April 22, 2003 (SEATTLE) - WizKids, LLC is taking a walk on the creepy side with the release of Creepy Freaks(tm), the company's first game aimed at younger players.
The theme of this fast-playing, 3D collectable game is gross, scary, disgusting fun. In the battle to crown the creepiest freak of all, the game taps into gross humor kids love.
"I like to think of Creepy Freaks as the 'Garbage Pail Kids' of this generation-gross enough for kids to enjoy, but in a tongue-in-cheek way that parents can appreciate," said Jordan Weisman, founder and CEO of WizKids and creator of the Creepy Freaks game.
Creepy Freaks characters include Frosty the Snotman, with his special Chunky Sneeze attack; the hairball-spitting Spitty Kat; and even SkeleHomie, whose slingshotting skull splatters brains and eyeballs all over his tabletop victims. Though the characters confront each other with increasingly nauseating imaginary moves, the game is geared toward nonviolence. The object is to scare opposing figures in Freak Out(tm) contests, and send them running away in horror.
"We conducted extensive playtesting and focus groups with scores of kids and parents to find out what grosses them out the most, and we think we've definitely created a very fun game," added Weisman.
The game characters are also fully collectable and tradable, like the cards in popular collectable card games. There are 56 of the funny creepy freaks available, and each one is grosser than the next.
To support the release of Creepy Freaks, WizKids will be launching its first-ever television advertising campaign, with commercials planned to air on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and ABC Family. Creepy Freaks will be available at leading retailers nationwide this September. It will be sold in Starter Sets and booster packs. Starter Sets will each contain a kid Freak Leader figure, three creepy freak figures and everything needed to play, including an eye-popping DVD cartoon explaining the world of the creepy freaks and the rules of the game. The suggested retail price will be $12.99. Booster packs will each contain two creepy freak figures and stickers, and will retail for $4.99.
WizKids is a Seattle-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating tabletop games driven by imagination. Its Mage Knight(tm), MechWarrior(r) and HeroClix(tm) collectable miniatures games are among the most successful games on the market today, and have sold tens of millions of figures worldwide. For additional information, visit www.wizkidsgames.com.
(c)2003 WizKids, LLC. All rights reserved. Creepy Freaks, Mage Knight, MechWarrior, HeroClix and WizKids are trademarks of WizKids, LLC.
