Spin Master has singed a 3 year licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products for DC comics properties. The agreement covers games, puzzles, action toys, remote control and robotic vehicles, and water toys beginning in spring 2020.

PlayMonster (5 Second Rule, Yeti in My Spaghetti) is partnering with Audax Private Equity to finance additional expansion through “organic growth and add-on acquisitions.”

Goliath continues to grow, acquiring U.K. based Vivid Toy Group and moving in to the Italian market through a partnership with distributor MacDue. With the acquisition of Vivid, Goliath plans to launch 20 new games in the U.K. market next year.

Drumond Park has signed on with Tomy UK as exclusive distributor for all the former’s games in the U.K. and Ireland.

NSKN Games (Dice Settlers, Teotihuacan) and Board & Dice Games (Beet Empire, Dice Brewing) are merging. The combined company will continue operations under the Board & Dice name.

With the passing of designer Greg Stafford and earlier Stewart Wieck, of the games’ latest publisher, Nocturnal Media, the RPGs King Arthur Pendragon and Prince Valliant have been transferred again to Chaosium.

After a couple of messy PR situations involving insensitive or extremist material in game books, Paradox Interactive is stepping back from the publishing business but not abandoning the World of Darkness altogether. Instead, Paradox is moving to a licensing model and integrating White Wolf’s operations in to the parent company. Modiphius Entertainment, which was already handling distribution, is taking over development and publication for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. This will include production of various supplements (such as The Fall of London Chronicle and Players Guide), as well as oversight of other licensees (Onyx Path Publishing, Elderwood Academy, Dogmight Games, and others).

Impressions Game Distribution Services is being acquired by Flat River Group. The latter is a toy and game distribution company with business in e-commerce and crowdfunding fulfillment. Impressions founder Aldo Ghiozzi will continue with the combined company.

Scientific Games and Hasbro have extended their license agreement through 2025. The agreement covers the use of Hasbro properties, including Monopoly, Battleship, Clue, Yahtzee, and others for lotteries, slot machines, online gaming, and now also table games.

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Spin Master today announced the relaunch of Bakugan in time for the property’s 10th anniversary. A new animated show, Bakugan Battle Planet, will be broadcast by Cartoon Network in the United States, Europe, and most of the globe, and by Teletoon in Canada.

The animated series follows the adventures of Dan and his best friends, the first kids on Earth to bond with the mysterious alien creatures known as the Bakugan.

Of course, integrated with the show will be a new toy line featuring the head-to-head battling game with collectible marble-like balls that pop open and transform in to various creatures when rolled over a magnetic card. Spin Master promises “exciting new features that bring revolutionary card and app play,” including graduated play levels, multiplayer games, and alternative strategy options.

Bakugan was a huge hit for Spin Master in the 2008-2011 time frame and drove major growth for the company, whose brands now also include Gund, Meccano/Erector, PAW Patrol, Etch A Sketch, Hatchimals, and Air Hogs.

Bakugan Battle Planet, the animated series, premiers in North America this December. Bakugan toys will be available in the first quarter of 2019.

Partnering with Spin Master on the return of Bakugan are animation companies TMS Entertainment and Nelvana. TakaraTomy will handle Bakugan toys in Japan.

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These are some weird games!

Pimple Pete from Spin Master is a game in which the players take turns pulling squishy pimples from Pete’s face until one triggers the Mega-Zit on his nose to squirt.

Another from Spin Master is Silly Sausage. It’s a pattern-matching action game meant for kids ages 6+, “Twist Me, Stretch Me, Poke Me…”

It’s not the first dexterity game involving chopsticks but Flying Sushi Kitchen from Redwood Ventures challenges players to catch ping-pong balls as they float on air jets coming out of bamboo stalks. The balls are supposed to represent sushi but for some reason are painted with smiley faces!

And then there’s WizKids’ A’Writhe, which is basically… Cthulhu Twister!?! Players contort their bodies to put hands and feet on location mats in specific patterns to summon the great old ones.

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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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Loopin’ Louie, that beloved dexterity game with the airborne chicken-thief, is moving from Hasbro to Spin Master. The new publisher says that gameplay remains exactly the same but Louie’s flying mechanism spins a moderate 15 percent faster to keep up with modern audiences.

Loopin’ Louie from Spin Master will hit retail in August at $20.

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Goliath Games is recruiting experienced artists with 5 or more years of experience to fill the position of Graphic Designer at the company’s office in Plano, Texas.

Spin Master is in search of a Social Media Producer and an Integrated Marketing Specialist for the company’s Toronto office. For Social Media Producer, what the company wants is someone who’s constantly plugged in to social media and loves to play with toys. Marketing experience and creativity required. The job of Integrated Marketing Specialist will be to develop influencer campaigns, events, and programs. At the company’s Los Angeles office, Spin Master is looking for a Senior Brand Manager to lead product development and marketing for entertainment-based brands, including Star Wars, How to Train Your Dragon, and Pirates of the Caribbean. For this position, an MBA and 4-6 years of consumer product brand management experience is preferred.

Modiphius Entertainment is expanding its miniatures business and needs both freelance 3D sculptors and figure painters. The company is also looking for an Art Director, which could be freelance or full-time, in London or remote.

