Crazy Bones Game

Crazy Bones Game

Gogos Crazy Bones History
by Richard Ark

Gogos Crazy Bones 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 sheeps knucklebones. This ancient pastime is also known as Tabas.

Games played are reminiscent of marbles and jacks. Crazy Bones is a modern version of these games, 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 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 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 1990's. 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 the SkyDome, where children were given free packs and taught how to play Crazy Bones. Nearly four million free packs have been distributed. Crazy Bones secured a number of high profile partners, including McDonalds, which included the product as Happy Meal toys, however these Crazy Bones were significantly larger than the normal ones, possibly to reduce risk of choking among young children.

Within two years, the companies revenue 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.

Crazy Bones enjoyed incredible popularity in the late 1990's and from 1998 to 2000, 31.5 million packages were sold.

Over 23 million figurines were sold in the UK and Spain in a relaunch between March and December 2008.

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

Written by Richard Ark - Co Owner GCBstore.com
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Gogo's Crazy Bones 20" UK