio & Newspaper, oh my!)

To read it, click here.

Hey Listen! We're on the Radio!

'YoYo Joe' gets around...last week on 'The 10! Show, ' and this past Wednesday, Joe visited WDEL's Rick Jensen to talk about dangerous (and not-so-dangerous) toys on his afternoon show. Rick was kind enough to create a podcast to listen to. Joe was also quoted in an article in the Wilmington News Journal about 'Small Business Saturday' on Wednesday. If you haven't gotten your fill of Joe, there's gonna be an article in an upcoming edition of 'The Wilmington News Journal' about YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun and Mitchell's.

Good times!

Click here to listen to Joe on 'The Rick Jensen Show'

Hey Look! We're on TV!

Thanks to our friends at NBC10 for our second visit from 'The 10! Show' and their roving reporter Justin Pizzi!

'The 10! Show' is headed back to YoYo Joe's - show up and get a free $5 Gift-Certificate!

You might recall that NBC 10's 'The 10! Show' did a live remote last year from YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun. Well, they're coming back! On Wednesday, November 17th, Justin Pizzi from The 10! Show will visit YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun to do a live remote report on hot holiday toys. The broadcast starts just after 10 am, and we at YoYo Joe's would like a full house to set a good holiday mood. So...we're not above bribing you. Each and every person who arrives at YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun BEFORE 10 am will receive a no-strings attached $5 gift-certificate to spend on any purchase at YoYo Joe's through Wednesday. You can use it to save $5 off your purchase or just get your under $5 purchase free. It's up to you. So, show up BEFORE 10 am and get a free $5 towards your holiday shopping!

And, as the show is taped live, you can make it home in time to see yourself on TV! 'The 10! Show' is on NBC10 at 11 am. See you on Wednesday!

Vote early, vote often

Well, actually, you can vote anytime this week. What do you mean today's election day? Oh, THAT election..no, I was talking about the awesome chalk voting booth we have in the back of YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun, courtesy our own Beth, who's the artist behind the signs at YoYo Joe's.

As for the chalk board, it's the door to our back room. It's one thing we never painted when we moved in and we've been meaning to paint it ever since. Emily had the brainstorm to use chalkboard paint, and (in my opinion) it looks awesome!

Check our our chalkboard back door the next time you're in YoYo Joe's...

Cooking's Cool demonstration

Thanks to the great crowd who participated in last Sunday's 'Cooking's Cool' event with childrens author Cindy Sardo. We had a great time, and everyone walked away with samples! If you didn't make it and were interested, we recorded the event on video and it's now available on the YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun channel on YouTube.

Thanks again to Cindy for taking her time out to visit.

Green Toys Fire Truck

It's chunky, it's 100% recycled,
 it's made in the US and A!

I saw this toy at the ASTRA Conference in June and loved it. If you're familiar with the Green Toys Recycling Truck, the Fire Truck is very similar, except, you know, it fights fires.
Based on the same durable chassis as the Recycling Truck, the Fire Truck has a has a ladder that pops up and swivels 360 degrees. It also has two removable ladders. But, one of the coolest things about the Fire Truck is that it, along with all Green Toys products, is made from 100% curbside collected recycled plastic. It's a toy made from trash! It's also made in the USA! Jinkies!

We have a limited number of these in stock, as they told me at the ASTRA show that these would be of limited availability in 2010. A great gift for your one & up truck lover!

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Preview

Thanks to our pals at Bootless Artworks for presenting a preview of their upcoming play, 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' today at YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun. It was an awesome preview that featured a spelling bee right here at YoYo Joe's! And I was in it! And I lost! Stoopid spelling bee.
Cassie was the big winner! Here's some pics and a short video from today's preview.

The participants in today's spelling bee preview.

Hey look! Players from YoYo Joe's Brandywine
Little League team were on hand to watch. 