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Mattel in Frankfurt, Germany has an opportunity for a Marketing Intern – Brand Activation Games to support the company at Essen Internationale Spieltage, test and proofread prototypes, plan advertising, manage social media, and conduct market research.

Wizards of the Coast is recruiting for a Senior Game Designer to join Magic: The Gathering’s R&D team. Requires 3+ years design experience, passion for MtG, ability to lead teams, and familiarity with other CCGs.

Spin Master is looking for someone crafty, outgoing, and comfortable with social media to fill the role of Sand Castle Maker. The position is a 1 year, $50,000 contract to build “imaginative creations” with Kinetic Compounds. Must make at least one video a week, with children.

CENTRA Technology, a consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia (just outside D.C.), has an opening for a Wargame Analyst. The job of the analyst is to organize and implement simulations and exercises involving such topics as space policy, military technology, cybersecurity, and regional affairs.

Goliath Games in Plano, Texas needs a Graphic Designer to design game packaging and layout instruction manuals and game boards. Five or more years of experience is required.

Andromeda Simulations International, which runs board game based training programs on business, finance, and strategy, needs a Marketing Director. The goal is to “focus on solution design and content development,” such as blogging, social media campaigns, email campaigns, and trade shows and conferences.

Cartamundi has a number of openings at its board game manufacturing plant in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Some are shift-based production positions. Others are for IT and logistics.

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Spin Master is acquiring Marbles, maker and retailer of “brain-building” games, gifts, and gadgets. Marbles has been undergoing bankruptcy proceedings and the purchase, including proprietary and licensed games, warehoused inventory, and the Marbles name and website, has been approved by the bankruptcy court. Spin Master is not acquiring Marbles’ retail operations.

Announcing the acquisition, Spin Master touted the move as a continuation of its growth in the games category. Previous acquisitions included Cardinal Industries and Editrice Giochi.

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In what the company’s PR people at Toy Fair said was a recognition of the growing strategy game market, Spin Master is making a bigger push in to hobby and specialty retail. To feed that push, Spin Master has acquired rights to Santorini from Roxley Games and 5-Minute Dungeon from Wiggles 3D.

Santorini is a three-dimensional abstract-strategy game patterned on the architecture of the cliff-side villages on Santorini Island, Greece. Each turn, players build out or up homes on Santorini island and also may move one of their builder pawns one space over, one level up, or any levels down. Whoever is first able to get a builder to the top of a third-level home, not capped with a dome, is the winner.

Besides the simple but engaging game-play, rocketing Santorini up the BoardGameGeek rankings are its beautiful components. Spin Master promises to keep the game and components the same, and sell it for $30.

5-Minute Dungeon ($20) is a fast-play cooperative card game. The idea is to throw down the matching symbols required to defeat each monster card in-order and go through the whole deck before time runs out.

Both games will be launched by Spin Master at Gen Con, where the company is planning a larger presence this year.

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Would you like to be the primary person responsible for the Monopoly brand or help preserve games for museum archives or develop the digital version of a popular card game?

At Hasbro, the numerous open jobs include Senior Director of Global Marketing (“define and drive the global strategy for Family Gaming”), Design Manager (supervise technical design development efforts for a games category product line), and Product Designer (for “Phygital Games” combining physical and digital products). Subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast, is looking for, among others, a Director of Competitive Gaming and eSports for Magic: The Gathering, a Game Designer fluent in Japanese for Duel Masters, and a Principal Product Designer to oversee MtG R&D efforts and “develop strategic direction for block environments.”

Spin Master wants to hire a Public Relations Coordinator to manage outreach to press and a Senior Copywriter to author marketing materials.

Mattel has three Senior Designer positions open in the Boys Toy Box team for people with “a passion for action figures and/or game design.” Also positions for a Sr. Manager Digital Marketing and a Digital Producer.

ThinkFun is looking for a Product Manager and a Senior Product Manager to help organize the company’s projects, keep them moving forward, and manage quality.

Among the people that The Strong (National Museum of Play) is looking for are a Director of Conservation (to preserve games and toys in its collections), a Project Cataloger (to digitize and inventory games and puzzles), and a Teaching Host (to work with visiting school groups).

Ceaco (A.K.A. Gamewright) needs a Sales & Marketing Coordinator to assist with accounts, prepare marketing materials, and analyze sales data.

White Wizard Games (Star Realms) has an opening for a Digital Deckbuilder, that is, someone with experience in server-side apps and “a passion for card games.”

Thames & Kosmos needs a Purchasing & Planning Coordinator for analyzing sales data, managing inventories, and working with suppliers.

TOMY (Battroborg, Mr. Mouth) is recruiting for several positions: Brand Assistant, Digital Merchandising Manager, and Legal & Marketing Coordinator.

Toobeez (U.S. distributor of Funskool games from India) seeks a Junior Sales and Marketing Executive to help with social media, email marketing, and specialty retailer support.

The Toy Industry Association needs a Communications Specialist/Content Developer and a Director of Audience Relations. Both positions have a fair amount to do with New York Toy Fair.

Toyjobs is a specialty recruiter for the toy industry.

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