TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/072991/0729140.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 3.6 KB | 81 lines

                                                                                LIVING, Page 61

The (Sticky) Fad of Summer


The season's big game involves two paddles, a ball, lots of
Velcro -- and oodles of people who love the gimmick


    For a while there, it looked as if this could be a summer
with nary a craze in sight. But not for long. Suddenly this has
become the summer of the Velcro paddle and ball.

    The idea for the new toy is simple: put stick-to-itself
Velcro on a sphere that is roughly the size of a tennis ball.
Apply the same stuff to two mitt-size disks that have a strap
across the back for a handhold. Presto! A craze known variously
as Magic Mitts, Scatch, Katch-a-Roo and Super Grip Ball. On
streets, playgrounds and at the beach, players have added their
own fancy moves, twisting into pretzel shapes to make
behind-the-back catches, or getting a grip on the ball while
doing a high-kick. Another trick: strapping a mitt on each hand
to grab two balls at once. In short, the new adhesive playthings
do what the Frisbee used to do, with less effort. Dropping the
Velcro ball is also a lot harder: if it strikes any part of the
sticky mitt, the orb stays put.

    With prices that range from $13 to $20, the three-piece
sets are pleasantly affordable, and even a novice can
immediately start showing the skills of a big-league outfielder.
"It's New Age baseball," says Ashley Petrus, 12, of Columbia,
S.C., who liked the sport the first time she picked up a mitt.
"You really get into it. The best part is the feeling of pride
when you catch." And as her brother Brad, 9, pointed out after
he neatly snared Ashley's pitch, "you don't have to be exact.
If the ball hits on the mitt's side, it sticks."

    A popular version of the game is Super Grip Ball, which is
distributed by Paliafito America Inc. The company's founder,
Mark Paliafito, 25, tried out a South Korean-made set on young
players in a baseball league he was coaching last fall. "They
loved it," he says, "and I started thinking about the potential
this kind of thing had." With his brother John, 24, he formed
a small California company, and in January bought the U.S.
marketing rights with the guarantee that he would spend at least
$1 million on advertising.

    During the traditional spring-break bacchanalia, the
Paliafitos handed out hundreds of free mitts and balls to
college students on Florida and Texas beaches. The game caught
on like, well, Velcro, and since then the Paliafitos say they
have sold 650,000 of their Super Grip Ball and taken orders for
nearly 1 million more.

    In eye-popping neon colors, Super Grip sells briskly in
toy stores and at the 75-store Sharper Image chain, whose
typical customer is described as a man in his early 40s. What's
the allure? "When the economy gets tough, you need a
diversion," says Stephen Sandberg, owner of Sanco Toy Co., in
Foxboro, Mass., who has shipped 100,000 Scatch games. "You look
for something simple to do. You use your imagination, and make
up your own rules."

    Inevitably, fads fade, but while the mitt is still a hit,
Mark Paliafito's company is lining up commercial sponsors who
will stamp their logos on the Super Grip Ball. He also plans to
make disks 7 ft. in diameter for team play. By next year, five
new versions are expected to be on the market. And that should
be welcome news even for beachgoers who do not play: the muted
sounds from Velcro mitts will be displacing the annoying
thwock-thwock-thwock of old-style beach paddle-ball games.

    By Emily Mitchell. Reported by Dan Cray/Los Angeles and
Elizabeth Rudulph/New York