Despite being an iconic toy, the story of Colorforms actually began in a bathroom!

When art students Harry and Patricia Kislevitz decided to redecorate their home they were faced with a problem… the price of paint was too high. They quickly began searching for a colorful solution to their bland walls. In 1951 they found their answer: a roll of thin-flexible vinyl. The colorful vinyl proved to be an attractive fix for the undecorated walls, but Harry and Patricia realized there was even more artistic opportunity hidden in the vinyl; they began cutting the vinyl into various shapes to create beautiful art pieces on the walls of their bathroom. Harry enjoyed creating abstract modern-art pieces, while Patricia focused on more realistic designs like boats sailing on a beautiful blue ocean.

However, the Kislevitzes assumed no one else would find any interest in sticking the vinyl pieces together. They were content with simply entertaining themselves. But they did recognize how much fun could be had with the vinyl, so they encouraged house guests to join the fun. Hoping guests would add to their creations, the Kislevitz placed some extra vinyl and a pair of scissors in the bathroom. When their friends became entranced with the myriad of colorful shapes and artistic possibilities, Harry and Patricia knew they were onto something. With some more design and development, Colorforms was born!

The first Colorforms set was hand-cut by the Kislevitz themselves. A thimble, a bottle, and a medicine container top were just some of the shapes used to make that very first set. It was designed by Patricia, and is now part of the permanent collection at the prestigious Museum of Modern Art. Fans can still purchase the Original Classic Colorforms Set, a reproduction of the set that started it all!

Although Colorforms originally targeted artists and adults, the product surprisingly became popular with children. Then Colorforms exploded in popularity and orders were rushing in.  Operation began to quickly outgrow the Kislevitzes’ tiny apartment, prompting an exciting move to a factory in New Jersey. With bigger space and more production Colorforms were able to grow into a national phenomenon.

Soon after, a new type of Colorforms set would be introduced. In 1957, the spinach-eating Popeye became one of the first ever licensed characters to be featured in a toy. Today kids can play with their favorite modern characters like SpongeBob SquarePants, Barbie and PAW Patrol, as well as classics like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Snoopy.

Even after nearly 70 years, Colorforms continues to be extremely influential in the toy industry. In 2020, the late Harry Kislevitz was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame because of the innovative practices he employed with Colorforms. Some of these include the use of licensed characters in marketing and combing learning with play to make a fun educational product; two major themes in the current toy industry.

With over 1 billion sets sold, Colorforms have allowed generations of artists, children, and adults to stretch their creative muscles and easily create beautiful works of vinyl art. But it wouldn’t have happened if Harry and Patricia Kislevitz hadn’t decided to redecorate their bathroom walls.

At a table in a New York Indian-restaurant, three people schemed their masterplan…the plan to—Break In!

Toy engineer David Yakos, and husband and wife game-designers Nick Cravotta and Rebecca Bleau first met at the New York Toy Fair and became fast friends. Their relationship blossomed as they reminisced about their various adventures in the toy industry. The trio quickly realized they could combine their minds to create a new type of board game. However, they still didn’t know exactly what that game would be.

Around that time, another form of entertainment was booming in popularity: escape rooms. After playing through some escape rooms, David fell in love with the concept and realized he wanted to find a way to bring the escape experience into living rooms. But he ran into a problem, how could someone escape from a tiny box?  Then, inspiration struck! Since you can’t fit inside the box to escape, it’s better to Break In!

David constructed a 3-dimensional layered-escape concept box and shared it with his partner inventors. Nick and Rebecca loved the idea and began crafting a background story to go along with it.

Nick and Rebecca grabbed from their extensive creative backgrounds to craft compelling narratives to go along with the breakout escape box concept. As a child, Rebecca was inspired by the Choose Your Own Adventure book series, so she wanted to incorporate multiple scenarios and endings into the Break In games. Rather than a single finale like most board games, they wanted players to find a variety of outcomes.

David is a huge fan of adventure movies like Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. Working with Nick, they decided to incorporate the feelings of mystery and excitement that those movies offer. Because Break In would be an extremely interactive medium, Nick drew from his past experiences writing murder-mystery dinner experiences. His plan was to combine the feeling of adventure movies with the exciting twists and turns of a mystery dinner.

When the core ideas were fleshed out, the trio had to choose a setting for their game. Since they were all well-traveled, they looked at some of their favorite places. Their goal was to recreate some of the most fascinating places on Earth right in a player’s living room! After some discussion, it was decided that their first Break In game would be set in the famous Alcatraz prison and follow the story and setting of the only successful escape attempt, set in 1962.

With a rousing narrative, great gameplay, and an adventurous location, the inventors needed an artist to tie all these aspects together. They called on DC Comics artist Steve Downer to create the art. Steve had experience working on titles like Superman and Wonder Woman, and his unique style was a welcome addition to the team.

With all the necessary components in place, the Break In concept was ready! David, Nick and Rebecca had made their idea an exciting reality! Now people can Break In to some iconic places right in their living rooms!

Marsha Jean Falco, Founder of Set Enterprises, Inc., received her M.S. in Population Genetics from Michigan State University and her B.S. in Animal Science from Arizona State University.

The idea for the SET game actually has a surprising origin. In 1974 in Cambridge, England, Marsha was studying the genetics of animals like cows and German Shepherds. To keep track of all her data, Marsha created file cards with blocks of information for each animal. Rather than writing out numbers each time, she drew symbols to represent the information. Each animal had a different combination of symbols.

Marsha began sharing her findings with veterinarians. To explain the math behind different combinations, she used the cards and symbols. While listen to Marsha a veterinarian got excited and asked, “So if you combine these you have a set?” At that moment, inspiration struck! Marsha saw the fun in finding different combinations and was inspired to create her first game: SET. Over the years, she refined the game play by using her family and friends as test subjects. In 1990 SET was officially released.

Marsha continued to develop unique games, each spanning various styles of game play. Her other games include: Five Crowns, Quiddler, Karma, WordSpiel and Zangle. She expanded on some of her fan-favorite games by creating brand extensions: SET Junior, Five Crowns Junior, Quiddler Junior, Quiddler Deluxe and The Quiddler SHORT Word Dictionary.

Although she is now retired from Set Enterprises, Inc., Marsha still enjoys creating games. Her other hobbies include horse-riding, creating bonsais and volunteering for K9 Search and Rescue organizations. She is an active member of MarK9, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue K-9 Posse, and MC², the Mountain Canine Corp in Los Alamos, New Mexico.