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PLAYMONSTER HONORED WITH AN INDUSTRY-LEADING SIX FINALISTS FOR ASTRA BEST TOYS FOR KIDS

BELOIT, Wis. (April 28, 2020) — PlayMonster is proud to announce that it has six finalists for the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA) 2020 Best Toys for Kids list. Out of hundreds of nominations, the following products have been named as finalists in six of the 14 categories: Spirograph® Scratch and Shimmer for Arts & Crafts, Mirari® SkillDillies for Early Play, Drone Home™ for Games 7 and under, TAG™ for Games Teens and Adults, Face Paintoos™ for Pretend Play, and Snap Ships™ for Pretend Play Vehicles.

PlayMonster is known for being “Big on Fun” — and its 2020 lineup reaffirms its dedication to bringing new, exciting and innovative products to independent toy and specialty retailers. ASTRA is the only program of its kind and its goal is to heighten consumer awareness of the value of open-ended play and the role these independent retailers have. PlayMonster is a proud member of ASTRA and recognizes the shared value of the “Power of Play” and the importance of supporting small businesses and the communities they serve.

“PlayMonster is committed to innovation, and we think these finalists reflect that. It’s an indication of the hard work and determination of our entire team to be recognized by independent toy and specialty retailers,” said Scott Flynn, VP Sales & Marketing of PlayMonster LLC. “We know the positive impact ASTRA and its retail members have on their communities, which is why we continue to create innovative toys and games for them.”

Independent specialty toy retailers have begun voting to select the winning products, and the deadline for ASTRA member retailers to vote is May 10, 2020. Winners of the 2020 Best Toys for Kids list will be announced in early July 2020.

About PlayMonster LLC

PlayMonster, a leading international toy and game company, believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives, and strives to keep play alive for all ages by delivering great play value through designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative and fun toys, games and activities. PlayMonster’s diversified portfolio includes popular brands and products such as “TOTY Game of the Year” Yeti in My Spaghetti®, plus The Game of THINGS…®, 5 Second Rule®, Relative Insanity®, Face Paintoos™, Mirari®, Farkle, SET®, Five Crowns®, OK to Wake!®, My Fairy Garden®, Fashion Plates®, Marbleocity®, Y’Art®, Latchkits®, Kid O® and Snap Ships™.

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For More Information, Please Contact:                                        

Lisa Wuennemann                              Jonathan Siemens
PlayMonster LLC                                Director, Marketing and Communications – ChizComm
(800) 524-4263 x1275                        (416) 551-0822 x330
lisaw@playmonster.com                    jsiemens@chizcomm.com

 

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PLAYMONSTER SHOWS IT’S BIG ON GIVING BACK BY DONATING MEDICAL MASKS TO LOCAL HEALTH CARE FACILITIES

BELOIT, Wis. (April 23, 2020) — Beloit-based toy and games company, PlayMonster known for being “BIG ON FUN” shows it’s also big on giving back by donating 4,500 medical masks to local Beloit Health Systems.

PlayMonster is very appreciative of its success and knows that success would not be possible without the support of its hometown, Beloit, WI, and surrounding communities. To show its appreciation, PlayMonster has donated 4,500 medical masks to the local Beloit Health Systems to help their frontline workers stay safe during the COVID-19 crisis.

“Giving back to our local community is something we pride ourselves on, and we are incredibly grateful and appreciative of all the frontline workers,” said Bob Wann, Chief PlayMonster at PlayMonster.

The masks will be donated to local health care facilities including the Beloit Hospital, Beloit Clinic, Beloit Health System UW Cancer Center, NorthPointe Health and Wellness, as well as other facilities belonging to the Beloit Health System.

Since its founding in 1985, PlayMonster has grown from a small game manufacturer to a global toy industry leader, creating learning toys, STEM products and educational games and activities for children and families that promote the power of play at home and around the world.

