ADULT GAME MIGHT
Toy makers focus on grown-ups to goose sales
The toy aisle is not just for kids anymore.
Raunchy card games for adults and games aimed at teens and adults are among the fastest-growing segment of the $27 billion toy industry.
Toy makers are focusing on these older “kids” in hopes they can reverse sputtering growth that slumped to 1 percent last year, according to the NPD Group.
Weak sales of plush toys, action figures and other items based on movies are a major cause for the slowdown.
“Licensed toys tied to movies didn’t do as well because sales at the box office didn’t do well,” Steve Pasierb, chief executive of the Toy Industry Association, told The Post at the Jacob K. Javits Toy Fair on Monday. “But adult gaming has become a strong category.”
Toy companies, including Hasbro, Zing, PlayMonster, Yulo, Space Dogs and others are all taking a page from the wildly popular Cards Against Humanity, which came out in 2011 and within a month became the No. 1 game sold on Amazon.com.
Launched by a group of high school friends from the Chicago suburbs, Cards Against Humanity pose politically incorrect, provocative and sexually charged questions that some have likened to an ‘R’ movie rating.
To be sure, however, there are plenty of games coming out this spring and fall that target older teens and adults that are very family friendly, say toy experts.
The reason? Some chains won’t buy the adult-themed games. Walmart, the largest toy seller, has largely taken a pass on adult-focused games because of their racy content, industry insiders said.
Target, however, is doubling down on the segment — making “a conscious decision to get into the adult party game segment,” said Scott Flynn, vice president of marketing and sales for PlayMonster, a privately held company in Beloit, Wisc.
PlayMonster counts among its titles, “Go Bleep yourself,” “5 Second Rule Uncensored,” “Utter Nonsense! Naughty Edition” and “Relative Insanity,” introduced on Monday by comedian Jeff Foxworthy.
The PlayMonster games, aimed at the 14+ and 18+ crowd, are “taking a step back from the dirty games and those filled with profanity,” Flynn said. “The games are as suggestive as the players want them to be.”
For the first time, Zing will introduce a 14+ game called Shock Box that gives the loser a low-voltage shock.
Hasbro has several new games aimed at the 16+ customer that fall into the category of “physical intimacy,” said a spokeswoman.
One game, Awkward Hugs, requires players to wear interlocking belts and a padlock, and to slow dance or perform some other activity.