Patch History

In 1971, brothers Fran and Bryce Patch started their own commercial printing company in Beloit, Wisconsin. They built their business by printing products for other companies, including Trivial Pursuit game boards and Cabbage Patch doll sticker books.

Fran and Bryce took a step forward in 1985 to form Patch Products, Inc., and started printing their own products. They broke into the children’s puzzle market by introducing a line of PuzzlePatch® puzzles, while continuing to print paper products for others. These puzzles grew in popularity and availability through national distribution, and built the foundation on which Patch has grown.

Success with the puzzle line prompted Patch to take on the competitive board game market in 1992 by obtaining the license to the board game TriBond®. Through the TriBond game's acclaim and the PuzzlePatch puzzles' continuing popularity, Patch began building its line of family-friendly board games and introduced the popular games Blurt!® and Mad Gab®. Those three brands - Tribond, Blurt! and Mad Gab - helped Patch penetrate the retail marketplace and position the company as a key player in the game industry. In 2004, Patch began concentrating on building its other brands and put its energy into creating new family games. The company has achieved success with many of its games, including Buzzword®, What's Yours Like?®, Jeff Foxworthy's™ You Might Be a Redneck If...™ Game, Malarky®, Swap!®, Toss Up!®, Giant Spoons and Farkle.

Patch expanded in 1998 into the indoor/outdoor toy market by acquiring Just Kid’n™, a foam ball company. With its line of Zoam® foam footballs, basketballs and soccer balls as a foundation, Patch created its innovative Light Tracker® line featuring foam balls with motion-activated lights. The line eventually was expanded to include collegiate-licensed foam balls and mini hoopball sets. Today, Patch has licenses with over 50 colleges.

In 2000, Patch successfully entered the world of brand licensing by securing the game rights to several pop music groups including *NSYNC, Backstreet® Boys™ and 98˚. Patch also has licensed the rights for such high-profile brands as Jeff Foxworthy's™ You Might Be a Redneck If...™, Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup™, McDonald's®, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer®, Garanimals®, Jim Henson’s Sid the Science Kid™ and Dinosaur Train™, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?®, Dora the Explorer™ and SpongeBob SquarePants™.

Also in the early 2000s, Patch added to its line of family entertainment products by entering the card game and floor puzzle markets. The company launched a variety of Big Deal® card games, introduced a line of colorful Great Big Sneaky Puzzles® and developed its Imperial® line of playing cards, poker chips and dice.

In 2008, Patch products acquired Smethport Specialty Co., a leading manufacturer of toys and specialty line products, including the Lauri® brand. Smethport is well-known in the educational/classroom market, with its primary products including educational games and activity sets. One of its best-known products is the classic toy, Wooly Willy®. The Lauri brand is loved for its educational and fun play value with items such as pegging, crepe rubber puzzles, Peel & Stick™ activities and lacing.

2009 brought the exciting milestone of one million copies of Buzzword sold! Buzzword soon also received a fresh look and over 1,000 new clues to play. In 2009, Patch also became the exclusive U.S. distributor of the entire line of Überstix™, the award-winning construction kits engineered to work independently, and integrate with all other build systems as well as recyclable materials.

In 2010, Patch brought a new dimension to its Sneaky Puzzle® line with a new 3D feature. The award-winning 3D Sneaky Floor Puzzles® offer the same great colorful images and hidden letters and numbers as before, but by using the included 3D glasses to view the puzzle when complete, the characters “pop” out and seem to come alive!

That year, Patch also developed a Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere™ line of game tins for on-the-go fun, later adding creative magnetic play to the line. Another line was created for retro toys brought back for modern-day fun, called Treasured Toys®, that included favorites Bed Bugs™, Shark Attack!™, Yakity-Yak® Talking Teeth™ and, later on, Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur™. Patch also continued to expand on the popular Lauri brand with innovative Mighty Monkey® pegs, Locktagons™ freeform building set and a revitalized crepe rubber puzzle line to appeal to younger children.

2011 started off with a bang when, for the first time in Patch’s history, one of its games, 5 Second Rule®, was nominated for Game of the Year from the Toy Industry Association’s Toy of the Year Awards (TOTY).

In 2011, Patch introduced two innovative lines geared toward young children. Design ‘N’ Doodle™, part of the Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere products, combined magnetic play and dry-erase into a fun activity for home or on-the-go. Twist ‘N’ Doodle™ brought new life to Wooly Willy for the first time in 55 years with a colorful plastic frame and ten images to scroll through and “draw” on using the magnetic powder.

Patch also created a new line of board games based on children’s books. Tales To Play™ was built on the idea: Love the Book…Live the Game. Classic books are such a big part of children’s lives, and Patch developed a way to bring them to life for children to experience again and again. Each game features a 3D aspect to the board, and beautifully sculpted playing pieces that make the games cherished gift items.

For more than 25 years, Patch Products has continually built on its early success. Its product lines of games and puzzles have grown with the addition of several games including Word Shout®, Roll-It Tic-Tac-Toe™, Farkle Frenzy™, Know It or Blow It™, 100 Wacky Things™, Go Ape®, Stir ’em Up!®, Swivel™, Tastes Like Chicken™ and Love It! Hate It!™

Today, Patch is a leading manufacturer and marketer of family entertainment products. Games, puzzles, activity kits, collegiate-licensed foam sports toys and classroom teaching tools are the core product lines.

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