BreaKey
BreaKey is a board game/toy by BreaKey N.V., which was licensed by Upper Deck. It was released in 2002 in The Netherlands and in 2003 in Germany and The United States of America, before being discontinued sometime in the mid-2000s.
Gameplay
[edit]Two players have to insert their keys into each other, and twist. One key breaks, while the other stays intact. The broken key loses.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
After one key is broken, it can still be used to construct constructions with the broken piece as the connector. You can also collect the broken keys.[3][4][8]
Online
[edit]On the keys, there was a part with a scratchable layer, which would reveal a code. This code could be entered on the game's website to activate a virtual key. Prizes could be received for how well your online key did.[2][3][4][8][9][10][11] By June 2002, the site had 4.000 daily visits and 25.000 registered users.[8]
Marketing
[edit]Television shows
[edit]There were two television shows produced for the marketing of BreaKey. One was aired on the FoxKids/V8 channel in the Netherlands, the other on RTL Zwei in Germany.[6][9][12]
Licensing
[edit]Upper Deck was the distributor for the BreaKeys in the entire world except for Brazil, Venezuela and the BeNeLux region, for which it paid $2,5 million yearly or 10% of all sales, whichever was higher. The company produced BreaKeys with images relating to MLB players, One Piece characters, and Medabots. Plans were also made for licensing deals with Pokémon, Marvel, the NHL and the NFL. Studio 100 was the distributor for the BreaKeys in the BeNeLux, and organized licences with Suske en Wiske and Spring.[2][3][4][6][7][8][10][11][13][14] The Spring marketing campaign became a failure, and as a result a complete warehouse of BreaKeys had to be liquidated.[15][16] Plans were also made for a larger international expansion to countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, and Israel.[6]
Upper Deck worked with Buzzmarketing in a deal to sponsor an American tour for a band from Orlando, Florida, in exchange for a song about the product, which would be requested to be played on American radio stations.[14][17]
Tour
[edit]In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, there was a tour and tournament for the BreaKeys, where the winner of each tournament would be crowned the "Keymaster".[9][12]
Lawsuits
[edit]In 2003, Upper Deck and BreaKey International, the company behind the product, sued each other in regards to the BreaKey product and the website development. Eventually, Upper Deck was forced to pay BreaKey International $2,5 million.[10][18][19]
Buzzmarketing also sued Upper Deck for alleged breach of contract in regards to the work done with the marketing campaign with the band, but this claim was denied.[14]
In July 2005, BreaKey and Upper Deck sued each other again over trademark oppositions regarding the terms "Breakoff," "Breakzoff" and "Breakeze".[20]
Website
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Upper Deck Plans BreaKey Game". icv2.com. 12 August 2003. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ a b c Deifuß, Uwe (2003-11-21). "CTM-Lizenz für neuartiges Sammelspiel". www.blickpunktfilm.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2025-06-26. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ a b c d De Jager, K (2004-01-16). "Springen voor BreaKeys". GVA (in Flemish). Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ a b c d "Springen voor BreaKeys". HBVL (in Flemish). 2004-01-16. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ WO2003008062A1, Teunenbroek, Ronald Van & Sluijs, Robertus Maria, "Toy article with handle and coupling piece for connection with a second toy article", issued 2003-01-30
- ^ a b c d de Vliegh, Sandra (21 June 2002). "BreaKeys zijn de nieuwste rage op het schoolplein" [BreaKeys are the newest rage on the schoolyards]. Rotterdams Dagblad (in Dutch). Rotterdam. p. 3.
- ^ a b "Breek de sleu...tel" [Break the Brea...Key]. Het Belang van Limburg (in Flemish). 14 January 2004. p. 39.
- ^ a b c d e "BreaKey: Nieuwste rage op schoolplein" [BreaKey: newest rage on schoolyards]. Dagblad Zaanstreek (in Dutch). Castricum. 22 June 2002. p. 41.
- ^ a b c "BreaKey: Der neue Sammel-Hit von Upper Deck" [BreaKey: The new collectible hit from Upper Deck]. www.brandora.de. 28 October 2003. Archived from the original on 2026-04-17. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ a b c "THE UPPER DECK CO., LLC v. BREAKEY INTERN, BV (S.D.N.Y. 2005), 390 F. Supp. 2d 355". Casemine. Archived from the original on 2025-05-21. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ a b Watt, Chad Eric (2004-01-26). "MindComet collaborates on Deck 'keys'". www.bizjournals.com. Maitland: Orlando Business Journal. Archived from the original on 2005-03-02. Retrieved 2026-03-15.
- ^ a b "Upper Deck To Release BreaKey in December". icv2.com. 11 November 2003. Archived from the original on 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ "Upper Deck's Trading Card Releases". icv2.com. 22 February 2004. Archived from the original on 2019-11-21. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ a b c "Written 'Intent to Contract' Does Not Create a Contract". The Legal Intelligencer. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ "Studio 100 moest magazijn vol 'Spring'-gadgets vernietigen: "Het bleek toch niet zo geniaal als gedacht"" [Studio 100 had to liquidate warehouse full of "Spring"-gadgets: "It wasn't as genius as we thought"]. Het Laatste Nieuws (in Flemish). 2025-06-04. Archived from the original on 2026-04-14. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
- ^ Bourlon, Hans (2017-03-08). De blik van Bourlon [The vision of Bourlon] (in Dutch) (1st ed.). Belgium: Roularta Media Group. pp. 137–138. ISBN 9789022333617.
- ^ Skinner, Liz (31 May 2003). "Bling! Bling! Ka-Ching!" (PDF). Billboard. pp. 1, 124. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ "Upper Deck Co. LLC v. BreaKey International BV". New York Law Journal. Archived from the original on 2025-05-21. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ "Upper Deck Company | S.D. New York | 12-23-2004". www.anylaw.com. Archived from the original on 2025-05-21. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ Lesko, Paul (2012-08-10). "Law of Cards: There Have Been How Many Sports Card Industry Lawsuits?". The Cardboard Connection. Archived from the original on 2025-04-17. Retrieved 2025-05-21.