Seaseme Street Games



NEW YORK — Elmo is getting a new home — or his toys are, at least.

Toy maker Hasbro Inc. said Monday it will make and market toys and games based on well-known Sesame Street characters, such as Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster.

The deal takes the license away from Hasbro rival Mattel Inc., which makes Sesame Street toys under its Fisher-Price brand under a deal lasting until 2010. Hasbro will start making the products in 2011.

The agreement covers all Sesame Street toys, but Julie Duffy, a representative for Hasbro, said it's "too early to tell" which toys it will continue making, including the popular Tickle Me Elmo toy.

"We now have the rights to Elmo, so anything is possible," she said.

Financial terms of the deal between Hasbro and Sesame Workshop were not disclosed.

NPD Group industry analyst Anita Frazier said it's a "significant" win for Hasbro because Sesame Workshop is a top toy brand for children under 5 — an age group representing nearly half of annual toy sales.

Frazier couldn't release specific sales figures for Sesame Workshop but said total toy revenue in this age range was about $10 billion in the year ending in October.

Brenda Andolina, a spokeswoman for Fisher-Price, said in a statement it was Sesame Workshop's decision to end the 15-year arrangement in which Fisher-Price made toys like Tickle Me Elmo, Hokey Pokey Elmo and Elmo Live.

Hasbro, the nation's second largest It seems right that my first review should be for the game that's quickly become my most played: Gamewright's Go Away Monster!

When I recently got back into gaming, I thought it was important to share my interest with my family, including my young daughter. As I poured over GeekList recommendations for kid-appropriate games, this was one of the titles that kept coming up. And from the moment that I broke open the box, it's been a hit.



Components

Inside, you get 4 bifold gameboards depicting a child's bedroom with items missing. The art is simple and colourful, which each board slightly different from the others. The cardboard is thick and durable.

The game pieces consist of the beds, lamps, teddy bears, and pictures missing from the bedrooms. These also vary slightly in their color and patterns, and don't belong to any specific gameboard.

But the stars of the show are the 8 monster tiles you get. Each is different in shape, size, and colour, drawn in a friendly style (think Seasame Street or Monsters Inc). All the cardboard pieces are thickish and have so far held up to a lot of tosses to the hardwood floor.

And all the pieces go into the supplied cloth drawstring bag.


Gameplay

It's so simple, a child can do it. Literally.

Each player has a bedroom board and takes a turn drawing a tile from the bag. If you pull a missing item, place it in your bedroom. If you get something you already have, give it to another player. And if you pull out a monster, toss it away, shouting "Go away, monster!" Play continues around until the bag is empty. That's all there is to it.


Opinions

There is no strategy to this game, and there's not supposed to be. It's pure fun and luck of the draw. Unless you feel for the shape of the pieces in the bag, as the rules suggest.

Which leads to my only knock on the game. The bed tiles in particular are much larger than all the rest and therefore are usually drawn first, while some of the monster pieces are smaller and appear only at the end. Beacuse the shapes aren't similar enough to keep you guessing what you're about to pull out of the bag, I'll often choose furniture tiles on purpose in order to give the children the thrill of more monsters. So it may not be a flaw after all.

Another improvement would be to have indented spots for the missing items on the bedrooom board. This would keep pieces in place when kids are enthusiastically tossing tiles.



My daughter frequently asks to play "Go Monter!" and she practically vibrates when I pull out the box. And even at under 2-years-old, she plays it properly and even sets it up. My wife and I have had a great experience watching our little one learn to share, take turns, and match shapes all while having fun.