About PlayMonster LLC

Beloit, WI-based PlayMonster is a toy and game company that believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Delivering great play value by designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative, fun products such as “TOTY Game of the Year” Yeti in My Spaghetti® and “TOTY Doll of the Year” Wonder Crew®, along with other award-winning toys and games like The Game of THINGS…®, 5 Second Rule®, Relative Insanity®, Mirari®, Farkle, SET® games, OK to Wake!®, My Fairy Garden®, Automoblox®, Marbleocity®, Kid O® and Super Spinner® is how PlayMonster helps keep play alive for all ages.

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For More Information, Please Contact:                                        

Lisa Wuennemann                              Jonathan Siemens
PlayMonster LLC                                Director, Marketing and Communications – ChizComm
(800) 524-4263 x1275                        (416) 551-0822 x330
lisaw@playmonster.com                    jsiemens@chizcomm.com

 

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Activate Your Play!

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Many kids’ favorite “school subject” is recess. Running around the playground with friends, letting their imaginations run free and having almost no limits is an amazing feeling. Recess is such a great time because it activates both a child’s mind and body. Instead of being confined to a set of rules in a sports game or playing at a table without moving around, recess offers the chance to exercise imagination and physical muscles.

Parents can offer this holistic type of play by encouraging roleplay games; let the kids go outside and pretend to be pirates or princesses. During cold or rainy, play a game of charades or build a fort inside. Just make sure your children are activating their imagination while also using their muscles.

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Shhh…Children at Play!

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It’s no secret that kids love to be wacky and wild. And that type of energetic play is great for childhood development. But sometimes a more relaxed style of play can be just as effective. Developing fine-motor skills, solving problems and even learning social skills can all be achieved through quiet playtime.

Building sets are an excellent way to for children to engage in this quiet play. Toddlers can learn colors and problem solving skills by building with blocks or similar sets. On the other hand, older children can learn more advanced skills like engineering through the use of STEM sets.

Children can also benefit from quietly playing with games. Some games are designed to teach a specific skill like spelling. But even if a game doesn’t seem educational on the surface children are still learning. For example, team games can teach collaboration and social skills, and competitive games can teach sportsmanship and strategy. No matter what they play, kids are learning!

Although it’s good for kids to be loud and proud, a nice, quiet playtime can be just as beneficial. Plus, it’s a nice break for parents!

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SET® – Marsha Falco

Falco

Marsha Jean Falco, Founder of Set Enterprises, Inc., received her M.S. in Population Genetics from Michigan State University and her B.S. in Animal Science from Arizona State University.

The idea for the SET game actually has a surprising origin. In 1974 in Cambridge, England, Marsha was studying the genetics of animals like cows and German Shepherds. To keep track of all her data, Marsha created file cards with blocks of information for each animal. Rather than writing out numbers each time, she drew symbols to represent the information. Each animal had a different combination of symbols.

Marsha began sharing her findings with veterinarians. To explain the math behind different combinations, she used the cards and symbols. While listen to Marsha a veterinarian got excited and asked, “So if you combine these you have a set?” At that moment, inspiration struck! Marsha saw the fun in finding different combinations and was inspired to create her first game: SET. Over the years, she refined the game play by using her family and friends as test subjects. In 1990 SET was officially released.

Marsha continued to develop unique games, each spanning various styles of game play. Her other games include: Five Crowns, Quiddler, Karma, WordSpiel and Zangle. She expanded on some of her fan-favorite games by creating brand extensions: SET Junior, Five Crowns Junior, Quiddler Junior, Quiddler Deluxe and The Quiddler SHORT Word Dictionary.

Although she is now retired from Set Enterprises, Inc., Marsha still enjoys creating games. Her other hobbies include horse-riding, creating bonsais and volunteering for K9 Search and Rescue organizations. She is an active member of MarK9, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue K-9 Posse, and MC2, the Mountain Canine Corp in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

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PLAYMONSTER REVOLUTIONIZES FACE PAINT WITH NEW EASY-TO-USE FACE PAINTOOS!

