World of Professor Brainstorm

Huge Month for Brainstorm!

2009-06-22T23:26:00.004-05:00

Busy, Busy, Busy as a Queen Bee or a Rally Rabbit!

So sorry we have been amiss in keeping up with all of the exciting happenings Professor Brainstorm has been involved with since our new product came in! See the new Professor Brainstorm Kits in the online store at www.playbrainstorm.com

Where to start? Hmm…well, first of all, our new cards were here for a short 48 hours before we hosted our FIRST TOURNAMENT! The first was held at the Champion’s Program for 3 straight days! We played with over 100 children who play with our older version everyday! They loved the new cards too and are an honest testament to the hard work and love that went into the new cards creation. A true collaboration between Chicago, and L.A.! Keep checking the site for more tournament information and other changes coming soon. We were also visited by two of our L.A. team members who flew into Chicago to learn how to play Tournament Style, and to lend a much needed helping hand at all of our events! Thanks Al and Chris!!

During our 3 day Tournament Marathon with the Champions program we also (as promised) returned to Sheboygan Wisconsin to Farnsworth Middle School where during the last week of school, on a bright sunny afternoon, more than 40 middle schoolers stayed after school to play Professor Brainstorm Tournament style! Of course the response was excellent and the students didn’t want us to leave until we promised to return again next year – of course we will! Thanks Dan!

The following weekend, we spent Saturday and Sunday at the Printer’s Row Literacy Festival in Downtown Chicago. We were sponsored by the Chicago Tribune and sat side by side with the Trib and Chicago Now as they televised live from the Fest! Thank you to all of the Friends of Professor Brainstorm who came out to visit, and help as we played with hundreds of youngsters, adults and teachers visiting our booth. Again, this proved we are not just a product – we are a true event! Our product flew off the table and into the homes of many kids! What a great way to spend the summer!

On the last 3 days of school, following the fest, we worked with Jen T. and hosted Tournaments to reward the students at Rutledge Hall School in Lincolnwood, Illinois for their ongoing good behavior. We played with a whopping 450 students in 3 days! Again, many of these kids had played with our original origin deck and they loved the idea of the timer, the new score pads, the spelling word mat and the new Effector/Protector and kingdom coins! Yes, you too can get your own coin by e-mailing me at ilyse@playbrainstorm.com

It has been an extremely busy and productive start to the summer – BUT WAIT! I’M NOT THROUGH YET!!

Are you a Dinkee or a Gobkin?? You need to know because -

OUR ALPHA ONLINE WORLD LAUNCHED ON 6-20-2009

If you have not yet played on line, get on as soon as possible – this is our chance to catch any of the bugs during our alpha testing. Go to:

www.worldofbrainstorm.com

Enjoy, we will continue to update the blog as well as the site – look for changes as well as an e-mail message coming soon from Todd Ferguson, President of Professor Brainstorm, with some very exciting news!

Don’t forget to e-mail me with your successes and photos (with permission)

ilyse@playbrainstorm.com

Let’s do the Brainstorm Blog Again!

Professor Brainstorm's March Madness

2009-04-14T11:31:00.004-05:00

On March 12th - the 14th, two very innovative Ambassadors; Marty and Kristin O’Neill, purchased booth space at the annual Illinois Education Association Convention. The convention was held at the Rosemont Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago, hosting 1500 educators and over 30 vendors!

This mother and daughter-in-law team took the Professor Brainstorm costume, T-shirts and bundles to the convention. As you can see in the pictures they both donned the T-shirts while working the booth. To pass along their personal information, Kristin and Marty decided to take off the plastic wrap on the cards they purchased and place a personalized sticker with their website and phone number on it. – SMART!

The team decided Marty would wear the costume and pique the curiosity of the crowd, while leading them over to Kristin who would then expound upon the educational benefits of Professor Brainstorm! Marty and Kristin also provided two raffle give aways. The raffles enticed people to give them their name and e-mail addresses on a sign in sheet. Now Marty and Kristin can keep their new “clients” up to date on new products and other exciting offerings coming soon. We all know some people just can’t buy now, but are interested and will be glad when you contact them later when they have time to talk and better understand what Professor Brainstorm and Edventure Toys can offer them.

Kristin and Marty both reported doing well at the convention, however their hope is to further the sales through follow up e-mail and phone calls. We all agree that kids are our target market! Adults think Professor Brainstorm is cool, and they understand the educational benefits, but it is the excitement of seeing the kids (their kids) playing and learning that completes the sale. Luckily, many of the educators Marty and Kristin spoke to were interested and would like to perhaps get Professor Brainstorm for their entire school!

Thank you Marty and Kristin!!

Don’t forget to e-mail Ilyse at Ilyse@playbrainstorm.com with your successes, testimonials and pictures (with permission)!!

Let’s do the Brainstorm Blog!!

Edventure Toys Visits the Champion Program and The Kids Win!

2009-03-16T23:43:00.010-05:00

Michelle Conley (Illinois) is a very smart Ambassador! She recently decided to contact her local after school program, called the Champion’s Program to introduce the youngsters to Professor Brainstorm!

