FoxMind's GoPop! Pop It! Last One Lost! Over 500 million views on TikTok - tBR Company of the Week

Situated in a discreet building on the fringes of the popular St-Henri neighborhood, three steps away from the serene Lachine canal, in Montreal, in an unassuming industrial building an enthusiastic team is working hard to bring happiness into family living rooms around the globe. FoxMind Canada is a prolific creator and manufacturer of games and toys. They dub themselves as “The Smarter Fun Company”, a succinct mission that dictates that all the products they develop must tickle your brain and rewire your neuron.

Foxes are swift, elegant and astute creatures. They are quiet and cunning when they hunt, and they possess an internal compass. As parents, they artfully teach their pups survival skills. If you throw a ball at a fox, it will engage with you playfully. Inspired by the fox’s versatility and intelligence, FoxMind aims to blend enjoyment with education. A quick browse through its website will make anyone wish they were nine years old again. FoxMind possesses the magical touch required to take a cerebral concept and make it fun and exciting. The result is a frequently nominated company that has amassed numerous international awards, including the Mensa Award, Toy of the Year award and Game of the Year award in Europe.

A case in point is Last One Lost and Pop It! – a worldwide phenomenon the company originally launched in 2013, which has since garnered over 500 million views on TikTok and sold millions of products around the world. This is the product that has turned math teachers into mega influencers on social media.

GoPop! Pop It! Last One Lost!

When the crude prototype of what would later become Last One Lost, Pop It! and GoPop! landed for consideration on FoxMind’s CEO desk, David Capon, he instantly knew that it epitomized what FoxMind stood for – creative, smart, fun! It was a pure logic game disguised as a fun, tactile, quasi-silly, bubble popping thingamajig. No one in or outside the company, except its founder, believed it would sell.

Last one Lost - or its newly branded name GoPop! - is a fun and engaging fidget that can be played alone, or in two as a tic-tac-toe-type game on steroids. It comes with no loose parts, is light and portable, and has a calming effect. To top it all off, pandemic-wary parents can simply immerse it in boiling water and soap to sanitize it. The instructions say that it can be played by children aged 5 and more, but your younger child will certainly enjoy mastering her or his fine motor skills, with chubby little fingers popping away.

Following its initial success, FoxMind has created new forms in addition to the traditional circular one, layering new dimensions into the game. The line today also offers many colors and textures, turning Go Pop! into a fashionable line of collectibles. Different siblings can choose their own color, shape, and size. Though originally designed to be a mathematical game, viewers will encounter numerous creative adaptations of the product while scrolling through TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. The game can be paired with marbles, pebbles, balloons, and any other props hanging around in your house.

GoPop!’s bright colors, amusing “pop” sound and satisfying texture make it a great gift – even to oneself. “Oh my gosh, Guys, it finally came!” squeals one young TikToker, “It took forever to come, it took almost a week to come!” She is too excited to show off the whole toy on camera, and abruptly shuts off the video so she can resume playing with it. In another video, a monkey sits sweetly, transfixed and focused only on popping the bubbles as the universe around her ceases to exist.

A Quick History

GoPop! was conceived on a quiet night in 1975 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Theo Coster, like his famous classmate Anne Frank, was hidden away by an adoptive family during WW2. Unlike Anne, however, Theo survived the war, and in 1955, Theo’s journey brought him to Israel, where he met Ora. The two married and built a family and a business partnership: Theora Design. It has thrived since 1965 with beloved game inventions such as Guess Who?, Zingo, Yahtzee Travel among many others.

Shortly after her sister’s untimely death from breast cancer, Ora awoke from a dream in which she saw fields of breasts. Inspired, she insisted her husband design a game based on her dream. Theo built a triangular prototype with rubber bubbles.

(Theo and Ora Coster)

After a 30-years unsuccessfully attempting to convince well-known toy manufacturers to create a product out of the concept, the prototype landed in the hands of David Capon. FoxMind further developed the concept and introduced the original circular version to the world in 2013 and its rectangular version Go Bong! in 2014. Following the game’s rebranding as Last One Lost and its introduction in Target under the Pop It! brand the game rose to sensational levels. With success, however, arrive the inevitable counterfeiters and imitators. Amidst legal battles against unscrupulous players in North America and around the globe, FoxMind is determined to reach out and tell the unique story of the birth of this global phenomenon, and to inspire consumers and retailers to honor the legacy and authenticity of the Go Pop! line. FoxMind strives for buyers and consumers to realize that the game was originated by a Holocaust survivor, his grieving wife, and a company that believed in a product and took a risk in launching something no one believed would succeed.

Sooner or later, you will inevitably pop some bubbles, either on your own or engaged in a fun and smart game called Last One Lost. Now you can tell the story.