Toy Best sellers Europe Q1-2 2013

Figures from NPD shows the toy market is down slightly in the UK for the first five months of this year and 2% in Italy down 3% and Spain down 2%. In contrast the market in France is +2% and +4% in Germany for the same period. Of course outdoor toys will come into their own during the summer months and these will surely improve the picture later this year. And this is before we come into prime shopping Season for the holidays and Christmas surge in spending.

Toy Best Sellers across Europe Jan-May 13 (source: NPD) continue reading>>

Troll Dolls also known as Dam Doll

Trolls or Troll Dolls are also known as Dam Doll is a small plastic doll which has furry hair often in bright and slightly pointy styles. They were first created in 1959 by a Danish guy called Thomas Dam, they became one of Americas biggest toy fads in the 1960’s and have had numerous come backs and fads in periods during the 1970’s, 1990’s.

Thomas Dam was a fisherman and woodcutter and was struggling to afford a gift for his young daughter, so he carved a troll doll especially for her. When other kids saw the dolls they also asked for one and so the Dam company began to produce dolls using plastic instead. They marketed the dolls as a Good Luck doll. The dolls were very popular in many European countries in the 1960’s they were then introduced to USA soon after. They were one of the biggest fads in the USA from late 1963 right through to 1965. The original Dam dolls were high quality and featured sheep’s wool and glass eyes. continue reading>>

Chatty Cathy Doll

Chatty Cathy is a doll made by Mattel from 1959-1965. Chatty Cathy spoke one of eleven phases at random when a ring aka “chatty ring” was pulled from the upper back of the doll. This string was connected to a simple record in the dolls abdomen which was driven by a metal coil wound by the toys string.Some of the phases included “I love you” or “Lets Play School”, others were added in versions from 1963 onwards which increased the number of phases to 18.

The voice unit in Chatty Cathy was designed by Jack Ryan who was the head of r & d at Mattel and had also been responsible for designing the Barbie doll. continue reading>>

Pound Puppies

Pound Puppies was a range of toys sold in the 1980’s by Tonka which went on to have a number of TV specials, animated TV series, and a feature film. Sales of over $300 million were generated over five years by the toys 35 countries.

The puppies had a variety of colors and some with spots and featured plush stuffed dog dolls with floppy ears and droopy eyes. Each one came in a carrying case with an adoption certificate. Smaller versions were also created (approximately 5 inches (13 cm) long), and a line of cats called Pound Pur-r-ries was also released. Each authentic puppy had a heart-shaped emblem near its tail that sported a “PP” logo with either a dog or cat. continue reading>>

Guess Who

Guess Who? Is the well known two player guessing game where players have to guess which character they have picked before the opponent guess their chosen character. The game was created by Ora and Theo Coster and first made in in 1979 by Milton Bradley in the England. It was later brought to the United States in 1982.

Each player has a board which include 24 cartoon style characters with their names below the images on small stands. Each game starts with all of these standing up. Each player then picks from a pile of cards containing one of the same images, players then take turns to asking questions yes or no questions like do they wear glasses?, do they have hair? If they do the image remains standing if not it falls until one is left. continue reading>>

Girls World

Girls World has been around for decades. Its is large sized plastic girls head with hair that can be styled and make-up that can be applied. A must for any young aspiring make up artist. It is still available in any good toy shop and now supplied with make up, hair accessories including beads, bead applicator, hairbrush and hair slides.

My First Girls World version was released in the 1970’s and game with choker, brush, curlers, and make up.

Many now come with more beads and straight hair for easier styling. Hair brushes, beads and hair ties,clips are some of the accessories which typically are included with the latest Girls World Bead and Style version. continue reading>>

Jumbo Toy Retailer sales exceed 500 Million Euro

Greek toy retailer Jumbo has seen its sales rise slightly by 1.60 percent for the financial year that ended on June 30, taking the group past the 500-million-euro mark for the first time with 502.2 million euros in consolidated sales, compared to 494.3 million euros in the same period last year.

In Greece, the popular retailer saw a small decline in turnover. Sales in Cyprus down a slightly at 1.14 percent, but rose by double digits in Bulgaria.

Jumbo opened four new stores in the financial year from July 2012 to June 2013, three of which are in Greece and one in Bulgaria. continue reading>>

Hasbro buys major stake in Backflip

Hasbro the massive toy company of almost 100 years has surprised many by buying a major stake of 70% in Backflip Studios who are a iOS developer who are well known for their DragonVale game.

The Wall Street Journal is quoting the deal cost a cool $112 million in a cash deal for a 70% slice of the Colorado based company.

Besides DragonVale, Backflip is also well known for the Ragdoll Blaster series, the Paper Toss series, Ninjump and Army of Darkness Defense, among others. Just a few of the heavy hitter brands from Hasbro include Monopoly, Transformers, Play-Doh, My Little Pony, Nerf, and tons more. Interestingly, some of those properties have already been turned into games by the likes of EA and Gameloft, so it will be interesting to see how all that shakes out. At any rate I’ll be looking forward to the fruits of this new Hasbro / Backflip relationship going forward into the future. continue reading>>

Cluedo Board Game

Cluedo is a popular board game based where you try to work out who was murdered and where and using what. This well known game was first published in 1949 in Leeds England by Waddingtons by Anthony E. Pratt who was a solicitors clerk and part time child’s entertainer. In the United States Cluedo is published by Hasbro who acquired its US publisher Waddingtons and Parker Brothers.

The aim of the game is for players to move around the board, each player represents a character/person and you move around the rooms of the mansion collecting clues to solve the questions of who murdered who in the where with the what. continue reading>>

Must Have Toy

Must Have Toy 2022 | Latest Toy trends, Games, history of retro toys