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The Long-Lasting Face Paint Designs Make Parents’ Lives Easier and Kids’ Lives More Fun!

BELOIT, Wis. (March 20, 2020) — PlayMonster is focusing on expanding its product lines and categories, and with that, Face Paintoos™ is hitting shelves! Along with popular themes, licensed packs are wowing parents and kids across the country!

Children love dressing up, role play and parties…and they love getting their face painted! But, face painting requires some artistic skill, and it’s easily ruined with one innocent itch or rub of the face. Face Paintoos is a face painting revolution because it allows for all of the fun and detailed designs of face painting without the hassle of wet paint and the expense of a professional face painter! Using just a wet sponge, apply the designs easily and in just a few minutes, and the professional results are long-lasting and won’t smudge. The designs are also easily removed when you’re ready!

So now it’s easy for kids to transform into fun characters! The Face Paintoos line includes 5-packs of three popular design themes: Pets (mouse, Dalmatian, cat, puppy, rabbit), Wild (lion, dragon, leopard, monkey, tiger) and Magical (mermaid, dolphin, butterfly, fairy, unicorn). All three themes are also available in the larger party pack!

Plus, Face Paintoos is available in popular licenses: Nickelodeon’s JoJo Siwa and PAW Patrol. These licensed packs are great for everyday fun, as well as parties and Halloween!

Face Paintoos is fun for girls and boys, ages 4 and up.

 

About PlayMonster LLC

Beloit, WI-based PlayMonster is a toy and game company that believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Delivering great play value by designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative, fun products such as “TOTY Game of the Year” Yeti in My Spaghetti® and “TOTY Doll of the Year” Wonder Crew®, along with other award-winning toys and games like The Game of THINGS…®, 5 Second Rule®, Relative Insanity®, Mirari®, Farkle, SET® games, OK to Wake!®, My Fairy Garden®, Automoblox®, Marbleocity®, Kid O® and Super Spinner® is how PlayMonster helps keep play alive for all ages.

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For More Information, Please Contact:                                        

Lisa Wuennemann                              Jonathan Siemens
PlayMonster LLC                                Director, Marketing and Communications – ChizComm
(800) 524-4263 x1275                        (416) 551-0822 x330
lisaw@playmonster.com                    jsiemens@chizcomm.com

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PLAYMONSTER GROWS THEIR FUZZIKINS FAMILY WITH NEW FUZZI BABIES

Fuzzi Babies

New, Adorable Fuzzi Babies Craft-and-Play Sets Deliver Creative and Fun Play Value for Children

BELOIT, Wis. (March 20, 2020) — PlayMonster’s Fuzzikins™ line, new for 2019, has gained popularity quickly and will now be extended for 2020! Now, there will be babies and all new animals for children to color, design and play with on their own or with other Fuzzikins sets.

Launched in the UK in 2016, Fuzzikins has become a very popular customized toy line in the UK. Bringing it to the U.S. in 2019 was a seamless expansion, much like My Fairy Garden was for PlayMonster a few years earlier.

Fuzzikins are 3D adorable, fuzzy animals such as kittens, puppies and bunnies. They are all covered in white flocking, and come with special washable markers that children use to design, color and decorate their new animal friends. Children love creating toys that look like their own pets, or using their imagination to make colorful and unique animals! The best part is that the creativity can be endless because the color easily rinses off when the character is placed under running water. Once it’s dry, children can start all over!

Fuzzi Babies adds new play value with baby animals, and they’re new and different animals, too! Now the line has a precious Hamster, Lamb and Monkey! Build and design their beds, design and color the animals, and then tuck them away for their nap!

The Fuzzikins line also includes playsets and vehicles so children can create their very own animal world, which adds even more play value to this craft toy, and is fun for girls and boys, ages 4 and up.

