Hasbro

NEW YORK -- Mattel Inc. made a $79 million bid for the British toy maker J. W. Spear & Sons PLC yesterday, topping a six-day-old offer from its rival, Hasbro Inc., in a battle for the international rights to Scrabble.The bidding pits America's two toy giants against each other for a family-owned company that had $58 million in sales last year from products that include Escape the Blob, Atmosfear, and Doh-nutters. But the squabble is really over Scrabble; Spear owns the rights to it outside North America, and the game accounts for a third of its revenue.

Paper or plastic? That question is at the center of the controversy over Hasbro's recently updated The Game of Life: Twists & Turns edition. For this update, Hasbro partnered with Visa - and replaced cash with a Visa-branded credit card. Hasbro says plastic reflects the way we make purchases today. But critics see this as marketing run amok. They worry about introducing children as young as 9 to the world of plastic before they're ready to understand credit. Card issuers now throw cards at college students without jobs, and critics see the Game of Life's credit card as a way for the industry to reach kids at an even younger age. "A bad idea," says Robert Manning, director of the Center for Consumer Financial Services at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Hasbro Inc., the world's No. 2 toy maker, won a contract yesterday from Warner Bros. to make trading cards, electronic games and candy based on the popular Harry Potter children's books a day after losing the coveted toy contract to rival Mattel Inc. Terms weren't disclosed. Through various units, Hasbro, maker of Tonka trucks and Monopoly, will make Harry Potter-based trading cards, electronic games, personal radios and the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans featured in the books.

Think of it as Donald Trump Fantasy Camp in a box. For decades, the game of Monopoly has been helping people discover their inner capitalist. It has been played underwater, aboard moving elevators, even by train robbers during a heist. Custom versions of the game have been built from chocolate, gold and granite. Monopoly has also spawned scores of imitators and spoofs, from Bible-opoly to Welfare Monopoly. This spring, to mark the game's 70th birthday, toy maker Hasbro issued an Art Deco edition of Monopoly, along with a compilation of oddball trivia (sample tidbit: The cop on the "Go to Jail" square is named Edgar Mallory)

Mr. Potato Head -- the first toy ever to be advertised on television -- made his big screen debut in the new Disney film, "Toy Story."The toy -- a plastic potato with removable eyes, nose and ears -- isn't the only Hasbro product to appear in the computer-animated movie.The film, about a roomful of toys that come to life, also features such Baby Boomer favorites as Battleship, Candy Land, Mousetrap, Parcheesi, Life, Scrabble and Tinkertoy."We think it's a wonderful film and we think it will increase sales of our core brands," said Hasbro spokesman Wayne Charness.

Mattel Inc. yesterday withdrew a $5.2 billion offer to merge with rival toy maker Hasbro Inc., saying Hasbro's "unbending stance" against the deal had made it impossible to complete the transaction in a timely and friendly manner.In a third letter sent in the last week to Alan Hassenfeld, Hasbro's chairman and chief executive, John Amerman, Mattel's chairman and chief executive, said the "scorched earth" campaign Hasbro has waged since Jan. 23, when Mattel publicly disclosed that its offer had been spurned, "has created an intolerable climate."

New York -- They may still rely on Barbie or G.I. Joe for fun and profits, but the nation's leading toymakers are maturing into the sort of fine young adults Wall Street fancies -- diversified companies with steady income streams and good growth potential.That trend, plus the memory of strong holiday sales, are likely to spark optimism at the sold-out 90th Annual American International Toy Fair, which opens tomorrow in Manhattan. Although many small companies will be gambling -- as they do every year -- that their latest toy will see them through the year, the two biggest toymakers, Hasbro Inc. and Mattel Inc., are looking forward to record profits and growth.

Paper or plastic? That question is at the center of the controversy over Hasbro's recently updated The Game of Life: Twists & Turns edition. For this update, Hasbro partnered with Visa - and replaced cash with a Visa-branded credit card. Hasbro says plastic reflects the way we make purchases today. But critics see this as marketing run amok. They worry about introducing children as young as 9 to the world of plastic before they're ready to understand credit. Card issuers now throw cards at college students without jobs, and critics see the Game of Life's credit card as a way for the industry to reach kids at an even younger age. "A bad idea," says Robert Manning, director of the Center for Consumer Financial Services at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Monarch Avalon Inc., a Baltimore printing, game-making and publishing company, said yesterday that it has agreed to sell its Avalon Hill Game Co. division to Hasbro Inc. for $6 million in cash.As part of the deal, Monarch Avalon will change its name to Monarch Services Inc.The move, which is subject to shareholder approval, comes three months after Monarch Avalon reported a $1.73 million loss for its fiscal year that ended in April.For fiscal 1997, Monarch Avalon reported a profit of $180,000.

