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 Puzzle Patch 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 newer games, including Buzzword®, What's Yours Like?®, Jeff Foxworthy's™ You Might Be a Redneck If...™ Game, Malarky®, Swap!®, Toss Up!®, and Giant Spoons.

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® and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer®.

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. Other new products included Tiny Tins™ children's games, Choo Choo Training® sticker coloring and activity books, Games on the Go!™ travel games, Funnybugs™ games and flash cards, and educational puzzles including Peek-a-Boo Puzzles™, Puzzle Pairs™, A to Z Puzzles™ and Fish Addition Puzzles™.

In 2008, Patch products acquired Smethport Specialty Co., a leading manufacturer of toys and specialty line products, including the Lauri® brand. Smethport's primary products include educational games and activity sets. One of its best-known products is the classic toy, Wooly Willy®. 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.

For more than two decades, 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 Can-Do Roo™, Roll-It Tic-Tac-Toe™, Repeat Pete!™, Pass the Pup™, Know It or Blow It™ and 100 Really Dumb Things™.

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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