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CONTACT: Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

TAKE YOUR OPPONENTS DOWN...BY THE SEA WITH POKEMON-E: AQUAPOLIS

New Set to Deliver Most Cards Ever and New Unique Energy Types

January 15, 2003(Renton, Wash.)-Where the Pokémon© trading card game (TCG) Expedition(tm) left off, the all-new Aquapolis(tm) expansion takes over. Set in a mysterious coastal city, the new Aquapolis expansion introduces 186 cards, the largest release in Pokémon TCG history. This new set comes packed with brand new attacks to build your decks with as well as 3 new, unique energy types!

Releasing this week, the Pokémon-e: Aquapolis set will be available in theme decks (Abyss and Rock Garden MSRP $9.99 each) and booster packs (MSRP $3.29) at retail outlets nationwide. Additional Pokémon-e card TCG releases are slated for early 2003.

The Pokémon-e: Aquapolis set has something to offer all Pokémon aficionados. The new set maintains playability within the TCG universe but also comes encoded with revolutionary Dot Code strips that are "swiped" (think credit card) into the new e-Reader attachment for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. With a slide of the card, Pokémon-e TCG players will enter a new world of Pokémon, as TCG tips and strategies, sound effects, graphics and mini games are revealed on the Game Boy Advance screen.

Anticipation for the new set is high. Aaron Giles, a 9 -year-old from Renton, Washington proclaims "Me and my friends really like playing the trading card game and collecting all the new cards. I can't wait to get the Aquapolis cards."

Since its U.S. launch in January 1999, Wizards of the Coast's Pokémon trading card game has taken the country - and the world - by storm. The Pokémon TCG continues to be a bestseller, becoming one of the newest game "classics" for kids of all ages. Much more than a game, the Pokémon TCG has created a community of dedicated fans and players, more than 100,000 of whom enjoy competing in organized leagues and tournaments in more than 40 countries around the globe each year. In addition to the trading card game, the Pokémon phenomenon includes Nintendo's Game Boy® and N64® video cartridge games, a very popular animated children's television program on the WB network, a Pokémon center retail store in New York City's Rockefeller Center, comic books and a vast assortment of toys.

Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is the worldwide market share leader in the trading card game and tabletop role-playing game categories. A leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products, the company holds an exclusive patent on the method of playing trading card games (TCGs) and produces the world's best-selling Pokémon® and Magic: The Gathering® TCGs. Publisher of adventure games, family card and board games and electronic media products. Wizards of the Coast is also one of the world's premier book publishers of fantasy series fiction whose novels have made numerous appearances on The New York Times best-seller list and have sold millions of copies worldwide. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast® website at www.wizards.com.

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