Playtime Co.

Founding and products

Elliot Ludwig founded Playtime Co. in 1930. Its first hit was the Poppy Playtime doll, which went on sale in 1950. The doll was fitted with a voice box, and it was the breakout success for the young company.

The toys that followed were Bron in 1961, Boxy Boo in 1966, Candy Cat in 1979, Huggy Wuggy in 1984, Kissy Missy in 1985, Mommy Long Legs in 1991 and Boogie Bot in 1993.

The factory

All five chapters take place inside the company's abandoned toy factory. Playtime Co. led the toy industry until the day everybody inside it disappeared.

The factory holds public areas such as the Game Station, an underground orphanage called Playcare, a prison, laboratories and a train line that links them.

Playcare

Playcare is the company's on-site orphanage, built under the factory. In Chapter 3 the Player rides a cable car called Elliot's Express into it while a recorded speech by Elliot Ludwig plays.

It had dormitories called Home Sweet Home, a school, a playhouse and a counselor's office. Stella Greyber was Head of Playcare, and Joel Sinclair was head counselor.

Orphans from Playcare were tested in the Game Station and used as subjects for the Bigger Bodies Initiative.

Bigger Bodies Initiative

The Bigger Bodies Initiative was the company's program to make large living versions of its toys. Harley Sawyer started it. On a Project: Playtime tape he pitches giant toys as a way to grow the workforce and cut the risk of lawsuits.

The subjects were mostly Playcare orphans, who were tested in the Game Station first. Some adults were used too. Thomas Clarke, an employee since 1955, volunteered and became a Bron.

The experiments were given jobs. Huggy Wuggy, Experiment 1170, worked as factory security. Mommy Long Legs, Experiment 1222, ran the Game Station.

Young Geniuses Program

The company also ran a Young Geniuses Program. A letter found in Chapter 4, in an office behind the Doctor's Headquarters that needs a keycard, has Elliot Ludwig removing a young Harley Sawyer from it for his lack of humility. Sawyer had been Ludwig's pupil.

How the company ended

On August 8, 1995 the experiments killed nearly all the staff inside the factory, in an event the toys call the Hour of Joy. The factory never reopened.

To the public the staff simply vanished. The letter in Chapter 1 says everyone thinks the staff disappeared ten years ago. In 2005 the Player, a former employee, goes back.