Play Pens: Writing implements becoming more ambitious, fun and imaginative

Kirk Baird

Monday, April 14, 2003 | 8:40 a.m.

Saddled with the doldrums? Listless in class? Craving an entertaining way to kill a few minutes?

Novelty pens might just be the cure.

Often based on classic games and toys, these pens are more than just a standard writing utensil although they perform that function admirably.

They're actually a great time-killing device.

Some of the more entertaining pens include:

"It really is a brand-new category" of collectibles, said Barry Rosenbaum, president of Warren, Mich.-based Stylus Writing Co.

Rosenbaum should know. He developed the idea for game pens three years ago after seeing the growing popularity of novelty key chains, which featured many of the same products as the pens.

"I saw a trend toward retro toys taking place ..." Rosenbaum said. "It was an opportunity to take advantage of a trend and just apply it to our specific business."

After developing some ideas for game- and toy-based pens, Stylus marketed several products, including Operation, Etch A Sketch, Barrel of Monkeys and two "themed" pens, Monopoly and Twister, both of which are too small to play.

Since the novelty pen's introduction, Stylus has released more than 36 different game pens, with more on the way, such as G.I. Joe and Transformers, both of which will feature action figures on top of the pens.

Likewise, Natural Science Industries (NSI) Toys has had similar success with its novelty pens. Based in West Hempstead, N.Y., NSI Toys, along with Stylus, is the biggest maker of game pens -- even after getting into the novelty pen business just a year and a half ago.

"We basically thought that, with the whole novelty pen business, there was just nothing really exciting there. The game idea for pens just sort of hit us," said Scott Shahmanesh, vice president of sales and marketing for NSI Toys. "We were inspired by a number of different things: the key chains seen out there with games on the ends of them ... walking through Spencer Gifts. We were looking for classic toys, icons and games."

Some of NSI Toys' more popular pens include a Slinky, which features a miniaturized removable Slinky atop the pen; a Magic 8-Ball; a Mr. Potato Head, (oddly, the pen does not feature removable body parts); and a Play-Doh pen, which has a sample of the colorful modeling compound and two plastic stampers.

"These are all icons and brands that parents and kids and grandparents know," Shahmanesh said. "Most of the items are almost all rites of passage from parents to the child. Kids' parents have them and kids want them."

Both NSI Toys and Stylus pens have proven so popular, Steve Olin expanded his Orange, Conn., website business to include selling the goofy writing devices.

"When we started out six years ago ... keychain collectibles were our emphasis," he said.

Today playthingspast.com carries nearly 50 novelty pens, from Osbourne family bobbleheads to a Nerf Dart Blaster pen that launches two rubber-suction Nerf darts.

"We were probably the first company to latch onto it, as least on the Internet, and devote a lot of space to it as far as buying every item in their line," Olin said. "We even custom-designed a display case for people that can show the pens as a collection, as opposed to keeping them in a drawer."

Ranging in price from $3.99 to $19.95 (for a set of pens with miniature walkie-talkies that actually work), the pens can be also be found at many major retail chains -- Target, Wal-Mart, OfficeMax, Walgreens, Toys R Us, Office Depot, Michaels, Bed Bath & Beyond and Hallmark, among others -- in one form or another.

Originally, the pens were geared toward a younger target group, Rosenbaum said. Then Stylus received its test market results for the pens, which showed a much broader spectrum of consumers.

"We're finding as many people in their 30s and 40s are buying the game pens as are teenagers," he said. "I think it's the casual workplace -- people wanting to express themselves a little more.

"It's also nostalgia. This is something we all grew up with."

While no one has heard of the pens being banned outright from a school, Shahmanesh said a boycott would not necessarily be bad for sales.

"It's every toy company's dream to get banned in school," he said. "I'm being facetious, but it's true in many ways. If it's banned, kids want it."