www.toynews-online.biz
SECTOR GUIDE GAMES & PUZZLES 53 Games masters
Sales of board games and puzzles are up year-on-year, despite the rise in popularity for apps and digital games. In fact, more physical games based on online video games are emerging. With more than half of 2011’s overall sales for tabletop games coming in Q4, Dominic Sacco looks at the hottest new products out in time for Christmas…
MATTEL 01628 500 000 HASBRO
The classic board game that lets players make a mint now challenges them to amass one million Monopoly Dollars in Monopoly Millionaire. Then there’s Monopoly Zapped and
The Game of Life Zapped, which let players use apps to combine traditional face-to-face gaming with increased digital functionality. Hasbro also has a host of games based on the popular Zynga iOS apps due out in October, including CityVille Monopoly, FarmVille Hungry Herd and Words With Friends. For boys there’s Connect 4 Dunk,
where players compete to launch and land four of their ‘kwods’ in the
Mattel had two of the top five family games last year, according to NPD December 2011 data, and Uno was the number one card game.
This season it has a number of fresh
products, including Chameleon Crunch, which features a walking and talking lizard, and the smack-and-catch Molehill Mania game. Both are aimed at pre-schoolers. Uno Roboto lets players record their names and create their own ‘house rule’, while rummy-based card game Phase 10 will arrive this year, too.
CARTAMUNDI
Cartamundi is the world’s leading card games manufacturer and has a collection of iconic releases based on major films. The company is the exclusive UK
supplier of playing cards and poker chips used in James Bond Skyfall, which arrived in September, ahead of the new movie’s cinema launch in October. Cartamundi has had a successful
James Bond licence for ten years and also supplied the cards and poker chips for the Bond film Casino Royale. Chief sales coordinator, Bert Van Pelt,
explains: “We are proud that Cartamundi is able to contribute to the success of the world-famous Bond films. We hope the publicity generated by the new James Bond film will raise the profile of both Cartamundi and the playing card game in general. “Poker is still a hype
throughout the world, so we are convinced that this trend can only be stimulated further by the new Bond film Skyfall.” To celebrate the 50th
anniversary of James Bond, Moving on, and Loopz Shifter sees
players take on a series of music-based memory challenges using the infra-red motion sensors. However, this time, there’s over 20 ways to play. There are also games based on hit
apps available, including Cut the Rope (pictured above), Angry Birds on Thin Ice and Fruit Ninja Slice of Life. Mattel’s boys marketing manager Jonathan Kirkley explains: “2012 will see the biggest ever Mattel Games marketing campaign.”
01268 511522
there’s the 007 50th Anniversary Playing Cards (£3.99), where images from Bond movies one to 22 are spread across two collectible packs. Then there is the 007 50th
Anniversary Compact Poker Set (£34.99), with 150 casino-quality chips, both commemorative playing card packs and a sturdy holdall. Finally, kids and families can enjoy
the Madagascar 3 Happy Families Game (£2.99) and the colourful Gift Set (£9.99), which contains Happy Families, Playing Cards and cards to conjure up magic tricks.
DRUMOND PARK
Drumond Park is launching four new children’s games and one family game this year. All five have their own multi- station TV advertising campaigns, and benefit from individual press, broadcast, online, social media PR, promotional and sampling campaigns. FOOOZ is a football action game, for
over fives, which can be played on any flat surface. It’s like table football, but children control the free-standing collectable players by gripping one arm and twisting the other, to manoeuvre and flick the figure in their hands. Pumpazing (for aged three and over), is a pass-the-parcel style game, where players compete to shoot colourful ‘Zinger’ heads from a Zingy unit by pumping his ‘arms’ as fast as they can. The equally unique Spin Mania (six
years plus) is a spinning, speeding, time trial challenge for boys and girls.
IMAGINATION GAMES
Successful new launches for Imagination Games in the spring/summer include Ruckus and the Deadly 60 Tracker board game. It says its autumn/winter
product launches have been received well at retail and should be ‘flying off shelves’. Burping Burt is a cuddly little creature with built in electronic sounds. He parps, snores, sneezes and hiccups at will – which often results in fits of giggles from anyone playing the game, as well as teaching kids to combine their hearing, visual recognition and memory skills. Players race to the end to get ahead of other participants.
01270 619100 There are six different
Trivia Box products available, each with over 400 questions and their own big UK licence. The Simpsons, Family Guy, Top Gear, Match of the Day, Deadly 60 and Now That’s What I Call Music are all
planned to launch.
Kids can also play with five different 3D puzzle Disney Scenario Kits, including Mickey, Minnie, The Lion King, Cinderella and Snow White. Imagination has also gained distribution rights to a large range of products from Educa Borras in the UK, including creative play, ride-ons and puzzle products.
OCTOBER 2012 020 8569 1234
Connect 4 tower, and for girls Twister Dance lets users dance on Twister spots to Britney Spears. They can connect their MP3 player and listen to other artists, too. In addition to the above, Bop It Smash is aimed at teens, while Snackin’ Safari is ideal for pre-schoolers.
01473 322000
Against the clock, they ‘spin-up’ three helicopter-like rotary plates one at a time, and transfer them to stands previously hidden by their opponents. In Logo – What Am I? (eight plus),
players either draw, describe or answer questions, for the others to guess the names of well-known branded items. Ugg Boots, Raybans, Rolex and iPod make an appearance. Logo – Best of TV and Movies (for ages over 12) is a collection of TV and movie memories.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100