New York - October 22, 2002 - PlayDate Inc., an independent marking services firm that produces the premier media event showcasing the Holiday season's hottest toys, board games, collectibles, video games and PC games, today announced results from its exclusive annual survey of mass market and specialty toy and game retailers predicting 2002's hottest Holiday gifts.

According to PlayDate survey results, retailers believe Mattel's Barbie as "Rapunzel"" will be this year's must-have gift, but boys need not worry as survey results indicate that Santa will also be delivering plenty of video games, interactive toys and products featuring popular licenses.

Barbie, which first hit store shelves more than 40 years ago, remains a hot commodity among young girls, who love the doll's themed incarnations, and their moms, who are attracted to Barbie's classic appeal. Other Number 1 toys and games from PlayDate's retailer survey include the LeapPad learning System (best-selling toy in speciality stores), Cranium Cariboo (best-selling board game), PlayStation 2 (best-selling video game hardware), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (best-selling video game software), The Sims Online (best-selling PC game), Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards (best-selling collectibles) and Dora the Explorer (best-selling brand family).

"Barbie again proves to be a great evergreen gift," said Sean McGowan, toy industry analyst with Gerald Klauer Mattison and co-founder of PlayDate iNc. "But a lot of what's under the tree this year is changing. More and more, parents are focusing on educational products, like LeapPad or PC games like Dora the Explorer. Yet advanced technology is making video games more popular than ever, and the latest editions of Grand Theft Auto, Tony Hawk and WWE: Smackdown will be most in demand. On the console front, PlayStation 2 is still the dominant leader, with Nintendo's Game Boy Advance the uncontested portable unit of choice."

McGowan added, "The country is still experiencing "cocooning" - when families choose to stay home together -which has led to a surge in the popularity of new-fangled games, such as Cranium, as well as classics like Monopoly and Risk, even if they've been modified with the hottest licenses, like Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings.

More than two dozen retailers participated in the 2002 PlayDate retailer survey, including Sears, KB Toys,Toys "R" Us, FAO, eToys, Electronics Boutique, Gamestop, Imaginarium and numerous speciality stores.

Playdate is an annual media event showcasing Holiday toy and games and is held in October at New York City's Metropolitan Pavilion. Leading and innovative toy companies participate in the show.

Retailers are surveyed by PlayDate Inc., an independent marking services company tracking the toy and game software industries in the U.S. PlayDate Inc compiles the survey results at the end of the third quarter, identifying those toys and game expected to be the best selling products during the Holiday Season.