 

About PlayMonster LLC

Beloit, WI-based PlayMonster is a toy and game company that believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Delivering great play value by designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative, fun products such as “TOTY Game of the Year” Yeti in My Spaghetti® and “TOTY Doll of the Year” Wonder Crew®, along with other award-winning toys and games like The Game of THINGS…®, 5 Second Rule®, Relative Insanity®, Mirari®, Farkle, SET® games, OK to Wake!®, My Fairy Garden®, Automoblox®, Marbleocity®, Kid O® and Super Spinner® is how PlayMonster helps keep play alive for all ages.

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For More Information, Please Contact:                                        

Lisa Wuennemann                              Jonathan Siemens
PlayMonster LLC                                Director, Marketing and Communications – ChizComm
(800) 524-4263 x1275                        (416) 551-0822 x330
lisaw@playmonster.com                    jsiemens@chizcomm.com

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PLAYMONSTER TAKES HOT RELATIVE INSANITY GAME LINE TO A NEW LEVEL

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Jeff Foxworthy’s Successful Relative Insanity Game Line Raids the Family Photo Album

BELOIT, Wis. (March 20, 2020) — PlayMonster LLC and comedian Jeff Foxworthy have once again teamed up to bring laugher to your game nights! Relative Insanity® See What I Mean?!™ combines the fun and humor of the original game with the popularity of memes to create a whole new game in this insane family humor game line!

In this newest addition to the hilarious brand made and played by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, you now have photos—crazy ones that you’d see in family albums or posted online by relatives—and you play cards that caption those photos! Captions are written by Jeff Foxworthy, so you know they’ll be funny! There are even a few photos of Foxworthy himself in the game!

The judge chooses a photo card, rolls the die so players know which caption category to use, and then players pick their funniest caption card for the photo! The Judge’s favorite one gets two points, and the second best gets 1 point! But watch out—if you toss in a baaa-aad caption, you may just be the black sheep of the family!

The game includes 100 funny photos and 900 hilarious captions on 300 cards, plus a die and some scoring doodads! Like the original game and its expansion pack, Relative Insanity See What I Mean?! is fun for 4 to 12 players, ages 14+.

Jeff Foxworthy is one of the most respected and successful comedians in the country.  He is the largest selling comedy-recording artist in history, a multiple Grammy Award nominee and best selling author of more than 26 books. In 2014, he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.   Widely known for his redneck jokes, his act goes well beyond that to explore the humor in everyday family interactions and human nature, a style that has been compared to Mark Twain’s.  Most recently Jeff was one of the judges on the NBC comedy competition show “Bring The Funny,”  He has his own comedy channel “Jeff and Larry’s Comedy Roundup” on SIRIUSXM, which showcases the best in great American comedy.  He has a comedy special “We’ve Been Thinking” which is currently available on Netflix and released a game called “Relative Insanity” which uses bits of his material for lots of game time fun.

 

About PlayMonster LLC

Beloit, WI-based PlayMonster is a toy and game company that believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Delivering great play value by designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative, fun products such as “TOTY Game of the Year” Yeti in My Spaghetti® and “TOTY Doll of the Year” Wonder Crew®, along with other award-winning toys and games like The Game of THINGS…®, 5 Second Rule®, Relative Insanity®, Mirari®, Farkle, SET® games, OK to Wake!®, My Fairy Garden®, Automoblox®, Marbleocity®, Kid O® and Super Spinner® is how PlayMonster helps keep play alive for all ages.

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For More Information, Please Contact:                                        

Lisa Wuennemann                              Jonathan Siemens
PlayMonster LLC                                Director, Marketing and Communications – ChizComm
(800) 524-4263 x1275                        (416) 551-0822 x330
lisaw@playmonster.com                    jsiemens@chizcomm.com

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PLAYMONSTER WRAPS ITS ARMS AROUND AN EXCITING NEW KIDS GAME

Stack

It May Not Be Easy Being an Octopus in a Kid’s World, But it Sure is Fun with Stacktopus!

