Navy Pier Hosting Toy And Game Fair
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's all about games and toys at Navy Pier this weekend, which is hosting the Chicago Toy and Game Fair.
As WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports, you can play with toys and games and meet the inventors.
Talking with board game inventors at Navy Pier, two things came up: they love what they do and they love the social aspect of games.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports
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Richard Gill helped bring us "Pictionary" 25 years ago. He's sort of the rock star of the Toy and Game Fair.
"In the real world, probably not, but yes, around here, yes," Gill said. "I feel like I'm not worth the 25 years. It's been fantastic."
Asked what it is about toys and games that people love so much, Gill said, "It's the social aspect."
"Everybody asks me if the new generation of Internet games, electronic games, computer games is destroying the traditional board game market," he added. "It's definitely detracted along with cell phones, smart phones, all the other things that we have these days. However, people do miss that social interaction and they do come back every holiday."
"Every holiday, out comes the old board games, creating those moments," Gill said.
Randy Horn, who started the "Would You Rather?" board games, said "board games facilitate face-to-face, fun entertainment.
He said he got the idea for his games in a bar.
"Drinking beer and we were talking about … somebody threw out a 'would you rather' question and we had a great time with it," Horn said.
"Being able to gather around the table and play something and have that interaction makes people really enjoy games," said Chicagoan Jill Vandenbroucke, who invented "Scattergories Catergories."
"I get to invent games all day. You can't complain about that at all," she said.
