In the Zone with Gems, Lasers and Rock and Roll

In this game, two to eight children split into two teams, put on their colored wristbands, and unfurl their flags. Each team hides a Gag — a multifaceted creature that is magnetic and can also stick, grab and hook in hiding places — for the other team to find. The company’s Get-Out-Of-Their-Way Play “products allow kids to reinvent their play places and use their imagination,” Rubbing Hands Founder Chris Friden told TDmonthly. “There is no technology required and they are based on simple play that kids instinctively do on their own: hiding, finding, following and inventing, to name a few. These are fantastic gifts and party activities.” This product is a 2008 iParenting Media Award winner.

This insanely funny board game comes with 133 dice and 100 activities to exercise both sides of a player’s brain. Highlights include “How many dice can you balance on your head?” and “Know what arachibutyrophobia is?” Sections Thinkingtown, Actionland and Triviaville, along with a mix of dice games, physical challenges and artistic creations, offer something for everyone. “Dicecapades! is ideal for the specialty toy market because it has more unique, highly entertaining activities than other board games like it!” Vice President Mike Fisher of The Haywire Group told TDmonthly. Launch date: July 2007.
— Michelle Deutschmann, owner of Kaleidoscope Toys in Falmouth, Mass., told TDmonthly in a February 2013 survey that DICEcapades! was one of their best selling games.  

This visual trivia betting game for two to six players combines the best of trivia and poker in a game where cards and game chips are collected throughout the game as players identify amazing visuals, answer compelling trivia questions and bet on what they know. "The combination of identifying images, answering trivia questions and betting on what you know makes it a game that appeals to a broad market," Nancy Joyal of Wiggles 3D told TDmonthly. Eye Know received a 2008 Mensa Select award and a 2008 Game of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine. Launch date: August/September 2007.

Inside this fresh box are three salad bowls — Say Anything, Triple Threat and Charades — that hold the names of famous people players have written down. Teams alternate play and rotate players as they try to guess each name through clues and charades, promoting guessed names to the next bowl.

The award-winning XIG series features unique stand-alone games involving puzzle tiles that connect during play. If desired, the completed puzzles of each game ingeniously combine into an amazing overall XIGsaw puzzle and story in a fascinating world of mysterious creatures. In XIG-The Sorcerers Sword, players challenge each other to complete an amazing sword puzzle while trying to control Sorcerers and rings of the four elements. Control of the rings allows players to protect their own Sorcerers. Spells and curses help players advance or hinder their progress. Launch date: October 2006.
— When creating XIG puzzles, the company’s two primary objectives were to “create a game that hit a chord for the tween market playing with the parents — cool enough, but interesting and engaging enough for adults to be involved” and to develop something innovative and creative — “not just the rehashing of an old idea,” President Greg Scott of GT² Fun & Games told TDmonthly.

This popular new laser game now has a 6"- by 6"-square add-on that creates a second level of play atop the original 10"- by 8"-square board. Players alternate turns moving mirrored pieces around the playing field and firing laser diodes to illuminate, and eliminate, their opponent’s pieces. Moves can now include a directional move or rotation of the expansion tower, or movement from the upper to lower level and vice versa.
— Khet 3D: Tower of Kadesh adds more excitement to the popular laser-beam game, employing additional board space so that lasers can not only bounce off mirrored pieces on the main playing field, but also enter a whole new dimension by finding their way up a tower to the second level. The strategy, creativity and materials involved in this game earned it a TDmonthly Innovations 2007 award.

This game is all about solving puzzles and collecting gems before the timer runs out. It features a colorful board and coordinating gems in various hues, and the goal is to collect as many gems of one color as possible.

This fast-paced card game prompts players to grab one of seven cubes that keep them from being “It,” based on commands on each card. Players aim to take the cube that is opposite of the card before their opponents do. The wooden cubes are numbered in Spanish, German, French and English, and with die symbols and numerical digits.