Reyn Guyer claims he hasn’t grown up yet. “I don’t feel like I’ve achieved maturity,” the 91-year-old Guyer says honestly, but with a hint of a smile. “Maybe someday I will, but for now, I’ll just go where the ideas pull me.”

That’s right, the creator of Twister and Nerf and member of the Hasbro’s Inventor’s Hall of Fame is still at it. Embracing ideas and creating new products like the 15 Minute Fun & Done collection his company just released.

What keeps him from retiring and spending his days golfing by the ocean? There are simply too many good ideas coming to him and they’re still fun to explore.

The one that changed everything and the one that got away

Guyer began his career in his father’s Point of Sale advertising business, creating sales displays for Fortune 500 companies in the 1960s. In fact, he was attempting to create a sales incentive for a shoe polish company when he hit on the idea for what was to become the legendary board game Twister. He realized that there had never been a board game where the people were the playing pieces.

“There was no other concept like it in the market,” Guyer says. “That’s what kept me inspired, the ‘who knows?’ of it all.”

He assembled a team to create the product (originally called Pretzel) and his father believed in them and the idea enough to invest some money. If you’ve ever played Twister or have seen it on store shelves, you know it was a magnificent success.

But, not every idea is a market winner and even the most successful inventor isn’t going to hit a home run every time.

In the 1970s, Guyer’s company, Reyn Guyer Games, passed on a pitch for a new game idea from a young designer from Chicago. He’d recognized a trend that trivia was popular among his peers. He came up with a game that involved trivia on cards but hit a wall because there were too many cards and he couldn’t determine the right way to share answers. The resulting game would end up costing more than $35, a prohibitively high price at the time.

Guyer and his partners looked at the prototype and shook their heads. “Too many parts, it’s too expensive, who would buy it?” they said. The rejected idea became Trivial Pursuit.

The latest golden idea

Guyer doesn’t look back at the ones that got away, though. He’s too busy with new ideas and his latest venture.

While at a diner, Guyer watched as a mother and her two children played a board game together. He knew that small moment was creating memories for the trio, laughing and connecting over treats and silly competition.

Inspired, he and his dream team launched 15 Minute Fun & Done, a collection of three quick, high-energy games designed to be learned in minutes and played in under 15. It’s fast fun without screens so a family or group can jump in and play together, anywhere, any time.

The project is classic Reyn: tactile, intuitive and, above all, playful.

Guyer’s creative process is less “mad scientist” and more “Broadway choreographer.” He aims for a clear vision, consistently communicates it and acknowledges that it’s often a team effort, with ideas evolving as trusted team members add to the vision.

In fact, one of his favorite projects wasn’t a game or toy at all, but a stage musical called “Spirits.” He wrote the book and lyrics; his partner Jeff Harrington wrote the music and Guyer can still be coaxed into singing the payoff song at fundraisers. To him, lyrics and games are similar, the components have to click together to make a person feel something.

Guyer points out that, at their core, inventing games and writing musicals are about engineering shared experiences. His career has been built on structuring mechanics behind the scenes to create moments where people can dive right in and feel something together.

The Reyn Guyer rapid-fire

To truly understand the man, you must explore his multifaceted mind.

• His muse: Jim Henson. "He took a concept and developed a multiplicity of characters with individual purposes. Everyone knows a Cookie Monster. Everyone knows an Oscar the Grouch. That’s genius."

• The worst job: Unloading wood from boxcars for a furniture company. "That was a very boring summer. No boxcar unloader ever inspired me."
  
  
• His dream dinner party: The entire cast of The Carol Burnett Show. "Laugh-out-loud fun. We don’t have enough of that anymore."
  
  
• Weekend warrior: Playing a “King’s Court” style backyard golf/territory game with his grandkids and great grandkids. "Listening to those conversations, watching the kids try to decide about strategy warms my heart. The adults get into it, too!"

Advice for the next generation

When asked what he would tell a young prospective game inventor today, Guyer doesn't talk about ROI or networking. He talks about listening to your gut and paying attention to signals.

"Go where you think it will be fun,” he insists. "If moving numbers around is fun for you, do that! But if it stops being fun, you’re getting a signal. Listen to it. Be constant in your pursuit of the joy, not just the job."

As Guyer heads to another call with his team to discuss 15 Minute Fun & Done as well as new products and ventures, he isn’t thinking about his legacy. In fact, he doesn’t even like the word “proud,” as he feels it implies taking credit for something that was, in his eyes, a gift from the universe.

"I have three or four ideas right now that I think will make fabulous products," he says. "I just need to work hard to get the models made and get them out to the market.”

Ninety-one years in and Reyn Guyer is still waiting for the next gift of an idea to fall from the sky. When it does, you can be sure he’ll be there to run with it.