Hasbro Computes

• Email
• Share
• Print

Hasbro (NYSE: HAS), the maker of Monopoly, is taking a chance -- or should that be an orange Chance card? -- that Navarre (Nasdaq: NAVR) subsidiary Encore will be able to win over an audience with computer games based around Hasbro's classic board games. Monopoly and Scrabble will get the PC treatment later this year, with Clue, Yahtzee, and Life to follow in 2007.

Maybe you have already played some of these games without a board. I can't even begin to count the Monopoly variations that I have played on video game systems, cell phones, and -- yes -- computers. Navarre isn't breaking new ground here, though. Companies such as Atari (Nasdaq: ATAR) have already produced PC-adaptations of the Hasbro classic.

Navarre's subsidiary is hoping to mix things up a bit, however, by releasing "Monopoly Here & Now" as an updated version of the classic with modern-day locales above and beyond the Atlantic City staples.

Why doesn't Hasbro just cut out the middleman and put out its own PC games? Perhaps it's the grim and costly lesson that rival Mattel (NYSE: MAT) learned when it paid dearly to absorb The Learning Company into its bloodstream.

Besides, what comes around goes around. Content-rich giants such as Marvel (NYSE: MVL) and George Lucas have turned to Hasbro for licensed playthings, so it's only fitting that Hasbro should pay it forward by giving a third party a shot at transforming its board games into addictive computer challenges.

To be honest, I can't picture folks clamoring for Yahtzee on the computer. By the same token, done right, I'm sure some games like Clue and Life would make worthy diversions. I'm game. Are Navarre and Hasbro?

Hasbro and Marvel have been popular recommendations forMotley Fool Stock Advisorsubscribers. Mattel made the cut forInside Valuereaders. Not sure which newsletter fits your investing style best? Take either or both for afree 30-day trial.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has more than a few Hasbro games around the house. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story.The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.