Why the "Pie Face" game is flying off shelves
This season's hot toy involves whipped cream, your face, and some friends and family watching your moment of possible pie-faced glory (or agony?). Hasbro's game, called "Pie Face," has been in high demand across the country and abroad.
"I don't think you can ever really anticipate something will take off to this extent," said Jonathan Berkowitz, Hasbro's senior vice president of marketing for gaming.
The game is simple -- put a pile of whipped cream on the game's plastic "arm," spin the spinner with numbers, put your face in the frame, and turn the handle with the lucky number you were given. The rest of your fate is in the game's "hand."
The pie game was launched into popularity with a viral video of a grandfather and grandson playing the game -- and Hasbro noticed.
"We immediately paid attention because it's a really unique thing -- you rarely see something like this with a game, with a face-to-face game that it becomes popular through an online video," said Berkowitz.
At the time Hasbro did not have the rights to Pie Face -- it belonged to Rocket Games, which originally launched it in the U.K. in 2014. Hasbro licensed it from Rocket Games in May 2015 to distribute it globally. Pie Face became available in 20 countries since September and retails for $19.99.
Although Hasbro didn't give specific sales figures, Berkowitz said the game has been selling very well. To keep up with demand they are shipping product every week around the world. The game is currently out of stock on ToysRus.com and is on Amazon's top best sellers in Toys & Games.
Laurie Schacht from Toy Insider said it's different than this season's other hot items, like the Star Wars toys or hoverboards, because it is simple game for all ages (actually, 5 years and older).
"When you look at Pie Face, it's multigenerational, it's really for everybody and that's one of the big appeals of it," said Schacht.
Hasbro actually sold the game in the 1960s, but Berkowitz said it wasn't as big a hit back then. Explaining why it's a hit now, he said "It is such a game that is made to be shared, made to be shared virally that it really fits (with) what consumers are looking for today."
(To watch this reporter getting pied, make sure to watch the above video!)