BELOIT, Wis. (March 20, 2020) — PlayMonster cast a wide net in search of a new, exciting kids game, and caught a winner with Stacktopus™, where kids Slip on Silly Sea Fingers and Go!™

The fun kids game Stacktopus may seem easy—kids have to simply race to stack color cups to match the configurations on the colorful cards—but there’s a twist! Each player must wear three silly sea fingers and use only those fingers to grasp, hold and maneuver the cups! It ends up getting really silly and really funny!

It’s even more amusing when adults play with kids because everyone is on even ground, and what’s not funny about watching your dad or grandma wear octopus arms and try to pick up cups?! Even when not playing the game, kids end up wearing the silly sea fingers and having tons of fun with them!

Stacktopus is fun for ages 5 and up, and is great for 1 to 3 players.

 

About PlayMonster LLC

Beloit, WI-based PlayMonster is a toy and game company that believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Delivering great play value by designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative, fun products such as “TOTY Game of the Year” Yeti in My Spaghetti® and “TOTY Doll of the Year” Wonder Crew®, along with other award-winning toys and games like The Game of THINGS…®, 5 Second Rule®, Relative Insanity®, Mirari®, Farkle, SET® games, OK to Wake!®, My Fairy Garden®, Automoblox®, Marbleocity®, Kid O® and Super Spinner® is how PlayMonster helps keep play alive for all ages.

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For More Information, Please Contact:                                        

Lisa Wuennemann                              Jonathan Siemens
PlayMonster LLC                                Director, Marketing and Communications – ChizComm
(800) 524-4263 x1275                        (416) 551-0822 x330
lisaw@playmonster.com                    jsiemens@chizcomm.com

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PLAYMONSTER UPDATES ITS POPULAR MAGNATAB LINE WITH AN IMPROVED STYLUS AND STORAGE

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Magnatab Becomes More Kid-Friendly with a Larger Drawing Area, Improved Grip and Easy Stylus Storage!

BELOIT, Wis. (February 22, 2020) — PlayMonster has updated the Magnatab® line after working with parents and retailers to determine what aspects needed improvement to keep Magnatab a favorite among kids and parents! The new Magnatab will be unveiled at North American International Toy Fair in New York, February 22 – 25 at booth #435.

In 2020, Free Play Magnatab and Jumbo Glow-in-the Dark Magnatab will keep their distinct coloring, but feature a white back for 2-tone visual interest. They will also have a larger drawing area, along with an easier-to-grip stylus that acts as a “drawing” tool and “eraser”, and stores easily inside a top slot. Soft edging, a padded back “feet”, and gripper back handle indent make the toy more comfortable to hold and easier to carry. The alphabet and number Magnatabs will feature the updated stylus, edging, feet and handle indent as well. All items will feature updated packaging that calls out distinct features.

Magnatabs were designed with the Montessori learning style in mind, creating a sensory-based learning and play experience. Using the magnetic stylus, children pull the beads up to the surface to make letters, numbers or creative images. In doing this, they feel the pull of the magnets, hear their clicking sound, and see what they are drawing. The beads are magically “erased” when pushed down by the tip of a finger or the swipe of the stylus.

The Magnatab line consists of two drawing styles, ABCs upper and lowercase, and well as numbers. Magnatab is a fun learning tool for children ages 3 and up.

 

About PlayMonster LLC

Beloit, WI-based PlayMonster is a toy and game company that believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Delivering great play value by designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative, fun products such as “TOTY Game of the Year” Yeti in My Spaghetti® and “TOTY Doll of the Year” Wonder Crew®, along with other award-winning toys and games like The Game of THINGS…®, 5 Second Rule®, Relative Insanity®, Mirari®, Farkle, SET® games, OK to Wake!®, My Fairy Garden®, Automoblox®, Marbleocity®, Kid O® and Super Spinner® is how PlayMonster helps keep play alive for all ages.

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For More Information, Please Contact:                                              

Lisa Wuennemann
PlayMonster
lisa.wuennemann@playmonster.com

 

Jonathan Siemens,
ChizComm (on behalf of PlayMonster)
jsiemens@chizcomm.com

 

To learn more about PlayMonster, visit playmonster.com