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Hasbro is letting other companies bring back classic boardgames - so what's next after 1970s icon Mastermind?

Hasbro's classic game Mastermind will now be manufactured and distributed by Goliath Games

An image of Mastermind the game
Image credit: Hasbro

The world of board games continues to change. Now, Hasbro has handed over the manufacturing and distribution duties for Mastermind over to Goliath Games. 

As reported by ICv2, it seems that Hasbro is open to licensing out decades-old board games to other companies. Mastermind first hit shelves in 1971, and I'll admit, to my '90s Baby eyes, nothing about this codebreaking game rang a bell. So maybe that's why Hasbro was willing to sign over Mastermind to a different company so it could be revamped for a new generation of board gamers. Because if you set down a Mastermind board in front of me, I would assume it was a display for a golf tee collection. (Sorry.) 

In the meantime, Hasbro has enjoyed an explosion of popularity for Dungeons & Dragons, with phrases like "chaotic good" and "chaotic evil" becoming commonplace slang outside of game shops. And the company has licensing agreements for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Marvel, and more. I can't imagine that those Disney licenses would come cheaply, so perhaps it isn't surprising that they're willing to license out some of the mustier offerings in their vault. 

To address the elephant in the room, the current presidential administration's tariffs are forcing Hasbro and other board game companies to take action. Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks told CNBC earlier this month that the company is "making rapid changes" in order to avoid taking a hit from goods manufactured in China. The tariffs will bring a reported "$300 million to its bottom line," which certainly isn't great. While we don't know if Hasbro's decision to license out Mastermind to Goliath Games is motivated by the looming threat of tariffs, it may be worth keeping an eye on the company in the succeeding months to see if any other games are licensed out.

If anyone has always dreamed of re-releasing 1979's Risk rip-off Balance of Power, now is clearly the best time to tell Hasbro. What a world we live in. 


You don't need to beat the game to prepare for the next one—here are all the major new and upcoming games coming our way.

Jules Chin Greene

Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, Multiverse of Color, and Screen Rant.

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