Get Outdoors, Get Active Celebrate National Backyard Games Week, May 19-26, 2003

National Backyard Games Week was designed to bring families and friends together through fun outdoor activities.

Beloit, Wis. – Patch Products, Inc., sponsor of the 6th Annual National Backyard Games Week, designed the event to bring families and friends together through fun outdoor activities. According to the American Obesity Association, approximately 30 percent of todays children are overweight and 15 percent are obese. National Backyard Games Week gives parents and teachers a reason to encourage physical activity.

The National Backyard Games Week section at the Patch web site (www.patchproducts.com) features ideas on how to get children involved. Not only will children appreciate the physical exercise outside; they will also learn valuable skills like following directions and teamwork.

To celebrate National Backyard Games Week, Patch is introducing three classic Backyard Games. Each backyard game, which is intended for ages 5 and up, features a molded foam ball and game rules for hours of backyard fun.

- Freeze Tag – The shiverin & sizzlin game of tag!
Get touched by the ice ball – freeze in your tracks! Get thawed by the fire ball before you can run again. Get frozen three times and youre IT!

- Hot Pepper – The game thats too HOT to touch!
Players stand in a circle and quickly pass the pepper in a random pattern while saying the Hot Pepper chant. The last player to touch the pepper when the chant is over is out. Play continues, eliminating one player per round until one player remains.

- Spike Spike – Football and basketball have gone to the dogs!
Two teams choose a doghouse goal, 60 feet apart. Tip off in the center of the yard like in basketball, and pass Spike (the dog ball) like in football. Each time you Spike Spike into your teams doghouse goal, you get a point.

To get everyone moving, Patch is offering 30% off Backyard Games purchased at www.patchproducts.com during May 2003.

Patch Products is a leading manufacturer and marketer of family entertainment products. Board games, card games, puzzles and foam sports toys are the core product lines with such top-selling properties as TriBond®, Blurt!®, Mad Gab®, Malarky®, PuzzlePatch® and Zoam® Light Tracker®. In addition, Patch has licensed games for PEOPLE Magazine, McDonalds®, *NSYNC, Backstreet® Boys and 98 Degrees.
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