Animal Planet and Monsterology NUKO™ Cards Coming in Spring 2012
Silicon Valley's Toy Company Innovates the $21 Billion Toy Industry
SAN FRANCISCO (February 2012) - Nukotoys, Silicon Valley's toy company, has
announced the Spring 2012 release of its two launch titles, Animal Planet: Wildlands and
Monsterology. Innovating a new category of toys that combine physical and digital play,
Animal Planet and Monsterology NUKO™ are collectible cards containing characters
and items that magically appear in game Apps when tapped to the screen of an iPad™,
iPod touch™, or iPhone™. NUKO™ cards will become available at retailers nationwide in
conjunction with the release of two game Apps this Spring.
"Today's digitally sophisticated children download game Apps as part of everyday
fun," explains Penman. "Kids nowadays don't want traditional plastic toys that
have no intelligence to them - they want iPads and iPods. As Silicon Valley's toy
company, Nukotoys understands this fundamental shift. With Animal Planet and
Monsterology NUKO™ cards that magically link to iPads and iPod touches and iPhones,
we're giving kids physical toys that meet their digital expectations."
Bringing Silicon Valley smarts for the first time to the $21 billion toy industry, the muchdiscussed
start-up is headed by two San Francisco entrepreneurs with proven track
records in technology innovation and creative excellence:
- Raderman pioneered user-generated online video in 1998 as the Founder of
IFILM (the YouTube of the Dot Com era, sold to Viacom/MTV in 2005), and also
founded Obscura Digital, the world leader in large-scale interactive video that
Inc. Magazine recently crowned as having "the coolest office in the world."
- Penman was Partner and Executive Creative Director for global advertising
powerhouse Euro RSCG before leaving to found his own creative marketing
agency, The Guild, as well as Catapult Entertainment, a children's property
financing company.
The two partners have assembled a dream team that includes Richard Garfield, creator
of Magic the Gathering and Pokemon, the two most beloved trading card games in
history; Peter Adkison, founder/CEO of Wizards of the Coast, publisher of Magic and
Pokemon; Gordon Radley, former president of LucasFilm; Tom Kalinske, former CEO of
Mattel, Sega of America, Leapfrog, Knowledge Universe, and Matchbox; and Karen
Gruenberg, a longtime leader at Children's Television Workshop, who also helped
launch the kids' cable networks Noggin and Sprout.
"Silicon Valley has innovated if not radically transformed every industry on the planet,
but not the $21 billion toy industry," said Raderman. "Given the importance that toys
play in every family's life, this makes no sense to us. Toys of yesteryear still line retail
shelves, but don't satisfy today's kids, and are not sustainable. We've brought together
some of the best minds from toys, video games, entertainment, and education to help
us usher the toy industry into the 21st century."
For its launch titles, Nukotoys has established worldwide licensing deals with Templar
Publishing, creator of the New York Times' best-selling Ology book series including
Monsterology, Wizardology, Vampireology, Egyptology, Pirateology, Oceanology, and
Mythology; and Discovery Communications, owner of the Animal Planet television
network.
"I've seen hundreds of proposal for our books, but never anything as magical as
Nukotoys' ideas," said Amanda Wood, managing director of Templar Publishing. "The
books will be linked to online and collectible cards in a way that seems almost like
wizardry."
Monsterology NUKO™ work with a turn-based strategy game App where
kids (and adults!) collect, train, trade, and play with 3D mythological creatures
such as Unicorns, Cyclops, and Sea Serpents, all in a quest to become
"Master Monsterologists."
Animal Planet: Wildlands NUKO™ work with a free-roaming exlploration game App
where kids of all ages collect, trade, learn about, and interact with with 50 exotic animals
in the Wildlands.
As an alternative to using the physical NUKO™ trading cards, players can also
purchasing virtual cards from within the Apps. Players will receive one free pack of virtual
cards when they download the free App.
The starting price point for the physical NUKO™ cards is $1.99 for an introductory pack
of three, and will be available at retailers nationwide in Spring 2012.
