Fall Toy Preview 2010
Cardinal Has New Licenses
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n 2011, Cardinal is expanding its licensing roster, which already includes brands such as Twilight, Disney, Nickelodeon, Star Wars, Glee, Sesame Street, and more. Next year, new licensed games and puzzles from the company will include Chuggington, Thor, Captain America, Family Guy, and Cars 2. New Family Guy products will include trivia games, dominoes, play cards, and puzzles that feature characters throughout the history of the show. The company is also introducing new wood puzzles that range from educational puzzles to knob puzzles to wood compartment boxes filled with assorted puzzles.
Connect, Roll, and Go with Basic Fun
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asic Fun introduces the first full-sized, take-along version of Hasbro’s Connect 4 game, called Connect 4 Roll & Go. The game’s packaging features a play grid that collapses, stores all the game pieces, and becomes a portable canister. The Connect 4 Roll & Go line includes a range of licenses such as Spider-Man, Phineas & Ferb, Hello Kitty, and Transformers. The Changeable Disk Camera, originally introduced by Fisher-Price in 1968, will be available again in fall 2011. Fisher-Price Classics’ Changeable Disk Camera features interchangeable picture disks that are advanced by pressing the “shutter” button. The viewfinder also features a changeable color wheel. Other features include a take-along strap and a rotating flash cube. The camera comes complete with five picture disks featuring Nursery Rhymes I, Nursery Rhymes II, Goldilocks and The Three Bears, Animals and Their Babies, and A Visit to the City. Basic Fun will introduce electronic carabiner games based on classic gaming and traditional games titles. Tetris and Space Invaders will make their debut in miniature carabiner format. Each game will feature the game play that made them so famous for under $10. Also in electronic carabiner form will be Hasbro’s Yahtzee, Connect 4, and Operation. Game play for these games will be consistent with the originals, but in a pocket-sized, take-everywhere format. Doodle Twist Pens feature miniature games that are built into the pen. Pull out the retractable game play surface, remove the game pieces from inside the pen housing, and you’re ready to play. Each Doodle Twist features two games: one that can be played alone and the other that you can play with a friend. Styles include Disney’s Phineas & Ferb, Tinkerbell, and Cars. Basic Fun is also expanding its Koosh line in 2011 with Yo Koosh and Mondo Koosh. Yo Koosh features a full-sized Koosh Ball in yo-yo format. Loop the strap around your finger, throw the Koosh Ball and let it snap back to you. Mondo Koosh is an oversized Koosh Ball. Other Koosh Balls feature characters from Toy Story 3 and Phineas & Ferb. Spider-Man Connect 4 Roll & Go
98 • THE TOY BOOK
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010