Word: grips
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...could fall again unless the Federal Reserve moves quickly to lower interest rates. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has kept rates firm to control inflation. But with the threat of a "double-dip recession" hovering over the economy, Greenspan may feel new pressure from the Administration to relax his monetary grip as the 1992 presidential election draws near...
...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...
...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...