The fantastic looking Tudor Games 2018 Toy Fair booth!

Toy Fair 2018

Toy Fair is an amazing experience. Always overwhelming in its size, and in the number of people attending the event. How can there be so many toys? How can there be so many toy buyers? 

And a thought that does cross my mind while walking the Toy Fair aisles…does the world really need this many toys?

Maybe, maybe not.

But one of the “success stories” at Toy Fair over the last seven years is Tudor Games. To look at the photos from 2013, when Doug Strohm had a tiny booth stuffed in the claustrophobic back corridors of the Javitz Center with no NFL…to 2018, with a spacious booth (at least quadruple in size), that was located on a heavily-traveled main midway just steps from a main entrance, with great looking NFL games, a seven-foot tall rack of beautiful and beautifully packaged NFL teams, and some great looking new items (which I’m not allowed to talk about yet!)…it’s totally, totally amazing. 

A rack of “fantasy” teams for sure!

Not only that, it’s a fantastic development. For any and all fans of Electric Football 

This year’s booth was a testament to Doug Strohm’s tireless work since taking over Tudor Games. It’s a simple fact that no one has done more to keep Electric Football alive over the last six years than Doug has.

That’s why it was pleasure to be a guest in the Tudor Games Toy Fair booth this past weekend. This included, for the first time ever, being there on Friday for set-up day. I was happy to lend an extra set of hands when needed. I was also happy to stay out of the way when that was needed. 

New York City Magic

But there was an epiphany as the sky drew dark outside the Javitz Center on Friday evening , a realization that I’ll never ever forget. Here I was in the Tudor Games booth – the ancestral home of Electric Football – setting up NFL Electric Football games for Toy Fair. Just like the toy legends we wrote about in The Unforgettable Buzz – Norman Sas, Joe Tonole, Eddie Gluck, Lee Payne, Don Munro Jr, and Brian Clarke – had done decades earlier.

Tudor V.P. Joe Tonole in the 1950 Toy Fair Showroom at 200 Fifth Avenue. From the Toy Fair chapter of The Unforgettable Buzz.

It was a mind blowing “how did I get here” moment. 

From being a young boy with not just Tudor NFL Electric Football under my bed, but also through the years, Tudor basketball, baseball, bowling, track & field, hockey, and even Tudor Golf…from treasuring the colorful Tudor NFL teams in the rule book, to knowing the 176 Johnson Street address by heart, to experiencing the thrill of opening a plain brown box from Brooklyn with a Tudor Metal Products return address on it…I would have never dared to dream that I’d be doing what I was doing last Friday evening. 

Never in a million years.

So I’d like offer a heartfelt “Thank You!” to everyone who’s supported our work and our books. Friday would have never happened without you. And an immense thank you to Doug Strohm for inviting me to be part of the Tudor Games family each year at Toy Fair. It’s such a pleasure to hang out with Denise and Bill, and what a thrill this year to meet Wyatt.

Stay tuned for more Toy Fair and Electric Football news in our next post!

Earl