Greetings Toy and Game Industry Professionals!

Another successful Fair!!! If you joined us, thank you. If not, we hope you join us next year. Once again, I think it best to let some of the exhibitors tell you about their experiences:

The Chicago Toy and Game Fair is a proven venue for reaching the general public. Families with children of all ages flowed into our booth throughout the weekend. We were pleased with our sales from the 2003 CHITAG - and sales from this year were even better! See you in 2005! Matt Mariani, Out of the Box Publishing

It was like a whole year's worth of fun packed into one weekend! We will be back. Ken Wickman, National Account Manager ? Sears, Escalade Sports

CHITAG is a wonderful show and one that gives us access to new customers, people we would never see without this show! We?ll be back. Jay M. Tummelson, Rio Grande Games

The show itself was better than I had hoped. Families came and played together all day. Children were accompanied by an adult and they played together. I wasn't a babysitter like I am at some shows. The environment was festive with music and activities everywhere including on the stage. Adults were in a good mood and fortunately buying. I sold 50% more than I expected. I actually profited from a show I hoped to breakeven and get some exposure. I will be back next year. Jay Danner, Classic Golf Gifts

We found CHITAG to be a lively, family-oriented venue where we could interact directly with the consumer, test new ideas and network with industry folks. The added bonus of the media coverage (local TV and print) that we attained due to exhibiting at CHITAG 2004 gave us even broader exposure. Jenna Banks, V.P. MarBan Industries, Inc.

My wife and I attended the Chicago International Toy and Game Fair Saturday. We had so much fun that we came back again on Sunday. We live in McHenry, IL and took the train and then the free shuttles into and out of Navy Pier. We enjoyed having the ability to "test play" games before making decisions on buying them. I've seen many of them advertised before, but being able to play them instead of just relying on the box descriptions was a real plus. I think we were more than "window shoppers" as we spent $274 on 18 games. Thank you so much for making our Labor Day weekend a great one! Bruce Toussaint, Attendee

Great show, kids and parents were all smiles and seemed to have a really fun time enjoying all the new games. Looking forward to another fabulous show next year as it continues to grow. Frank DiLorenzo, R&R Games, Inc.

CHITAG 2004 was even better than last year's success. It was great "work" watching, playing and selling our games to the thousands of attendees. We look forward to CHITAG 2005 which will undoubtedly be even bigger and better. Darlene Calhoun, Chuckle Games - Laughter in a box!

From our point of view CHITAG was a huge success. Will we be back next year? Definitely. I was here in 2003 (as an attendee) and it looked to me that this year was at least double. We?re already planning for CHITAG 2005 when I?m sure it?ll be even bigger. Catherine and Graeme Thomson, HL Games USA Limited

As I expected CHITAG was even bigger and better than last year and I believe it will continue to grow for years to come. We had a great time and certainly enjoyed playing games in our booth. Dave Yearick. Inventor of Tribond, Kuuduck and This Vs That and representative at ToySite/Starbucks's booth

CHITAG was great for us. We were just introducing our first board game and new to the industry. Not only did the show give us the chance to show Roundabout to the public, and get feedback, but we were able to meet many others in the industry, which is very helpful to a company just starting out. Our game even got on local TV. We?ll be back. Greg Otero, Otero Games

As an Exhibitor I found that CHITAG 2004 was a great way for me to get my product out there to the public. My game was showcased on NBC as part of a story about the Fair and I was able to garner more sales by using the live stage at CHITAG to explain and play my product. I'll definitely be back next year! Aaron Gessner, G5 Productions

As a game designer with games at several booths at CHITAG, I was thrilled with the show. I got to watch families enjoying and buying my games and hundreds of other great games, and discovering just how much fun you can have with no computers in sight! CHITAG is right in the center of the current resurgence in America of face to face game playing. This show is here to stay! Aaron Weissblum, Game Designer

The quotes have a common theme ? WE WILL BE BACK. Thousands of toys and games were demoed and sold, attendees enjoyed stage entertainment including Radio Disney Party Patrol, Dr. Cool and Pride, Boots & Lace, Out Of The Box?s Biggest Apples to Apples Game Ever, R & R Smarty Party Live Game Show, The Brainstrain and Celebrity Game Shows, and more. Characters like Cabbage Patch Kids, Captain Pike and Sentence Says Man walked the Fair. The Fiendishly Fun Toy & Game Quiz was a huge hit with a HUGE box of toys and games won by a Fair attendee from Michigan.

Tim Walsh, co-inventor of Tri-Bond and Blurt!, author of The Playmakers, gave an insightful and terrific keynote address to the industry and public to play more. He introduced our special guest, John Spinello, as follows:

In this country, if you create a piece of music that sells a million copies, you?re on the cover of Rolling Stone. If you write a novel that sells that amount ? you?re on the New York Times best-seller list. But if you create the game of Operation ? a game that hasn?t sold a million copies, or 10 million, not 20 million, or 40, but over 50 million copies ? you?re relatively unknown? Unknown perhaps, but no longer uncelebrated. John Spinello the inventor of Operation is here this morning! There are many other inventors here and maybe, just maybe they?ve invented the next 50 million seller. Maybe you?ll be the first to play it here at CHITAG.

Thank you, Tim, and everyone who helped to make 2004 grow to the success it was. We are already making plans for 2005 and we hope you are part of them!

Mary Couzin, Show Manager

Contact mcouzin@chitag.com, www.chitag.com or 847-677-8277 for more information.

Help celebrate National Games Week November 21 - 27!!! Visit www.nationalgamesweek.net for details.