Wally Bear and the NO! Gang

• Wally Bear
• Billy Bunny
• Priscilla Possum
• Stevie Squirrel
• Timmy Tiger
• Toby Turtle
• You

[4]

• Ricky Rat
• Larry Lizard
• Willard Weasel

Wally Bear and the NO! Gang, as an unlicensed Nintendo Entertainment System game cartridge, did not work on systems manufactured after October, 1990. Newer NES consoles, with a "revision 11" circuit board, contained hardware protections preventing unlicensed game cartridges from running properly. The manual explains this (along with a no symbol above 'Rev. 11', and the title "Just Say NO!"), then provides instructions on how to modify an NES game console to bypass Nintendo's hardware protections.

The game manual for Wally Bear and the NO! Gang contained a cut-out postcard that allowed the purchaser of the game to join the Wally Bear and the NO! Gang Club. The postcard could be mailed to a post office box in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania (the address of Edutainment, Inc. at the time) along with $3.50. A club member received a poster, stickers, and a bi-monthly newsletter with the "gang's adventures, and products with special membership discounts".[4]

NCADI rebranded the team "Wally Bear and the KNOW Gang" before 1994,[9] and expanded their message to include social and general health topics.[8] An eighth character was added, Recycleman. Recycleman was billed as the KNOW Gang's favorite superhero, and was half man, and half machine.[15]

A toll free telephone number was created and run by the NCADI. Callers to 1-800-HI-WALLY (1-800-449-2559) would be greeted by Wally Bear, and could hear various anti drug and messages relating to topics like alcohol, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and marijuana.[16] They could join the Wally Bear and the KNOW Gang Club through the mailing address for the NCADI, a post-office box in Rockville, Maryland.[17] This club, unrelated to the one attached to the NES game, allowed ordering posters and other materials.

The hotline gained traction as a standalone children's drug use prevention hotline, as evidenced by a 1995 newspaper article that did not mention the NES game at all.[17] The hotline received national exposure in the February 18, 1996 issue of Parade magazine,[18] and was used on the health.org website in its kids area in the early 2000s.[8]

The content on the hotline was not updated to reflect a complete retool of the Wally Bear franchise in June 2004. Nevertheless, the hotline was still active as late as 2006 with old "Wally Bear and the KNOW Gang" material. The NCADI Wally Bear hotline had been disconnected by June 2007.[19]

In June 2004, "Wally Bear and the KNOW Gang" was retired.[20][21] It was replaced with the Building Blocks for a Healthy Future Archived 2016-05-07 at the Wayback Machine program, featuring "Wally Bear and Friends", later the "Building Blocks Friends". The new program still featured Wally Bear, but his six animal friends had different names or genders (and the second rabbit of the team was changed into a cat). The program featuring the team focused on childhood development, parental interaction with children, and drug and alcohol awareness.[22]

The Building Blocks Friends were retired entirely from the program website by March 2015 as the site was "enhanced to incorporate the latest evidence-based strategies and programs on early childhood health promotion and substance abuse prevention".[23] That said, it is still possible to order the Building Blocks for a Healthy Future Kit Archived 2016-05-07 at the Wayback Machine from the old program as a paper publication.