Thousands Fill Roseland Ballroom in New York City Over the Weekend, as First Ever Bakugan National Champion is Crowned

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Fanatics of the toy and TV phenomenon Bakugan traveled from all over the country to New York's Roseland Ballroom on the weekend, for their chance to be crowned the first ever Bakugan national champion at Baku-Con.  Christopher Ruff of Cerritos, California won the title, besting thousands of tournament hopefuls from Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando and New York.

Thousands packed the Roseland Ballroom over the weekend, as kids not only came to compete, but also to participate in a wide variety of Bakugan activities.  Spin Master flew in 128 of the top Bakugan brawlers from across America to compete in the weekend's championship event, who had been competing in regional Baku-Con tournaments since the beginning of January.

"Kids are crazy over Bakugan, and they really loved the Baku-Con experience," said Harold Chizick, VP Global Communications and Promotions for Spin Master.  "They came out in droves for each of the regionals, and the Roseland Ballroom was buzzing with excitement over the weekend.  The action was just amazing.  Congratulations to Christopher Ruff for being an amazing brawler, and becoming the first ever Bakugan national champion."

Regional Baku-Con champions are Chicago's Abel Fernandez, Los Angeles' Elijah Torres, Dallas' Nick Spagnoletti, Orlando's Matt Torres, and New York City's Andrew Perico.

About Bakugan™

The ultimate action toy-meets-trading card game, Bakugan are small colorful balls that spring into powerful monsters when rolled over Bakugan game cards. Offering the perfect combination of collectability, skill, strategy, action and competitive play, kids battle against one another using Bakugan powers, special abilities, and even a shooting trick or two.

Winner of two 2010 Toy of the Year awards, Bakugan has become a hugely successful global franchise.  Driven not just by the success of the toy, Bakugan also is a hit animated TV series on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and Teletoon in Canada, has a robust licensing and merchandising program, a video game from Activision released in October 2009 across multiple gaming platforms, and a movie deal with Universal Pictures that will bring Bakugan to the big screen in a live-action feature slated for 2011.  For additional information please visit: www.bakugan.com.

About Spin Master Ltd.

A multi-category children's entertainment company since 1994, Spin Master has been designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer products for children around the world and is recognized as a global growth leader within the toy industry. Spin Master is best known for such popular brands as boy's action phenomena and 2009 Toy of the Year winner Bakugan Battle Brawlers™, 2008 Toy of the Year winner Air Hogs®, Aquadoodle™, Tech Deck™, Moon Sand™ and Liv™. The company has also marked an entry into children's media with the launch of Spin Master Entertainment, a division focusing on the design, development and production of television and other media properties. Spin Master employs over 700 people with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Hong Kong and Mexico. For additional information please visit: www.spinmaster.com.

SOURCE Spin Master Ltd.