Welcome to the Play Creators Awards 2023
The Play Creators Awards celebrates those in the toy and game design community that have excelled over the last 12 months. Whether it’s an R&D team responsible for a smash-hit line, a rising star that’s soared or a inventor or design studio responsible for a smash-hit, the PCAs are all about shining a spotlight on the industry’s top architects of play.
This year’s Play Creators Awards will take place on Tuesday, June 27th at Under The Bridge within London’s Stamford Bridge Stadium, Chelsea.
As nominated by their peers, the finalists are:
2023 Awards Finalists
Dominic Yard – Tech Deck Ultimate Roadie Skatepark (Spin Master)
Fuse & Hot Wheels Design Team – Hot Wheels City Ultimate Robo T-Rex Hauler (Mattel)
Lauren Johnson & Shane Rogers (MindWare) – Gearjits Gumball Marble Coaster (MindWare)
Lorena Montalvo and Olivia DeLuca (TOMY) – Bebé Fuerte (TOMY)
Make It Real Advanced Design Team – Mini-Pottery Wheel Studio (Make It Real)
Making Things Studio – Mouse in the House (Character Options)
Moose Toys Design Team – Cookeez Makery (Moose Toys)
Moose Toys Design Team – Magic Mixies Magic Lamp (Moose Toys)
Seven Towns – Pocket Money Piggies (BOTI)
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Big Ideas, Tricky & Sublevel Studios – Wibble Wobble Where? (Fuel For Fun/Flair)
Guido Hoffmann & Jens-Peter Schliemann – Piazza Rabazza (Zoch)
Just Playing Games – Clue: Escape & Solve Mystery Series (Hasbro)
KID Group – Freefall (ThinkFun)
Kim Vandenbroucke – Pigs on Trampolines (PlayMonster)
Mark Langley – Decypher (The Happy Puzzle Company)
Tara Taehyun Kim (Mattel) – Magic 8 Ball Magic Encounters (Mattel)
The Fantastic Factory & Making Things Studio – Easy Peasy Lemon Squeaky (Flair)
TOMY Global R&D – Screwball Scramble: Level Up (TOMY)
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Barry McLaughlin & Jason Lautenschleger – Okay Genius (PlayMonster)
Big Potato Games – Cards Vs Gravity (Big Potato Games)
Ceri Price & Natalie Podd – Tug (Confident Games)
Hunch Studios – Tell Me Without Telling Me (Spin Master)
John D. Clair – Ready Set Bet (AEG)
Josie North & Karen North – Hit Send (Hot House Games)
Karli C. Skelton – Draw It, See It, Say It (Ridley’s Games)
Kazunari Yonemitsu, TOMY R&D & TOMY Global R&D – The Game of Saying Huh? (TOMY)
Prospero Hall – Nuck Tats (Funko Games)
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In-house creative team at a toy titan, or leading design at a thriving SME, this award celebrates teams working in Research & Development that have achieved extraordinary things over the last year.
Big Potato Games
Eolo Toys
Golden Bear
Hasbro SPARK R&D
Hot Wheels Skate Team
Make It Real Design Team
Moose Toys
Prospero Hall (Funko Games)
Spin Master
TOMY
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The secret weapon for many toy firms, design agencies and invention studios are the unsung heroes of our industry. This category celebrates a firm that deserves recognition for exceptional work over the last 12 months.
Bang Zoom
Fun-damental Invention
Fuse
Just Playing Games
Making Things Studio
Open 2 Design
So Sound
Tantrum Innovation
ToyZone
Triclops Studio
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The first of two awards recognising excellence in licensed product, Toy Designer of the Year (Licensed Product) celebrates creators that have brought much loved characters and IP to life through great toys.
