PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) – Business for Hasbro is in the toilet, which turns out to be a pretty good place.
The toymaker’s revenue surpassed that of its rival Mattel for the first time in 17 years thanks in part to hot sales of a new board game called Toilet Trouble.
“I never thought I would actually get to talk about this on an earnings call but, you know, Toilet Trouble is off to a very good start,” CEO Brian Goldner told analysts Monday after putting up very strong first-quarter numbers.
Profit in the quarter jumped 41 percent on rising demand for both mobile games and classics like Monopoly, which saw classic player pieces like the wheelbarrow, thimble and boot replaced by a dinosaur, a penguin and a rubber ducky.
The game Toilet Trouble follows another Hasbro game that became a viral sensation. In the earlier release, called Pie Face, players can get hit with a face full of whipped cream. In Toilet Trouble, players in the board game take turns flushing a plastic toilet that spits water at their faces.