The program services Woodland School in Gages Lake, Illinois, giving their students somewhere to go after the school day ends. When Michelle first approached the director about coming out and playing with the students, the response was positive, but there were too many children! Michelle quickly decided to host three events and visit each site separately.

What to bring? Michelle e-mailed Ilyse Brainin and soon she was online purchasing product to sell and inviting Ilyse to present the game to the students! Michelle “bundled” her products (2mats, 2decks) and offered it for $40.00! She also had expansion packs on hand for added fun!

Michelle also decided not go it alone! She called the person who signed her up, who is also a friend, Jennifer Tunelius ! Together they approached parents as they came to pick up their children, many of them still playing! Michelle or Jennifer made sure to ask the parent to fill out their e-mail information, and show them the products. Michelle collected the parents’ information so she can notify them of up and coming events and touch base with them again when new products or the online world are introduced! - GREAT IDEA! Michelle made about $60.00 an event for about 3 hours of work, while having fun! GREAT JOB!

Here is the feedback from the director of the program!:

Hi Michelle -

From what everyone told the kids loved it. Both sites have been playing it non-stop. The 24th will be good for Elem East. I will let the staff know. If you would like to hand out flyers ahead of time that is fine.

Tracy Gaspar

Program Coordinator

Thank you Michelle!

www.explorebrainst orm.com (Michelle’s direct site)

~ Ilyse, Todd, Rich, and of course…Professor Brainstorm!

Don’t forget to e-mail Ilyse (ilyse@playbrainstorm.com) with your successes, testimonials and pictures (with permission)!! Let’s do the Brainstorm Blog!!

Todd Ferguson's Latest Announcements to Founding Ambassadors

2009-03-13T12:27:00.008-05:00

Good Morning Everyone!

We at Professor Brainstorm want to thank you for the wonderful notes and success stories we enjoy from you daily! Your efforts have validated our concept, that an enthusiastic introduction to an exciting learning game can wield a powerful influence on children, parents and teachers.

It’s been a grass roots effort from the moment we roughed out our original concept on a napkin. You have been, and are, a key element in the basic thrust of Brainstorm... to help children, ALL children learn.

So, what’s new? I’m pleased to announce that the final and long awaited box art and designs are in the hands of our printer. Two brand new expansion card sets (Kingdom of Terra and Kingdom of Dragonia), are also complete including over 100 new characters, locations and items. You’re going to love it! The art detail and style is absolutely spectacular. Mike Maurino has outdone himself! Every test group has gone crazy!

Certainly it would have been easier to rush this process, but inventions are a funny thing. They don’t always behave. Our dreams dictate that if Brainstorm is done correctly, the transmedia effects (multi-platform/media) will help thousands of children to learn; easily, inexpensively and enjoyably.

It’s been a very busy few months for us at Professor Brainstorm. Have you seen your new ET website?! The Professor Brainstorm website is also being updated as well, a much needed upgrade several weeks away! We will continue to update with additions forever!

We took some time away from inventing new worlds to visit and support quite a few Edventure Toys local events. We saw the same thing at every event, kids falling in love with the product, and parents’ eager to purchase a new concept in education… a challenging game that promotes learning. As many have reported, these 10-50 person events are extremely effective and productive in spreading the Professor Brainstorm message.

As I write this bulletin today, our LA team is working out final details for our Professor Brainstorm Academy sponsored tournament play. This will be a wonderful way for every Ambassador to host larger, more profitable educational events. Children/Participants will be ranked and given educational and financial rewards for winning these tournaments. To add drama and excitement to the coming announcement of tournament play, it will take place at the same time as our beta launch of Brainstormland, our highly anticipated online world!

What is BRAINSTORMLAND? (codename)

Literally millions of children visit online social flash gaming sights such as ‘Club Penguin and Webkins’ on a daily basis. Their only reward for logging on is that they become adept at playing games having little or no educational value.

In BRAINSTORMLAND kids will play great, ever-evolving games while learning to spell, do math and more. Furthermore, our amazing new-concept flash game technology will appeal instantly to kids yearning for a quest enhanced 3-D experience. With features they cannot find in Club Penguin/Webkins style social worlds. Our architecture will lead them to earning energems, Brainstormland’s currency in the online world.

Brainstormland has been graphically developed by our Brainstorm Studios Group in LA to parallel the success of industry giants like World of Warcraft, Everquest, and others, but with a key advantage. While others require downloading of programs and other distractions, Brainstormland’s 3-D immersive flash based invention allows any child, with a web browser to immediately access our friendly world. Nothing to install, just login, play and learn.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM: In addition to the earning potential of the Edventure Toys model. Our new backend coding of Brainstormland has built in links for PB's affiliate referral program. That means getting paid %’s from paying users linked to you.

BETA: We will be looking for kids to join our online beta launch (only a few weeks away). We would LOVE to have the children of our loyal ET ambassadors have the first chance to access Brainstormland. So, in the coming weeks, we will send out codes and invitations to all of our founding ambassadors. Please login yourself. Get your kids involved, and make sure all of their friends use your code for extra free energems, linking them to YOU!

Additional, more detailed updates will be released very soon. Meanwhile, if you have questions, please feel free to drop me a note.

My sincerest thanks!

Todd Ferguson

President Professor Brainstorm

todd@playbrainstorm.com