As one of the industry-leaders when it comes to working with outside innovators, we caught up with Hasbro’s Senior Director of Global Product Acquisition, Rich Mazel, to discuss why he believes diversity of thought is key to unearthing creativity.

“Once again, Funko had a terrific quarter and full year, significantly exceeding our own expectations,” said Funko CEO Brian Mariotti.

“The games category is another avenue to deliver pop culture to our ever-growing fan base,” said Funko president Andrew Perlmutter.

Dobble has now sold over 1 million copies in the UK, and finished 2018 as the UK’s top selling game by value, according to NPD data.

We caught up with figures from Bang Zoom, Open 2 Design and Sweet Spot Studio Inc to learn more about how 2018 was for them and what they think of the state of play moving into this year.

The top selling themes in 2018 were LEGO City, LEGO Technic, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends and LEGO Ninjago.

“At Hasbro, we take pride in doing the right thing, simply because it’s the right thing to do,” said Brian Goldner, chairman and CEO, Hasbro, Inc.

The game sees players try to collect matching sets of cards faster than their opponents, while simultaneously throwing squishy burritos at each other.

“The great pedigree of educational games in Searainbow’s portfolio will enable us to strengthen our offer with additional transgenerational ranges in both Europe and Asia,” said Asmodee’s Stephane Carville.

We caught up with Flanagan to learn more about the origins of Mechanica, and how she got her start in the world of game design.