July 21, 2020The Road to My First Rush Hour
The Road to My First Rush Hour
It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t experienced the joy of driving a toy car around on the living room floor, off a makeshift ramp or on top of furniture. If there’s one thing we know, it’s that kids know how to have fun with cars! This got our wheels turning, so our Product Development team set off to create a car-themed game for preschoolers that would be naturally fun and cleverly educational.
Red “hero” car prototype.
At ThinkFun, cars have always been a focal point – Rush Hour® has been our best-selling logic game for over 20 years! When it came to the creation of this latest game, we had to ask ourselves, “Can we make a Rush Hour game for preschoolers?” We looked to the inventor community experienced in creating games for this age group for ideas. Peggy Brown Creative Studio had a great one: Have children match the image on the challenge card using cars on a grid and then drive the red car out of the maze! This paved the way for My First Rush Hour®.
My First Rush Hour prototype with color samples.
Through our research, we learned that while logic games for preschoolers existed, we felt that many of them were too advanced for the age group they were created for. It was important for us to make sure that My First Rush Hour contained challenges that were age-appropriate and began with simple tasks that gradually become harder. Building off the idea of matching and driving the red car off of the grid, we developed the game further to reinforce several very important concepts that children learn as preschoolers: colors, shapes, and an introduction to problem-solving.
Hazel, a seasoned ThinkFun playtester, checks out the My First Rush Hour prototype.
We made the game grid transparent with a slot for large challenge cards to slide underneath. The cards are visible through the grid, and children place the cars on top of the grid, matching the proper placement based on the visual clues given. We created a gradual progression in the challenges by giving varying amounts of information – sometimes giving both a shape and color clue, or sometimes only one or the other. Lastly, we made the hardest challenges involve basic problem-solving; children need to move one or two cars out of the way to clear a path for the red car to reach the exit.
During the My First Rush Hour photoshoot, 4-year-old Janice had a blast!
To make My First Rush Hour perfect for preschoolers’ little hands, we made all of the components bigger than the original Rush Hour game. To accelerate the fun, we included an on/off ramp, a big green dump truck, big yellow school bus, and a red “hero” car that can drive all over the grid! By the end of our playtesting, it was clear My First Rush Hour was a winner.
The final version of My First Rush Hour!
Did you know…
That the crossing guard in My First Rush Hour was inspired by a real school crossing guard named Leslie? Our Senior Product Developer is very fond of Leslie and wanted her to be a part of the game!