Hasbro Inc. has made a bid to acquire the privately-held board game manufacturer Cranium for a purchase price in the neighborhood of $77.5 million.  The final price in the all-cash deal will be based on Cranium's assets at closing.  If the deal is approved by Cranium's shareholders, Cranium will become a subsidiary of Hasbro, which has agreed to pay down Cranium's debt. 

If the deal goes through, Hasbro will acquire Cranium's creative team and a line of successful games including Cranium, Zooreka, Hullabaloo, and Hoopla.  Cranium Inc. has sold over 22 million games, toys and books in the nine-plus years since Richard Tait and Whit Alexander introduced the Cranium party board game in 1998.  Like Monopoly and most of Hasbro's popular board games, the Cranium games have been popular in the mass market though they have received hobby distribution as well (see 'Parent's Choice Picks Board Games for the Holidays').