Rubik’s Fans Encouraged to Build Their Creativity  with New Toy Range From Award-Winning Toymaker

Fountain City, WI (January 30, 2018) – 3D Play, Pixels and Puzzles will have a new twist in 2018 as Strictly Briks^® reimagines the Rubik’s Cube in the universe of brick construction. The original Rubik’s Cube has been a Toy Fair staple since the 1980s but newcomer Strictly Briks makes its first appearance as an exhibitor in 2018 to celebrate their launch of their new RUBIK’S BRIKS range in New York City this February. Visitors to the American International Toy Fair Booth 4103 can test their skills with three licensed toy lines for Summer/Fall 2018: Rubik’s Briks 3D Play, Pixels and Puzzles (starting at $14.99). All boast the iconic Rubik’s colors and encourage kids to PLAY SMART.

But the award-winning toymaker are also extending this creative new concept beyond building towers (and toppling them down) to include 3D Modeling, colorful pixel images and challenging Puzzles imagined in an entirely new way. Each category – 3D Play, Pixels and Puzzles – features progressively challenging levels from Beginner to Advanced – just like the Cube itself. Now children from preschool to middle school and beyond can enjoy building a finished product, and advanced puzzles will engage (and challenge) grownups that grew up with the iconic Cube.

Kids as young as 4-years-old will discover new ways to be creative with the patent pending cube-shaped Rubik’s Briks which allow for building in all directions. Parents will appreciate how the 3D Play encourages kids to be creative, imaginative and a bit adventurous in their construction.

Strictly Briks’ patent pending square Brik Tiles for Pixels and Puzzles, available in 1×1, 2×2 and 3×3 sizes, are easy to remove for reuse again and again for creative pixel play. They will also note the progressive difficulty, making it ideal for every age in the house!

Brian Semling, Founder and CEO of Strictly Briks, is excited about this new range, saying, “Imagine taking apart a Rubik’s Cube and using the colorful cubelets to build in the brick universe.  That was our inspiration. We get kids, and kids at heart, to use their imagination to build creative objects in an entirely new way. We also created easy-to-remove new Tile Briks to encourage the design of cool pixel art. Plus these same Tile Briks, with Rubik’s 2×2 and 3×3 patterns, allow kids of all ages to solve challenging puzzles.”

Lori Heiss Tiplady, VP Toys & Publishing at The Smiley Company on behalf of brand owner Rubik’s Brand Limited, says, “A perfect brand extension for the world’s best-selling toy, Rubik’s Briks features an innovative new Cube-shaped design for the next generation of builders, and the full range of products will challenge youngsters’ creativity, engage their brains and inspire them to think outside the Cube!”

Look for all these products to be on store shelves and online in time for Autumn 2018.

Rubik’s Briks: 3D Play – Progressive Challenge Levels • $14.99-$29.99 • Ages 6+ and 8+

Each 3D Play Set comes with instructions to build 3 different designs: invite Giraffe, Camel or Penguin to the kitchen table with these adorable building sets that wow kids right before their eyes! Or build your Race Car, Dump Truck or Plane!  Open the box and spill out up to 150 3D Briks with a 2×2 (stud or anti-stud) design on each face. Each patent pending 3D Brik is fully compatible with all leading brands of brick construction toys and allows the user to build with cubes.

Rubik’s Briks: 3D Play Learning Cube • $24.99 • Ages 4-10

STEM learning is easily grasped as kids accept this challenge of adding hinges to baseplates to build a cube or other 3D build area. Combine with 150 letter and number bricks to read, write, message and do math all while playing. Each set makes one educational cube comprised of 6hinged 2-sided baseplates measuring 6.5” x 6.5” with 150 Tile Briks. Wow!

Rubik’s Briks: 3D Play Brik Cube •

$14.99 • Ages 8+

Well this looks familiar! The 3D cube modeling system with Rubik’s colors result in a solution that looks like the original global sensation of years ago. Connect 27 Briks plus 54 Rubik’s Colored Tile Briks with a little help from the enclosed instructions.  This is not only a toy, but also a great desk ornament for the “kids” that grew up with the original Rubik’s Cube.

