Vegas-Style Card Games Meet the Techno Posse, as Poker, Blackjack, Video Gaming Systems and iPod Dominate Top 10 Most-Searched Items

WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 22, 2005 -- Lycos, Inc. (http://www.lycos.com), a media destination for creators and consumers of quality content, today announced its sixth annual list of the most popular toys and video games this holiday season, based on The Lycos 50™. The Lycos 50 is a weekly list of the most popular people, places and things web users search for everyday. For a complete list of The Lycos 50 top toys and video games, go to http://50.lycos.com.

The Top 10 Most-Searched Toys this holiday season:

1) Poker
2) Playstation
3) iPod
4) Neopets
5) Xbox
6) Harry Potter
7) Blackjack
8) Barbie
9) Nintendo
10) SpongeBob SquarePants

1) RuneScape
2) Dragonball Z Budokai
3) Naruto
4) Final Fantasy VII
5) Inuyasha - Fuedal Combat
6) The Sims 2
7) Grand Theft Auto
8) Warcraft III
9) Gundam
10) Diablo II

"Poker and poker-related items like poker travel cases, poker strategy books and clay poker chips, remain very popular, generating nearly three times as many searches as the second most popular toy, Playstation, taking the top spot as the most-searched toy for the second straight year," said Dean Tsouvalas, writer of The Lycos 50. "New on this year's top 10 list is another card game phenomenon, Blackjack, with Baccaract falling just shy of the top 10 list at number 12. Legos also came close to making the top 10, with Star Wars Legos as the most-searched Lego toy."

"For the fifth consecutive year, the Playstation gaming platforms remain more popular than all other gaming platforms, edging out Xbox, and generating three times as many searches as the Nintendo gaming systems," Tsouvalas added. "But this year, it's all about portable. Portable and mobile gaming systems like The PSP Playstation Portable, and the handheld Nintendo DS, are far more popular than their table-top counterparts."

Making its first-ever appearance on this year's list is Apple's iPod. Searches for iPod are up 2,300 percent over this time last year, with the iPod Mini and iPod Nano generating the bulk of the searches. Meanwhile, this marks the first time in five years that Bratz Dolls, Yu-Gi-Oh cards and Transformers fall off the top 10 list, dropping in search popularity over the past year.

Barbie continues her run, making the top 10 toy list for the sixth consecutive year. SpongeBob SquarePants is the most popular licensed cartoon character searched for this holiday season, making the top 10 list for the second consecutive year. SpongeBob is four times more popular than Thomas the Tank Engine, six times more popular than Elmo and Dora the Explorer, and 12 times more popular than Bob the Builder.

As for video games, this marks the first year that Star Wars' themed games failed to make the top 10 list. Also missing from this year's top 10 video games list are any sports-themed lists. For the first time ever, a massive multi-player game comes in as the number one searched video game, with the overwhelming popularity of RuneScape.

"In past years, folks seemed to be more cost conscious, with searches for transformers and Matchbox and Hot Wheels dominating the Lycos toys' list," Tsouvalas continued. "But this year, with increased search activity for mobile and handheld devices, monthly fees to play RuneScape, and the cost of the first generation gaming systems, price appears to be no object with holiday shoppers."

The online toy, department stores and specialty stores seeing the biggest jump in search activity over the past week include: Target, up 225 percent; Dicks Sporting Goods, up 205 percent; WAL-MART, up 192 percent; the GAP, up 179 percent; and Toys R Us, up 165 percent. Searches for coupons have also dramatically increased over the past week, up 900 percent. The most popular specialty store coupon is J Crew Coupon, up 210 percent.

About Lycos, Inc.
Lycos, Inc. (http://www.lycos.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Daum Communications Corp., a leading Internet portal and e-commerce destination in Korea with a growing presence throughout the Asian markets. Lycos, Inc. creates and operates search, community and technology lifestyle sites including Lycos.com, Hotbot.com, Wired.com, Tripod.com, Angelfire.com and Quote.com. Other Lycos products and sites include Lycos Mail, Gamesville and GetRelevant. Lycos was acquired by Korean Daum Communications Corp. in October 2004 and has its U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. Daum Communications Corp. is traded on the KOSDAQ: 035720, http://www.daum.net.

Lycos(R) is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University. All other product or service marks mentioned herein are those of Daum Communications Corp., Lycos, Inc. or their respective owners. All rights reserved.