June 2008 New Toys — General Games

Zen Benders - Dachshund by OUT OF THE BOX PUBLISHING

Select a challenge card and flip and slide the special ZenBender dice to recreate the pattern. With three levels of difficulty and 36 different patterns, there’s a challenge for everyone. Three other varieties are available: Dragon, Quilt and Race Track. 6/4/2008 (Price: $9.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

“Rock!” by OUT OF THE BOX PUBLISHING

The game puts reactions time to the test. Two cards are played to the table, but only one wins. Be the first to call-out the winning card and win a point. “Kids will pick up the game because it’s familiar to them,” Out of the Box Publishing Inc. Marketing Director Matt Mariani told TDmonthly. “’Rock, Paper, Scissors’ is played everywhere… but [this game] adds the element of speed.” Launch date: May 2008. 6/4/2008 (Price: $10.00) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Now I'm Reading!™ GAMES: Word Dominoes!: A Game of Word Building by INNOVATIVEKIDS

“Et,” “ip” and “op” are all letter families that make the fun rhymes and sounds in this storybook and game.  Kids learn the rhyming word families in the story and then build the words in a game of Word Dominoes. The Now I’m Reading! Games series turn reading into play. Launch date: May 2008. 6/4/2008 (Price: $9.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Now I'm Reading!™ GAMES: Rhyming War: A Game of Comparisons by INNOVATIVEKIDS

The numbers are at war. One thinks he’s bigger than Two and Three thinks he’s greater than Four; only wise Zero knows that nothing good can come of all this division. Kids will have fun rhyming as they practice number-comparison skills in this twist on the classic card game War. The Now I’m Reading! Games series turn reading into play. Launch date: May 2008. 6/4/2008 (Price: $9.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Now I'm Reading!™ GAMES: Letter Bingo!: A Game of Letter Sounds by INNOVATIVEKIDS

Annie packs an apple into a box marked “A.” Zelda puts a toy zebra into a box with a giant “Z.” In all, kids learn letters and the sounds they make as they read the alphabet party book from A through Z and play the Bingo game to reinforce what they’ve learned. The Now I’m Reading! Games series turn reading into play. Launch date: May 2008. 6/4/2008 (Price: $9.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Now I'm Reading!™ GAMES: Go Fish Stories!: A Game of Story Sequencing by INNOVATIVEKIDS

Story sequencing meets the well-loved matching game Go Fish. As kids read the book, they learn how a seed becomes an apple and flour makes a cake. Then they build essential story-sequencing skills by playing the game and building each of nine story scenes. The Now I’m Reading! Games series turn reading into play. Launch date: May 2008. 6/4/2008 (Price: $9.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

The Sesquipedalian Word Game: Act it! Draw it! Ad-lib it! Guess it! by INNOVATIVEKIDS

By playing this game, kids will learn a plethora (a lot) of words to make them sound sagacious (wise). Each player will become a sesquipedalian (one who uses long words) and enjoy some tomfoolery (playful behavior) in the process. Launch date: May 2008. 6/4/2008 (Price: $19.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

UpScale - A Musical Scales Game by NOTELOGIC LLC

A simple game to learn scales.  Pieces are laid face down, much like dominoes, and picked up one at a time by players.  As the students lay down their pieces, they learn the key signatures and whole/half step patterns.  "Choosing cards" are included for 15 Major and 15 minor keys.  Pieces are color coded to match the black and white keys on the piano.  Half step markers are also included. 6/3/2008 [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Warzone: A Game of Dynamic Strategy by WARZONE ENTERTAINMENT

The strategy game comes with a clipboard for a real battleship effect. It also comes with Bermuda triangles and atomic mine chain reactions. “Kids choose Warzone over other games because there is nothing else like Warzone available,” Warzone Entertainment Creator Scott Watkins told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 1, 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $60.00) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

PreSchool Improv-Ability by OUTCAST! PRODUCTIONS LLC

The two-in-one role-playing game has kids memorize cards and act out activities. The game encourages the imagination and features brightly colored cards that will attract and keep the attention of children. Launch date: April 15, 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $15.95) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Pirates' Gold by CARSON-DELLOSA PUBLISHING

The game is designed to strengthen strategic thinking, basic counting, skip counting and addition skills. The first player to collect six gold cards wins the game. “Kids love pirates and puzzles,” Carson Dellosa Publishing Co. representative John Russell told TDmonthly. “Pirates’ Gold combines the fun of building a 3-dimensional puzzle that turns into an easy-to-play game board filled with swashbuckling pirates and a bounty of shiny gold.” Launch date: September 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $14.99)

Mind Benders A1-A2 Software Track & Field Complex by THE CRITICAL THINKING CO.

