BY STACEY JONES
A Sudbury dad is serious about a game. He is marketing Balanko, an idea he came up with four years ago.
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Jamie MacKinnon launched Balanko at The Canadian Toy & Hobby Fair in Toronto. |
Jamie MacKinnon decided to invent a game for his son, Dylan, who was complaining about having nothing to do.
The result was Balanko. The first prototype was crude and made of wood, and the concept was simple: use hand-eye co-ordination to outplay an opponent by releasing a tethered ball to strike another ball traveling on a track. Once knocked off the track, the struck ball lands in one of a series of boxes with a predetermined point value from 50 to 200 points.
No batteries, no flashing lights, no loud noise ?just a fun, simple family game.
It became a hit in the neighbourhood, and before long even parents were coming over to the MacKinnons? house to play.
A friend suggested he should market the game.
After a patent search and some fine tuning, MacKinnon launched Balanko at The Canadian Toy & Hobby Fair, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre last month. It was an annual event organized by The Canadian Toy Association.
"The fair went exceptionally well," he said.
Market research done by the Canadian Innovation Centre indicated Balanko is unique in design and there will be demand for this product.
According to MacKinnon, there were approximately 10 booths set up at the "inventors corner" and owners of stores and distributors would come over and play the games.
"They wanted to see if the games were what they were looking for to sell in their stores."
The game will be manufactured in China and MacKinnon hopes Balanko will be available in stores this summer. The game is expected to retail at $39.99.
For more information contact MacKinnon at [email protected].