Rubik’s Briks: Pixels – Level 1 • $19.99 • Ages 4+ Budding artists can create a mosaic image built on brick-

building baseplates using plastic tiles in Rubik’s colors. This kit includes about 300 2x 2 Tile Briks plus a 32×32 (10” x 10”) baseplate. Each set can produce 4 mosaic images.

Rubik’s Briks: Pixels – Level 2 • $19.99 • Ages 8+

Ready for more? This set offers about 800 1×1 Tile Briks plus a

32×32 (10” x 10”) baseplate. Each set can create 3 mosaic images.  Plus Build Your Creativity to make anything you can dream up!  Keep in mind that Strictly Briks Tiles are fully compatible with all leading brands of brick construction toys!

Rubik’s Briks: Pixel Puzzles – Level 1, 2 & 3 • $19.99 • Ages 4-7, Ages 5-12 and Ages 10+

Follow the instructions to complete these puzzles and say hello a parrot, dog, spaceship or waterfall, among other designs. Ideal for the whole family, with three levels of play to keep everyone from 4-year-olds to teens engaged with varying levels of difficulty depending on the size of the tile and design of the image.  Each set produces one puzzle. Three sizes, each in several styles: 20×20 designs: Parrot, Dog and Flower with bee; 30×30 designs: spaceship, waterfall, plane; 45×45 designs: space scene, waterfall, sailboat.

Rubik’s Briks: 20×20 (6” x 6”) Baseplates • $11.99 • Ages 4+

Rubik’s Briks: 32×32 (10” x 10”) Baseplates • $24.99 • Ages 4+

Consider these the home base for any of your Rubik’s Briks items. These baseplates are in Rubik’s colors of Blue, Green, Orange, Red, White and Yellow. Choose from a full set of 32×32 (10” x 10”) or 20×20 (6” x 6”) baseplates.

Parents, teachers, retailers and wholesalers can discover the entire line of Strictly

Briks toys and games online at strictlybriks.com and Amazon.com. They also sell on Amazon international marketplaces in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

ABOUT STRICTLY BRIKS^®

Creativity has its base with award-winning Strictly Briks, winner of 30 industry awards in late 2017. With a mission to provide an affordable platform and structure for kids to build, every product encourages combining with toys already available from action figures and cars to stuffed animals. This is play in a new way. Kids’ creativity shines by building upon stackable baseplates that grows to whatever is imagined at the moment. At the same time youngsters amass STEM knowledge from engineering to architecture as they play! Follow them on social media channels Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. To browse or order directly, visit their website at strictlybriks.com.

ABOUT THE RUBIK’S CUBE

• In the time since its international launch in 1980 an estimated 450 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold.

• The appeal of the Rubik’s brand cuts across age, taste and cultures; having established itself as the world’s best-selling toy for over 3 decades, it is now being developed with a brand extension program that is expanding the Cube into a new world of products and categories. This has been carefully developed in partnership with The Smiley Company, to meet the growing demands for the brand, as it finds itself at the centre of major lifestyle trend and intelligence revolution.

• The Smiley Company is the global master licensee for the Rubik’s Cube, and is developing a brand extension program which builds on the iconic Cube’s key values of progressive and challenging puzzle fun to create an intelligence revolution for the future.

• 2017 was a phenomenal year for Rubik’s with all-time record sales of the Cube at retail, marking the biggest year of the craze since the 1980’s.

ABOUT THE SMILEY COMPANY

On Saturday, January 1, 1972, Franklin Loufrani wanted to spread a little happiness in a time when bad news seemed to prevail. On that New Year’s Day, French newspaper France Soir printed the now iconic smiley logo to highlight good news stories. Before long, the promotion gained traction and an icon and brand was born. The Smiley Company is today one of the TOP100 licensing Companies in the world, with over 260 licensees globally generating annual turnover at retail in excess of $265 million and selling more than 23 million products year round. The Smiley trademark is registered in over 100 countries and in more than 13 product categories and according to a recent Toluna survey has 97% recognition across the world as a symbol of positivity.