Sort it Out! the US version of the Australian invented board game, Sorts, has been named Game of the Year 2010 in the Toy Of The Year (TOTY) Awards. Well-recognised as the "Oscars" of the US toy industry, the annual TOTYs acknowledge the “best of the best” in the multi-billion dollar toy industry. Hosted by the US Toy Industry Association in New York City, the awards event was the kick-off to the 107th annual American International Toy Fair, one of the biggest toy fairs in the world, with more than 400 executives paying US$350 a ticket just to attend the gala ceremony.
"We are absolutely thrilled with this award – we couldn’t be happier!" said Gerry Crown, Managing Director of the Australian games company, Crown and Andrews that first launched Sorts for Relatively Creative in Australia two years ago. Speaking from the New York Toy Fair, Crown added, "The TOTYs are judged by a panel of toy industry people — retailers, journalists, inventors and educators — so when your game wins this award, you know it's an excellent game!"
The competition for these awards is intense. Thousands of toys and games are released onto the market every year and despite the GFC this year is no exception. At the New York Toy Fair being held this week there are an estimated 7,900 new toys and games being released. Selected from industry-wide entries Sort it Out! was one of 7 finalists for the converted Game of the Year award, including 4 games from the giants in the industry, Hasbro and Mattel.
“Given the scale of the US toy industry and the calibre of the finalists, I think the fact that the winning game was created by an Australian company is just fantastic!” said Crown. “I’ve just met with Bob Moog, head of University Games who does the game for us in the US to congratulate him. He is over the moon. Bob’s company has been a serious player in the US toy industry for decades but this is his company’s first ever TOTY Game of the Year award. So it’s a great moment for him and for us!”
Actually the recognition and awards are starting to add up for this Australian game and it's international versions. When Sorts was first released by Crown and Andrews here in Australia, it was a finalist for Game of the Year in the 2008 Boardgames Australia awards. This year, the junior version of Sorts, called Sorts for Kids, went one step further, winning the title of 2009 Australian Game of the Year at these awards.
And it seems that it’s not just Australians and Americans that like putting things in order — Sort it Out! is also in the UK and was released last year in Germany as Sortivity and will be released in France later this year. Sorts was created by Australians, Craig Browne and his partner Leonie Cutts in their company Relatively Creative. Together Craig and Leonie have been creating board games for more than 15 years. In fact, this year Crown and Andrews is releasing the 15th Anniversary edition of their first game, Compatibility – also an award-winning international hit. Compatibility was first released in Australia in 2005 and was famously picked up by Mattel for worldwide release the following year. It was translated in 5 languages and has gone on to sell more than 500,000 copies worldwide. Other titles by these two include board game adaptations of TV shows such as: Deal or No Deal, The Price is Right and Bert’s Family Feud. “It’s a big moment for us. We were really excited just to make the final seven. So when Sort it Out! won we were jumping up and down!” said Craig Browne from his home office in Martinsville, NSW.
“Actually the real credit needs to go to Bob Moog and his team at University Games in America. Launching a game into the US market is a mammoth task and they are doing an amazing job” added Browne.
How do you play? Sorts is a fun and fast-paced game that plays on our fascination with listing and comparing things. All kinds of things from the serious to the bizarre! Try this: Sort these things from shortest to tallest: an emu, a double bass, the Queen, a T-Rex and a double decker bus. Or how would you go sorting a list of celebrities by their age, the number of Oscars they’ve won, or the number of husbands they’ve had! Players arrange coloured tiles in their special tile holder to show the order they think is correct to compete for points and race to the finish.
Australians who want to enjoy the award-winning fun should ask for the Australian versions Sorts (for ages 12+) and the Australian board game of the year, Sorts for Kids (ages 7+) in toy stores around Australia.
