Traditional games still in play

Sales of games and puzzles dipped 6% last year to $1.24 billion, according to the NPD Group, but Adrienne Appell, a spokeswoman for the Toy Industry Association, said that as a category, games have held steady over the past few years.

Appell said travel games are a key category for the mass and drug channels around the holiday and summer travel seasons. Traditional games continue to be extremely popular, but such new entries as Lego’s Creationary, Hasbro’s Scrabble Flash and Mattel’s Loopz have performed well this holiday season. Lower-priced products, such as Blue Orange’s Spot It! ($12.99), Gamewright’s Rory’s Story Cubes ($7.99) and I Can Do That! Games (under $10), also are strong new products.

The article above is part of the DSN Category Review Series. For the complete Games Sell-Through Report, including extensive charts, data and more analysis, click here.