April 1, 2007 (Renton, Wash.) – Following tremendous fan interest in last year’s introduction of the My Little Pony RPG, Wizards of the Coast announced a further broadening of its Dungeons & Dragons licensing strategy with parent company Hasbro Inc., (NYSE:HAS). Exciting new products on the horizon include the D&D-themed Monopoly: There and Then edition.

According to D&D Brand Manager Scott Rouse, the success of last year’s My Little Pony RPG helped drive an expansion of the D&D licensed property plans. “It only made sense to look at where else we could go with the D&D line,” said Scott. “Especially when it comes to further partnering with the other business groups at Hasbro.”

Monopoly: There and Then Edition

2007 will see the D&D-themed There and Then edition of Monopoly, the world’s best-selling board game. The name plays on Monopoly’s Here and Now edition, which features such new playing pieces as a Starbucks coffee and Motorola phone, and properties that include New York’s Time Square, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, and Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

In the There and Then edition, playing pieces will include a sword, shield, and sack of gold, while properties will be generated from the Forgotten Realms and Eberron settings, such as Sharn, Waterdeep, and Undermountain; as well as from classic adventures, such as the Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

“For There and Then, we even tried replacing the game’s 6-sided dice with a d20, but the mechanics just didn’t work out,” said Associate Brand Manager Linae Foster. “But we did replace Jail with the Gelatinous Cube—holding players until they pay up or free themselves.”

With More to Come!

“I believe this is just the start of D&D licensing growth,” said Scott Rouse. “There are more products to come that we feel capture the flavor and the appeal of the Dungeons & Dragons lifestyle. We’ve even discussed a D&D Party Pack SKU for our college-aged players, with a red dragon piñata filled with D&D Minis, ochre jelly shots—the works.

“Back in 2005, we presented the D&D Holiday Wish List, with the image of a D&D-themed bedroom set and remote-controlled beholder. I see the day when those wishes are made real!”

Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high-tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER, and WIZARDS OF THE COAST brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play experiences in the world.

Wizards of the Coast, Inc., is a worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories, and a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products. The company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games (TCGs) and their method of play and produces the premier trading card game, Magic: The Gathering®, among many other trading card games and family card and board games. Wizards is also a leading publisher of roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons®, and publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast website at wizards.com http://www.wizards.com.

Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, and Dungeons & Dragons are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast Inc. ©2006 Wizards. Monopoly is a registered trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. ©2007 Hasbro.

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