PlayPlax the award-winning great British toy is back!
Forget pressing electronic buttons, or watching TV or computer screens - the iconic British game that ensures children use their own creativity and imagination is back. Designed and manufactured in England as it always was, Portobello Games has resurrected the 1960s iconic children's toy PlayPlax.
PlayPlax is a box of 48 vibrantly coloured squares that interlock with each other, allowing children to create all manner of objects from planes to castles, towers and ships. It can be played either by yourself or with friends. No batteries, no manual, no electronic beeps or peeps.
PlayPlax was designed in 1966 by award-winning toy designer, Patrick Rylands. The original game sold over one million copies by 1970 and was on sale in over 30 countries. Now Portobello Games brings back this simple and creative toy for the children aged over the age of three.
A great compendium of British talent has come together to bring PlayPlax back to market. The toy was originally designed by Patrick whilst studying in London, the box is designed by London-based Webb & Webb and is made in Leicestershire. The PlayPlax squares are manufactured in the original factory based in Cheshire - using the original dye recipe colours. And Portobello Games operates from Hampshire.
Founder of Portobello Games and mother of four children herself, Lucy Baring had loved PlayPlax since childhood and always dug it out of the cupboard when visiting her parents with her own children. She says: "To me, PlayPlax always was and probably still is the best designed toy ever. We are really proud that in the modern culture of manufacturing everything at a low cost overseas, we have managed to make PlayPlax entirely using British manufacturers and suppliers, while remaining price competitive."
The toy's designer Patrick Rylands says: "A toy that does everything allows a child to do nothing. When designing PlayPlax I always kept in mind the cardboard box which excels because a child can make anything of it, even though the box suggests so little itself that the child is completely free to use its imagination. PlayPlax was the new 'cardboard box' of its time and with Portobello Games help, I believe it has the ability to be popular again."
Lucy says: "When PlayPlax was made obsolete in the early 90s, the tooling was also scrapped. We wanted to exactly replicate the first edition and so we tracked down the original factory based in Cheshire who developed new tooling and found the original dye recipes. The finish had to be perfect and Patrick's long-time friend and design guru Brian Webb had always wanted to design the box for it - and he finally got the chance to do it!"
Why buy PlayPlax?
Research on child development and creativity has found that the best toys for children are "open-ended toys" rather than those that dictate how they are played with. These foster children's imagination and have the potential to be different every time a child plays with them, requiring more thinking and creativity on the part of your children and allowing them to direct the play themselves.
Where to Buy?
PlayPlax is priced £15.99. It is suitable for boys and girls aged three upwards (and design-mad adults too) and is available from Amazon, independent toy shops or direct from portobellogames.co.uk.
Portobello Games' new edition of the classic toy, PlayPlax now holds a place in the permanent collection of the V&A, and looks as fresh and modern as if it were invented yesterday.
