Below you will find several photographs that, though they won't provide a complete pictorial history, will give you some insight into the people and places that make up Fat Brain Toys. We will provide occasional updates to this page throughout the year so please check back the next time you visit!
Thanks to our friends at The Incredible Pizza Company and CJM Racing, Fat Brain Toys had the pleasure of sponsoring the #11 car during the inaugural Nationwide NASCAR race at the Iowa Speedway.
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The last Friday of every month at our retail store in Omaha is proclaimed "Fat Brain Friday". For the month of July, we hosted a beach party complete with...well, a beach. As witnessed by the photo above, kids turned out in droves!
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The "World Headquarters" of Fat Brain Toys recently moved to a new office location. Unfortunately it came with a "some assembly required" sticker on it!
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The annual ASTRA show was held in Minneapolis this year, with Fat Brain Toys on hand to introduce two new games to market. It didn't take Karen & Shannon long to seek out that famous Minneapolis landmark...Mary Tyler Moore.
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Once again, the Fat Brain Toys contingent was on hand at the International Toy Fair in New York City - this time showing our new Twig product to great acclaim!
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For our annual meeting, the Fat Brain Toys crew met at the Strategic Air & Space Museum - which was consistent with our own mission of "rising above".
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What do you do when you fill up your UPS trailer? You stack it high!
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Setting impossibly high standards for other sales reps, Bob Porazil with Ketz Associates donned a Fat Brain Toys t-shirt to scale the Sears Tower as part of the Go Vertical fundraiser for cancer research.
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Fat Brain Toys was recently honored with a very prestigious award - The 2008 Better Business Bureau Integrity Award! Pictured are proud representatives accepting the award on behalf of the entire company.
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Over 50 employees, friends, and family of Fat Brain Toys participated in the 2008 Omaha Corporate Cup. We're able to stretch our legs, have some fun, and raise some serious money for the American Lung Association.
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Any serious exercise requires an ample cool-down period...ours involved juice, coffee cake, and cupcakes.
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Nancy and Sharon showing the boys how it's done...
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John recently represented Fat Brain Toys in the 73rd meeting of the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, a Department of Defense outreach program. Pictured is John, SPC Ackerman, and the pirate kite that linked the two half-way across the world. Read the complete story in the latest Toy Times!
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For a recent "product training" session, everyone in the company was instructed to create their own version of the Classic Sock Monkey. The monkeys that were created were as diverse as the people who made them. Some followed the directions to a "T", some used great creativity, some used fine sewing skills, while others, ahem, resorted to hot glue and staples.
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Our friends at the United States Postal Service bestowed a major honor upon us by placing the Fat Brain Toys logo on the number 27 car during the Busch Series NASCAR race at the Kansas Speedway. Photographed is John, Mark, and "our" race car.
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Fat Brain Toys has been attending the American Toy Fair in New York City for several years but this was the first year that we sat on the other side of the booth as an exhibitor. Our original creation, Dado Cubes, attracted tremendous interest from retailers of all types and sizes.
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Fat Brain Toys was well represented at the International Toy Fair in New York City in 2006. Six of us made the trip to ensure that we identified all the greatest specialty and educational toys on the market. We also identified 26" of snowfall while we there too!
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Pictured is Ken, the world's greatest UPS driver and all around great guy! The boxes he's loading are the first wholesale shipments of our first original product, Dado Cubes.
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Guess who showed up at our employee appreciation night? No, he was busy...but the Mrs. stopped by to read the kids some stories and keep all the Moms and Dads entertained too.
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The Toy Fair is known to pull in a celebrity or two each year. Karen fulfilled a life-long dream of meeting Marie Osmond and also had a Kathie Lee Gifford sighting. Pictured here is John with a new acquaintance, Napoleon Dynamite. Funny though...he looks much different in person than on the big screen.
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Pictured above is the chaos known as moving day. Fat Brain Toys recently moved our offices and warehouse to better accomodate our business. A big thanks goes to all our volunteers (aka family and friends) for their efforts in getting us moved.
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The common perception is that elves are height-challenged, pointy-eared fellows that wear goofy hats. Our elves don't look like that at all! In fact, we have several elves well over six foot tall! Pictured here is Elf Scott, Elf Dan, and Elf Britt on the packing line.
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During the Fall Toy Show in New York City, we dropped in on our friends at GEOMAG to see what they have cooking for 2006 and also to admire the fabulous models they have in their showroom. Pictured is Karen and Mark ever-so-delicately holding an intricate Geomag/GeoPanel creation.
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Man!! Our backs are tired! As we gear up for the holiday season, our warehouse staff is keeping busy getting inventory in the door. Pictured here is Scott and John at the receiving end of the conveyor.
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For the grand opening of our new offices and warehouse in Elkhorn, Nebraska, we hosted an open house that featured food, free toys, demonstrations, and a magic show by the Amazing Arthur. Pictured is Arthur with two of his "victims" and their ultra-cool hats.
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The Fat Brain Toys staff photographed during our grand opening celebration in October 2004. Since it's just before the run up to the holidays, you'll notice that everyone still has that sparkle in their eyes - unaware of the holiday chaos they're about to encounter! Pictured is Jodi, Jill, Mark, Karen, Adam, Sharon, Alec, and Kim.
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Fat Brain Toys exhibited at the San Francisco Gift Fair in February of 2005 to introduce our magnetic sensation, UberOrbs. Photographed is co-founder Mark Carson with a new friend, Lawrence of Taxi Wallet fame.
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Here's the family behind the "family run" business. Pictured is (in the back row) Adam, Karen, and Mark, co-founders of Fat Brain Toys. The "blondies" in the front row are Adam's younger sisters, Makenzie and Jenna.
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Our display at the San Francisco Gift Fair required the assembly of over 600 UberOrb boxes. You'll notice that Karen is still smiling after putting together the first 10!
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Photographed is probably the largest kite you'll ever see - the "Raptor" with a wingspan of over 20'. We haven't had the guts to fly one ourselves for fear of blowing into the next county.
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During busy periods of the year, we occasionally have inventory literally coming out our ears. Photographed is Karen, Kim and Jodi enjoying a well-deserved break after unloading a large shipment of Brio products.
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As the saying goes, "what goes up, must come down". Similarly, "what comes in, must go out". Pictured is a stack of outbound orders waiting for our favorite UPS guy, Ken, to come pick up.
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This is actually a very rare photo of the "early days". As you might already know, Adam was the inspiration behind the predecessor to Fat Brain Toys, ToyMagnets.com. This is Adam and our dog Buddy in the basement of our home where we shipped all our orders from in the Winter of 2002.
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One of the benefits for kids of owning a toy store is the
frequent opportunities to sample new toys and games. Here Adam
demonstrates his 4th Grade science project, a levitating train built
from the Dowling Magnets Simply Science Levitation Set.
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Elkhorn, Nebraska USA 68022