The "best" toys: Toy-Award 2022 presented

At the opening of the Spielwarenmesse Digital, the team from the industry's leading event awarded the renowned innovation prize to five particularly innovative product ideas. As an important seal of quality, the Toy Fair's Toy Award enjoys a particularly high status in the international toy industry.

This year's winners were chosen at the opening of the Spielwarenmesse Digital. In the PreSchool area, Legler's “Emergency Doctor's Backpack” won out. Hutter Trade GmbH & Co. KG & DUJARDIN won the SchoolKids category with “Fabulus Elexus”.

While "echoes - The Audio Mystery Game" by Ravensburger won in the Teenager & Adults category, OPPI took first place in the startup segment with "Piks". "Animal Friends" from Fischertechnik won in the new Sustainability category. There are no nominees in the Baby & Infant category this year and therefore no winner.

Excellent toys in five categories

All award-winning innovations convinced a jury made up of international industry representatives in terms of potential for success in retail, fun, originality, safety, comprehensibility of the product concept as well as workmanship and quality. The ToyAward special area at Spielwarenmesse Digital offers an overview of all nominees and winners.

Category PreSchool (3-6 years)

Emergency Doctor's Backpack, Legler

Legler's "Emergency Doctor's Backpack" is the modern interpretation of the classic toy doctor's case. A high-quality backpack contains many authentic utensils to simulate mobile emergency care - from bandages and stethoscope to a blood pressure monitor and a mini defibrillator. The design of the medical aids convinced the expert jury: "The contemporary design of the utensils and their manufacture from mostly soft wood deserve special mention."

Category SchoolKids (6-10 years)

Fabulus Elexus, Hutter Trade GmbH & Co. KG & DUJARDIN

Hutter Trade GmbH & Co. KG & DUJARDIN has magically packed the secrets of chemistry in the "Fabulus Elexus" kit. Young magicians use the magic book of elixirs to create various magic potions from snail slime and elf blood. The learning factor is not neglected: Before you can start, all the bottles have to be labeled. The youngsters learn about the composition and effects of the ingredients. "The kit has a high fun factor and brings children closer to the topic of chemistry in a playful way," the jurors praised.

Category teenagers & adults (from 10 years)

echoes - The Audio Mystery Game, Ravensburger

In “echoes” by Ravensburger, mysterious cases have to be solved with the help of audio sequences. First, the playing cards are scanned using an app. Based on the audio clues that are then played, the investigators puzzle over how and in what order they have to combine three cards to reconstruct the course of events. "The audio game fits perfectly into the podcast era and trains the concentration of the players through the acoustic tips," was the verdict of the jury.

Category startup

Spades, OPPI

OPPI has rethought the world of building blocks: "Piks" is an innovative set of wooden elements and cone-shaped "blocks" made of soft rubber, which vary in height depending on the colour. With its rounded tip, new demands are made on the statics of the buildings. The instructions for rebuilding different templates are color-coded according to their level of difficulty. "The construction toy trains the children's motor skills and concentration in equal measure," praised the jury members.

Category Sustainability

Animal Friends, Fischertechnik

With the "Animal Friends", Fischertechnik is presenting a construction kit made from 50% renewable raw materials. Various animals can be recreated from the set. The abstract, radiant colors of the models, which prove to be extremely stable and flexible, are striking. "With this innovation, Fischertechnik, as a well-known brand manufacturer, is sending an important signal to the industry in terms of sustainability," emphasizes the expert jury.

The website provides further information on the jury and the winners of previous years www.toyaward.de.

Ravensburger is happy about the "echoes" victory

"Contemporary and perfect for the podcast era," was the verdict of the jury echoes, the audio mystery game by Ravensburger. The joy of winning is great. "echoes" prevailed in the "Teenagers and Adults" category. The innovation: In “echoes” the players immerse themselves in exciting stories and they do it through their sense of hearing. It is important to listen to the echoes of the past and to reconstruct the mysterious cases with the help of an app. At the start of the Digital Toy Fair today, the jury, made up of international industry representatives, announced the winners in a total of five product categories.

“echoes” is aimed at 1-4 players, ages 14+. The idea came from Dave Neale (including Unlock! and Sherlock Holmes - Consulting Detective: The Baker Street Irregulars) and Matthew Dunstan (Elysium, Chocolate Factory and Relic Runners).

Hear, puzzle and solve together: In “echoes”, players aged 14 and over immerse themselves in exciting stories through their sense of hearing. Ravensburger's interactive "Hörspiel" series started in September with three mysterious cases: "The Dancer", "The Cocktail" and "The Microchip".

The cases at a glance:

"echoes" - The Ring
An antique heirloom plunges a young woman into misfortune. What's wrong with this gem? The Echoes of the Past hold the truth about a curse on the ring.

"Echoes" - the dancer
A ghost of a young girl haunts a Scottish country house. Listen carefully to the fragments of her mysterious story and thus solve the riddle of her death.

"Echoes" - the cocktail
In an illegal pub, characters from the New York underworld make sinister plans. Listen to the conversations at the bar and solve the riddle of their leader, "Cruel Steve".

"Echoes" - the microchip
In the distant future, the world will be in ruins. Follow the acoustic traces of the past and solve the dark mystery of the decay of modern civilization.

Two more will be added in 2022: “The Ring” and “The Violin”. These cases need to be reconstructed using an app. This not only requires excellent memory, but also a great deal of combination skill - and above all, extremely keen hearing. "The audio game not only fits perfectly into the podcast era, but also trains the concentration of the players through the acoustic tips," was the overall assessment of the jury.

Mysterious game world is created through music, sound and language

The special thing about echoes: Ravensburger largely dispenses with visual representations - the mysterious game world is created through sound such as music, tone and language. Only 24 atmospherically illustrated cards provide fragmentary, partly hidden clues in high-quality radio play. Behind every image there are essential sounds or parts of a conversation. With the free "echoes" app, players can listen to them as soon as they move their mobile phone camera over the game material.

Everything else follows a simple game principle: Listen very carefully, notice all the details and combine what you hear with what you see. The game is divided into six chapters, in which the players have to match the three correct object cards - and of course in the right order. Once the players have solved all the individual chapters, it is important to put all six chapters in the correct order at the end. Anyone who manages to do this will learn what a mysterious, exciting story has happened.

"echoes" offers two levels of difficulty: Beginners start with half of the object cards. Experienced "echoes" investigators start directly with all 18 object cards. In both cases, the game material can be reused after solving the case. The individual parts cost 9,99 euros (RRP).

The "echoes" app will be available for free download on tablets and smartphones running iOS or Android. If necessary, she not only provides help to solve the case, she also creates the right atmosphere at the same time.

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Last updated on 26.05.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX / Affiliate Links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. * = Affiliate links. Images from Amazon PA API