Today, Hasbro releases a second Nintendo-based Monopoly game, Monopoly Gamer: Mario Kart. Property spaces include Rainbow Road and Bowser’s Castle. Player tokens include Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, and Toad. In this version, landing on or passing the Go space starts a race between players for the Grand Prix card.

The Mario Kart edition of Monopoly Gamer is available today at GameStop for $25 and will find its way to additional retailers this summer. Power Packs with player tokens for Bowser, Rosalina, Shy Guy, Metal Mario, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi (each with unique special powers that trigger on a Power-Up Boost die roll) will release in the fall.

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TCGplayer has received a $10 million equity investment from Radian Capital. The company says the money will allow it grow staff while it expands its collectible market portal and retail support service from CCGs to board games, roleplaying games, comic books, sports cards, and video games.

Mayfair Games is closing up shop and has sold all its remaining game assets, as well as its majority stake in Lookout Games of Germany, to Asmodee North America. Lookout will continue to operate as a design studio of Asmodee.

Spin Master has signed a distribution deal with Toysmith for a variety of toy brands, including games and puzzles from Spin Master’s Cardinal subsidiary. The arrangement, which takes affect in June, will see Toysmith as exclusive distributor to the specialty market for the covered ranges.

North Star Games has instituted a minimum advertised pricing (MAP) policy, which is “non-negotiable for all North Star Games’ resellers and will be strictly enforced to ensure the continued value of its brand.” The company also issued a statement saying that, effective immediately, except for two unnamed parties, all sellers will be restricted from participating in Amazon’s Third-Party Marketplace. North Star promises to monitor product listings and suspend or terminate the accounts of those sellers that do not comply.

Hasbro has signed on as the master toy licensee for Power Rangers (Saban Brands), UglyDolls (STX Entertainment), Super Monsters (Netflix), and Top Wing (Nickelodeon), though only the announcement for Power Rangers specifically mentions games.

According to NPD, Mattel’s UNO card game was the top selling game in the United States in 2017.

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Hasbro’s new Transformers Trading Card Game is scheduled for release in September. Though little else has been revealed publicly about this WOTC-developed game, I did get a look at some prototype product in Hasbro’s New York Toy Fair showroom. No photos but here’s what I learned…

In the game, Transformers are represented by oversized cards with bot versions on one side and vehicle versions on the other.

While not active yet, the official website will be TransformersTCG.com.

The contents of 2-player starter sets will include:

• 4 foil Transformers cards
• a 40 card battle deck
• damage counters
• turn order card

So, one battle deck for two players. Does that mean opposing players share a battle deck?

Also at Toy Fair, Ultra Pro said it is working with Hasbro to ship accessories (such as card folios and deck boxes) in time for the game’s launch.

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Here are a few pictures of Star Wars toys from New York Toy Fair. Not games but I thought you might enjoy them nonetheless, including the Lego Kessel Run Millenium Falcon ($170, April), Hasbro’s Furreal Friends Chewbacca, and the 4 foot long Jabba’s Sail Barge available via HasLab crowdfunding. [Click for even larger images.]

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Following up on its recent launch of the adjustable Beyblade Burst Switchstrike line, Hasbro revealed at New York Toy Fair this week remote control Beys, a multilevel stadium, and the most powerful launcher yet, all to be released in the fall.

Beyblade Burst Digital Control Kits feature Bluetooth-connected tops that allow players to speed-boost their Beyblades mid-battle, switch spin-direction left or right, and initiate an Avatar Attack accompanied by flashing lights. Included in each kit are a Command Launcher, a Battle Platform, and one remote control Beyblade Burst Top (either Valtryek V3 or Fafnir F3) for $40.

The Beyblade Burst Evolution Switchstrike Battle Tower is a two-level battle stadium for two players on one side and a two-level stadium for four players flipped to the other side. For $50 retail, the tower comes with two tops and two launchers.

And for a 50 percent improvement in launch speeds, there’s the Beyblade Burst Xcalius Sword Launcher. It’s part of the Beyblade Burst Evolution Xcalius Set ($20), as is a right-spin Xcalius X3.

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After reporting in its recent financial results an 8 percent revenue growth for the overall gaming category in 2017, Hasbro on Friday said that Dungeons & Dragons sales were up 80 percent. That performance made 2017 the best year for D&D ever.

A new agreement with Paramount will have Hasbro participating to a greater degree in funding its movie franchises but will also provide more reliable release dates. The Dungeons & Dragons movie is scheduled to hit theaters in 2021.

Star Wars revenue was down in 2017 but Hasbro remains positive about the license, saying the decrease represents a transition to more consistent sales, rather than surges tied to individual movie releases. One of the new Star Wars products that the company is planning for this year is a Furreal Friends Chewbaca.

Citing data from NPD,  Hasbro claimed 13 of the top 20 face-to-face games in G10 markets, with Monopoly the number one overall games property.