As I'm eliminated from the contest, I'm sung off by the 'Comfort Counselor'.
Who knows how to spell Dengue anyway?

First Day of School Giveaway

We borrowed the $5 gift-certificate giveaway from our friends at Pufferbellies Toys & Books and also, thanks to Erin at Pufferbellies suggestion, borrowed their idea about photographing kids who got gift-certificates and what they spent it on.
I'm happy to report that with the bulk of the Delaware schools back to school, both the promotion and the photos were a big hit! I'm posting a couple of the pics here, but you can see all the photographs we took over at the YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun Facebook page.
Thanks to those who let us take pictures of them and have a great year at school!

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Cooking's Cool

A little while back, our pal - Landenberg author (and now playwright) Jamie Kleman let me know that one of her friends and Landenberg neighbors had published some kids books on cooking. Cindy Sardo stopped in and dropped off a book, and now we're super excited to announce that Cindy will have a special hands-on demo at YoYoJoe's on Sunday, September 19 at 2 pm.

She'll do a hands on cooking demonstration of her recipe for roasted vegetable quesadillas from her book, 'Cooking’s Cook in the Fall.' Kids will be able to help her prepare the recipe, and there will be samples for up to 50 people! Her books, Cooking's Cool, was featured on Rachael Ray's Yum-o! website and May 2010 newsletter. 


Thanks to one of our employees, Annette, we're gonna tie the demonstration in with a movement to have kids help out with the cooking on Mondays. It's part of the Healthy Monday movement and they're calling it The The Kid Cook Mondays.

Here's your chance to learn some cool cooking techniques for your kids and pick up a copy of Cindy's fall cook book and get it signed by the author.


Check out Cindy's website here. 

20% Off Labor Day Weekend Sale!!

YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun will have everything on sale during Labor Day Weekend - Friday, September 3rd through Sunday, September 5th! Save 20% off your entire purchase for those three days only! YoYo Joe's will be closed on Monday, but you have three days to stock up.

FREE $5 Gift Certificate to all kids on their first day of school!!

Going back to school is not many student's ideas of a good time, but to ease the pain, bring them to YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun on their official first day of school (Kindergarten through Eighth grade), and we'll give them a FREE $5 Gift-Certificate. No strings attached! Pick a toy that's $5 or under and it's free! Or pick one that's over $5, and we'll take $5 off your purchase. We'll have a list of local schools and their starting time on hand, so just let us know where you go to school and get a $5 GC!
There's a limit of one per student, and you cannot combine them, but hey, it's free!
We're also gonna take pictures of the kids with their purchases and post them in our store! Awesome-sauce!

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee preview at YoYo Joe's

Thanks to our friends at Bootless Artworks, YoYo Joe's will be hosting a special preview of their upcoming show 'The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee' on Saturday, September 11th at 11 am. They'll have a real live spelling bee right in YoYo Joe's and you can win tickets to the show!
Bootless Artworks is a non-profit arts organization located right here in Delaware. They're moving into their new digs in New Castle - at the location of the historic Bellanca airplane hanger. 
They were kind enough to let us host a preview performance of the performance of The Velveteen Rabbit last winter, and they were awesome! 
Tickets for their performances go on sale tomorrow. They warn that there is some mature language involved in the show, but say they'll use alternative words for the matinee shows. 
The shows will take place at the Reach Academy for Girls in Claymont. To buy tickets for the shows, click here. 



SHOW DATES
Friday, September 24, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Saturday, September 25, 2010 @ 8:00 pm 
Sunday, September 26, 2010 @ 3:00 pm
Friday, October 1, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Saturday, October 2, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
Saturday, October 2, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Friday, October 8, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Saturday, October 9, 2010 @ 8:00 pm

Celebrity sighting at YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun! Our own toy model -
Allie - came in with her family. She signed her picture!

YoYo Joe's is thrilled to announce our first Game Night - August 6th at 6pm featuring @CampGames 'Camp' and 'Smores'