Scrabble bidders squabblingThe scramble for Scrabble took a new twist yesterday as the two companies seeking to acquire J. W. Spear and Sons PLC charged each other with breaking takeover rules.U.S. toymaker Hasbro Inc. claimed Spear's trustees are legally bound to sell it their 24.7 percent stake in the company, which has the rights to sell the Scrabble board game anywhere outside the United States and Canada.But the Spear board, apparently swayed by a higher offer by Hasbro's larger U.S. rival Mattel Inc., countered that it has received "professional advice" that trustees can accept either offer.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. - Hasbro Inc. is out of FurReal Friends cats, and some shoppers may be out of luck as many toy retailers keep inventory lean to avoid a blue Christmas. With Christmas approaching, the second-largest U.S. toy maker is shipping some FurReal Friends kittens it planned to sell next year to stores to quench demand, said spokesman Wayne Charness. "We have no more left to sell." Some retailers who have ordered less this year to keep inventory low on concern that consumer spending will be dampened might end up losing sales if an out-of-stock toy unexpectedly catches the public's fancy.

Labor issue may add to total workers Verizon may lay off The number of Verizon Communications employees in New England facing layoffs next month has grown from 950 to at least 1,250 because Verizon is balking at offering janitorial jobs to International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers members, a top union official said yesterday. Blaming the souring economy and growing competition from wireless phones and the Internet, Verizon declared in September that 1,557 union-represented jobs among its roughly 24,000 jobs in New England are surplus, the first step toward possible layoffs expected in mid-December.

In times like these, America embraces a hero -- even if he's only 12 inches tall. Makers of GI Joe, the action figure whose career spans a venerable 37 years, say sales are booming, thanks in part to a resurgent interest in the military and old-fashioned heroism in the wake of Sept. 11. It's an impressive comeback for a toy that had become obsolete, at least in its original foot-tall form, for more than a decade and only returned full-time to toy store shelves seven years ago. "The military has become interesting to kids again," says Derryl DePriest, who directs GI Joe marketing for Hasbro Inc. "If anything, recent events reinforce those core values that GI Joe symbolizes -- honor, duty and commitment."

Like many creative people, Robert Ortiz traveled a circuitous route to become a respected artist and craftsman: He studied music in his youth; entered a religious order as a teen; and as an adult taught Spanish language, literature and theology, counseled emotionally disturbed youngsters, renovated houses and toured the college circuit as a musician, to note a few lines from his resume. By chance, in 1984 he found master craftsman George Nakashima's book, The Soul of a Tree; reading it prompted Ortiz to devote himself to making furniture.

Think "champion Monopoly player" and what image comes to mind? Someone with a cutthroat personality and steely determination amassing property, sometimes heartlessly wrenching it from an opponent's clutches. In the heat of competition, some Monopoly players (and you know who you are) don't care who their opponents are: a best friend, lover, spouse, a parent. Doesn't matter. All that counts is who landed on your property and how much rent they owe. Now meet Matt Gissel, U.S. National Monopoly Champion, and think again.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Hasbro Inc., the world's No. 2 toy maker, won a contract yesterday from Warner Bros. to make trading cards, electronic games and candy based on the popular Harry Potter children's books a day after losing the coveted toy contract to rival Mattel Inc. Terms weren't disclosed. Through various units, Hasbro, maker of Tonka trucks and Monopoly, will make Harry Potter-based trading cards, electronic games, personal radios and the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans featured in the books.

An item in Thursday's Sun about Hasbro Inc.'s "Search for the Real-Life Spirit of G.I. Joe" Contest did not include the address for entries. It is: P.O. Box 1130, Young America, Minn. 55594-1130. Full contest details are available at the Web site (www.gijoe.com).

Think of it as Donald Trump Fantasy Camp in a box. For decades, the game of Monopoly has been helping people discover their inner capitalist. It has been played underwater, aboard moving elevators, even by train robbers during a heist. Custom versions of the game have been built from chocolate, gold and granite. Monopoly has also spawned scores of imitators and spoofs, from Bible-opoly to Welfare Monopoly. This spring, to mark the game's 70th birthday, toy maker Hasbro issued an Art Deco edition of Monopoly, along with a compilation of oddball trivia (sample tidbit: The cop on the "Go to Jail" square is named Edgar Mallory)

The message comes in hard and fast, like a burst from an M-16: G.I. Joe for you on Line 1.He's calling from his hotel in midtown Manhattan, where he's been sight-seeing with his family and trying not to get killed by wild-driving New York cabbies."

An item in Thursday's Sun about Hasbro Inc.'s "Search for the Real-Life Spirit of G.I. Joe" Contest did not include the address for entries. It is: P.O. Box 1130, Young America, Minn. 55594-1130. Full contest details are available at the Web site (www.gijoe.com).