MILWAUKEE — The inside of one Milwaukee basement looks like a toy store. Dozens of games and toys line the wall. Except, none of these items are for sale. They are all the games and toys made by one Bay View woman.
“I’m a professional inventor. I work with all the major toy companies all around the world, and they come to me for new product ideas," Peggy Brown said.
During her more than 35-year career, Brown has made McDonald’s Happy Meal toys and invented games like Pretty Pretty Princess, Q-Bitz, and Count Your Chickens. She has worked with brands like Kraft Heinz and Barbie and made games for the movies Space Jam and Last Action Hero.
"It's so much fun to make fun," she said.
Brown went to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design to study industrial design. She was just an "arty kid" and didn't know she was about to embark down a road that consisted of making hundreds upon hundreds of toys. After graduating, she got a job with Western Publishing which had a game development division back in the 1980s. The rest of her story is history.
She has made board games, toys, plush animals, written books, and designed puzzles.
"I get to make things. You know how satisfying that is?" she said.
See inside Peggy Brown's incredible toy and game filled basement...
Brown has been part of every single aspect of toy and game invention from conceptualization, production, design, manufacturing, creating the game name, color scheme, content writing, rulemaking, and more. Her games are so well respected, she has won three TAGIE awards which is like the Oscars for game and toy design.
"The way that my brain is happy is when it's producing and I think that's just the way I am," Brown said.
Don't ask her what her favorite game is, though. Picking that is just as hard for her as it is for me to pick my favorite story I have ever done. She is usually most excited about the most recent game or toy she has developed.
The nature of inventing games and toys doesn't allow for her to see how people react to the game. She knows what companies like and can see how a game sells. So what warms her heart is getting to hear straight from the customer.
“But once in a while, I’ll get fan mail. I’ll hear from somebody that’s had this game and they’ll tell me all their family stories about it," she said.
Game development looks far into the future. She is already producing games and toys for the holiday season... but not in 2024.
“Oh gosh, we're on to Christmas of 26. Merry Christmas," she said.
Her basement is full of the next hot toys and games.
Peggy Brown isn't the only game developer in Milwaukee. A mother-daughter duo has also released their first game. It's designed to be easy to understand and quick to play.
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