Online retail accounts for 20 percent of the company’s toy and game sales.

Magic: The Gathering had the best year on record of new player growth.

Hasbro is launching HasLab to “put the power of innovation in the hands of fans.” Actually, HasLab is a crowdfunding platform for premium products not suitable for normal retail channels. The first campaign is for a toy model of Jabba the Hut’s sail barge in the scale of the company’s Star wars Vintage Collection. That makes it over 4 feet long! Five thousand backers at $500 each are required to go to production.

A new Dungeons & Dragons mobile game, Warriors of Waterdeep, is in development by Ludia.

Wizards of the Coast is working on other projects besides just Magic and D&D. The Hasbro subsidiary is developing a Transformers TCG and an Axis & Allies and Zombies board game.

Digital listening is driving development in Hasbro’s gaming category, whether games based on online trends or games designed for online sharing. The company has even put together a “quick strike team” for rapid development and speed to market with social listening.

Hasbro also has weather-targeted games marketing, running additional ads when its raining.

Hasbro sees location-based experiences as a key growth opportunity. This includes live shows, hotels, cruises, and family entertainment centers. Coming soon from Marriott are My Little Pony and Transformers hotels in Shanghai.

The company will launch on Earth Day a partnership with Terracycle to recycle toys and games.

WOTC will soon launch a Magic: The Gathering companion app called Portal, which in addition to a rules reference and life-tracker, will feature a matchmaker of sorts to connect players with new people for face-to-face home games. Netmarble is developing a mobile-to-mobile MtG app.

Hasbro has snagged the master toy license for Power Rangers. Products will begin arriving on shelves in 2019.

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According to Hasbro, in a recent survey of 2,000 people, almost half reported incidents of cheating during games of Monopoly. So to combat this problem, the company has launched the Monopoly CheatBot on Facebook Messenger. Answer a few questions about the problem player and how they cheated and Mr. Monopoly will generate a penalty card. For example, a player who steals from the bank may be sent to the Monopoly jail or someone who fails to pay rent will have to pay a $200 fine.

Cute. But Purple Pawn’s recommendation on how to deal with cheaters is simply not to play with them.

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The DropMix music-mixing audio card game was on display Tuesday at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas), where Hasbro and Harmonix partner NXP Semiconductors is hoping the demonstration will inspire additional uses of its near field communications technology in “areas like consumer engagement in smart toys, smart clothing, smart packages and more.” Fans of the game attending CES will be happy to note that the convention-exclusive Transformers DropMix cards are also being distributed at NXP’s booth (CP-25).

Shipping February 1st is the next DropMix expansion, the Country “Lucky” Playlist Pack, which includes 15 DropMix cards and one hidden track card. with music from Big & Rich, Carrie Underwood, Poison, Sam Hunt, and the Zac Brown Band.

For those interested but previously put off by the game’s full retail price, Amazon is currently offering DropMix at a 50% discount.

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Last year we got mouth guard and bottle flipping games. So what new games inspired by social media do we have for this year?

Based on the whisper or lip-reading challenge, Hasbro has for us Hearing Things ($15). In the box is a set of headphones that plays garbled sounds of people speaking, thus masking the sounds of actual people speaking when they read phrases off the included cards. Otherwise, game play is the same.

From Hasbro and Mattel both we have no-thumbs challenge games. Hasbro’s is called Get a Grip ($20) and comes with four cloth wraps to immobilize players’ thumbs, 60 challenge cards, two cans of sculpting clay, and two drawing pads. Mattel’s is called simply No Thumbs Challenge ($20) and comes with 56 cards (112 challenges) and eight plastic thumb straps, each with a silly plastic thumb unhelpfully sticking out to the side (but for safety, a player’s actual thumb is held securely to the palm). In either case, the goal is to complete the task as best one can without the benefit of an important evolutionary trait, opposable thumbs.

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With My Little Pony: The Movie in theaters, it’s time for the licensed games in stores.

There are, of course, Hasbro’s My Little Pony: The Movie Monopoly Junior ($17), My Little Pony: The Movie Guess Who ($17), My Little Pony: The Movie Pie Face ($20), and My Little Pony: The Movie Candyland ($20), all available now, the first three exclusively at Toys “R” Us.

Releasing to retail November 24th is Seaquestria & Beyond, the ninth set for the My Little Pony CCG from EnterPlay. It adds new keywords, Traveler and Transform, new Mane characters, and elements from the movie, such as the Friendship Festival and The Storm King’s reign of terror. Single packs with 12 cards will be $3.49.

And then there’s The Official Movie Sourcebook ($20) due later this year for Tails of Equestria, the My Little Pony roleplaying game from River Horse. With this, players get new playable races (cats, parrots, hippogriffs, and lizardfolk), NPC stats from the movie, a new adventure, details for areas outside of Equestria, and rule options for factions, reputation, and vehicles.

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