Gogo's Crazy Bones - History

History

Crazy Bones was inspired by a children's game played in Ancient Greece and Rome called 'Astragal' (Knucklebones), where children played a similar game using sheep's knucklebones. This ancient pastime is also known as Tabas. Games played are reminiscent of marbles and jacks. Crazy Bones is a modern version of this game, played with characters molded from plastic. There are hundreds of individual characters, each character having a unique face and name. Each series has a number of 'rare' (referred to as 'wanted','most wanted'or'w' on trading cards ) pieces that are sought after by collectors and are sold on numerous websites for many times their original value.

Crazy Bones was launched in the United States by Peter Gantner after witnessing the success of Barcelona-based GoGos in Spain, which had sold over 350 million packs from its inception in 1996 to 1997. Gantner formed Toy Craze in December 1997 with his brother David Ganter and businessman Scott Harris, and the company acquired the distribution rights in the US. Some sources indicate Bill Flaherty, who became President of Toy Craze, also founded the company. Gogos agreed to provide him with inventory for no of the money down in return for 50% of all profits. This deal was later renegotiated, and the manufacturer was later paid a royalty of sales.

A small company at the time of inception, Crazy Bones became a popular fad in the late 90s. The product was aggressively marketed to children, and promotional events took place in scout meetings, club groups, fairs, and shows, where free sample packs were distributed. Toy demos have also taken place in SkyDome, where children were given free packs and taught how to play Crazy Bones. This promotion was organized by the Canadian marketers of Crazy Bones, a joint venture by Wayne Fromm (www.frommtoys.com) and Eric Segal, called All 4 Fun Toy Products Ltd. to benefit the Starlight Children's Foundation Canada. Wayne Fromm is owner of Fromm Toys Inc. and Eric Segal is owner of All 4 Fun Consumer Products Ltd. All 4 Fun Toy Products Ltd. also created a series of Crazy Bones for the Toronto Blue Jays, a cereal promotion with Cap'n Crunch and another with Wrigley. In 1999 and 2000 Fromm and Segal created one of Canada's largest collectible fad in the toy industry. Nearly four million free packs have been distributed. Crazy Bones secured a number of high-profile partners, including McDonald's, which included the product as Happy Meal toys nationwide. These Crazy Bones were significantly larger than the normal toys, possibly to reduce risk of choking among young children.

Within two years, the company's revenues had grown to nearly $17 million. By favoring tours of scout meetings and the like over television and print advertisements, Toy Craze has also kept its marketing costs to around 10%.

Crazy Bones were originally distributed in Canada through the Concord, Ontario-based company Playtoy Industries, where they enjoyed similar success. Playtoy Industries declared bankruptcy in December 1999 and Wayne Fromm and Eric Segal catapulted Crazy Bones through a joint venture (www.frommtoys.com)

Crazy Bones enjoyed incredible popularity in the late 1990s. From 1998-2000, 31.5 million packages were sold. Over 23 million figurines were sold in the UK and Spain in a recent relaunch between March and December 2008.

Crazy Bones were banned in many schools, as they were blamed for encouraged theft, arguments, and in-class distractions.