Bang Zoom – Dancing Bluey (Moose Toys)
Bill Miekina (Mattel) – WWE Elite Series (Mattel)
Gurdeep Bains (YuMe Toys) – Disney 100 Surprise Capsules (YuMe Toys)
Mattel’s Jurassic World Action Figures Design Team – Jurassic World Dominion Action Figures (Mattel)
Moose Toys Design Team – Bluey Ultimate Lights & Sounds Playhouse (Moose Toys)
Paper Engine R&D Team – Build Your Own Wallace & Gromit Rocket (Paper Engine)
Tantrum Innovation – TMNT Mutant Mayhem Ninja Kick Cycle (Playmates Toys)
TOMY R&D & Fat Brain Toys – Toomies Peppa’s Activity House (TOMY)
Wow! Stuff – Nano Pods (Wow! Stuff)
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This award is for a designer that has brought an IP to the tabletop in impressive style via an impressive licensed game this year.
Big Potato Games & Aardman – Obey the Clay (Big Potato Games)
Christian Fiore & Knut Happel – Minecraft: Heroes of the Village (Ravensburger)
Erica Bouyouris (Spin Master) – Dumb Ways to Die (Spin Master)
Jay Little, Ryan Miller & Marcus Ross – The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book Game (Ravensburger)
Kristian Karlberg & Kenny Zetterberg – Dungeons and Dragons & The Yawning Portal (Hasbro)
Lauren Wallace (Ridley’s Games) – Marvel Selfish (Ridley’s Games)
Prospero Hall – Disney Animated (Funko Games)
Prospero Hall – Scream: The Game (Funko Games)
Prospero Hall – Star Trek: Cryptic (Funko Games)
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Whether through fresh thinking or tech twists, the Play Innovation of the Year award celebrates designers driving innovation in the toy and game space.
Catapult Concepts – Puzl It (Hasbro)
Fuse – 10 Bone Bowling (Big Potato Games)
Jordan Goddard (Indy Toy Lab) – The Night Hunter (University Games)
Karen Harel, Kevin Voorhees, Kurtis Wong, Bari Cohen, Ty Eason (Spin Master) – Rubik’s Phantom (Spin Master)
Moose Toys Design Team – Mama Surprise (Moose Toys)
Moose Toys Design Team – My Puppy’s Home (Moose Toys)
Heather Weeks & Ric Scott (Educational Insights) – PYXEL: A Coder’s Best Friend (Educational Insights)
Tantrum Innovation – Mystery Key Treasure Challenge (Goliath)
Wilder Toys – The Audio Game (Wilder Toys)
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Who are the design legends of the future? Perhaps someone leading design at one of the industry’s many exciting start-ups, or a young star within your R&D team? If so, nominate them in the Rising Star category.
Annabelle Hillard – Seven Towns
Ben Powell – So Sound
Emma Costa Lascelles – TOMY
Jordan Goddard & Mandy Goddard – Indy Toy Lab
Liat Waks, Naama Weiss & Uri Steingold – Inventors of Spin Master’s Games HQ
Olivia DeLuca – TOMY
Phoebe Mason – PlayMonster UK
Sophie Lazenby – Fuse
Tom McKendrick – Crated With Love
Sponsored by
This Award celebrates figures working in Inventor Relations that have excelled over the past 12 months. Whether it’s due to commendable conduct with the inventor community or for being instrumental in finding and championing successful inventor items, this is a category to highlight the phenomenal work being done by individuals working in IR.
Adam Hocherman – Fat Brain Toys
Alex Prieto – Eolo Toys/ToyZone
Allison Gabbey – Fisher-Price
Angus Walker – Hasbro
Daryl Andrews – Maestro Media
David Winter – BlueJ/Jazwares
Heath Saber – Moose Toys
Josh West – ThinkFun
Lee Allentuck – Melissa & Doug/The Last Gameboard/Blue Marble
Rich Mazel – Spin Master
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This award celebrates iconic figures that have helped shape the industry, truly leaving their footprint in the world of toy and game design.
The winner of this award will be announced on the night.
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