The deductive thinking puzzles help children develop the logic, reading comprehension and mental organization skills vital to achieving high grades and top test scores in all subjects. “They're also great for developing real-life, problem solving skills,” Nile Duppstadt II, vice president of sales and marketing at The Critical Thinking Company, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 16, 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $25.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Fancy Nancy Posh Bedroom Game by BRIARPATCH INC.

Players help Fancy Nancy transform her bedroom from plain to posh, by bringing in her boas, ribbons, tiaras and more. No reading is required. The game comes with a color die, four bedroom game boards and 40 Posh Cards, including 14 purple "Let's Get Fancy!" cards, 18 pink "Accessories!" cards and eight blue "Oops!" cards. 5/30/2008 (Price: $19.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Beddy-Bye Baby™ Game by BRIARPATCH INC.

The game has kids dashing to tuck baby into bed by collecting a teddy bear, pajamas and bottle. No reading is required. The game comes with a game board, 48 playing cards, four tokens with stands, a rattle, die and rules. 5/30/2008 (Price: $19.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

I Spy 15th Anniversary Memory Game Limited Edition Silver Tin by BRIARPATCH INC.

Beginners search for matching pairs while advanced players solve riddles. No reading is required, and there are eight different ways to play. The game includes 60 memory cards and 16 challenging riddle cards. 5/30/2008 [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Wok N' Roll by INTERNATIONAL PLAYTHINGS LLC

Two to four players race to pick up “food” with special kid-friendly “chopsticks,” as the wacky Wok shakes and rolls.  As children pick out the “food,” they place it in special, colorful bowls. “The Wok n' Roll is brightly colored and is a challenge in dexterity,” International Playthings Inc. Representative Nicole Tiedemann told TDmonthly. “Individual or team play is encouraged, and the whole family can get involved.” Launch date: February 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $19.99)

Up the Water Spout by INTERNATIONAL PLAYTHINGS LLC

Players spin the spinner, and move up the “spout,” watching out for the “raindrop” that could wash their spider out. The first player to get two spiders to the top wins. “The game is uniquely simple to play, yet includes an element of surprise as children wait to see if the 'falling raindrop' will knock their spiders off the board!” International Playthings Inc. Representative Nicole Tiedemann told TDmonthly. Launch date: February 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $14.99)

ACHIEVE-Ability™ - Ancient Egyptian Treasure Search by WORLD CLASS LEARNING MATERIALS INC.

The four-level game has players comparing and ordering decimals through an ancient Egyptian treasure search game. At the same time, it teaches them about the different wonders of the world, such as the Nile River, the Sphinx and the Aswan Dam. “It is hard to find intermediate level games that can still capture a student who is at an older age,” World Class Learning Materials Product Development Manager Alyssa Brown told TDmonthly. “Students will love this fun and unique way of identifying greater than and less than decimals.” Launch date: January 1, 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $12.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Goofball Rally by EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS INC.

The game teaches color recognition and enhances logical thinking skills. “Kids will love the fast-paced game,” Educational Insights Advertising and Public Relations Coordinator Heidi Bultman told TDmonthly. It’s “very easy to understand and [there is] no reading required.” Launch date: January 31, 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $29.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Air Traffic Control Tower by EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS INC.

The game is great for travel and brain exercise. The game features 48 different puzzles at differing levels of difficulty. “Kids will also like it because it has planes,” Educational Insights Advertising and Public Relations Coordinator Heidi Bultman told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 31, 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $19.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Giant Blokus by EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS INC.

The strategy game teaches spatial reasoning and critical thinking skills. “Giant Blokus is fun to play, easy to learn and has huge games pieces,” Educational Insights Advertising and Public Relations Coordinator Heidi Bultman told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 31, 2008. THIS PRODUCT IS NO LONGER DISTRIBUTED BY EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS. 12/4/08. 5/30/2008 (Price: $169.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Pirate-Opoly by LATE FOR THE SKY PRODUCTION

This property trading game is specially designed for small children. Players can choose parrots, purchase pirate friends, collect skulls and crossbones, get pirate loot and sail the high seas with a band of pirates. Launch date: June 1, 2008. 5/30/2008 (Price: $15.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Imaginiff 10th Anniversary Edition by BUFFALO GAMES INC.

Imaginiff 10th Anniversary Edition offers all of the play value and classic elements of the original Imaginiff with 100% new content and some new hilarious “categorical” twists. Players just imagine what the other players are most like. Imaginiff your best friend were a theme park ride, which would he/she be? Bumper Cars, Splash Mountain, Tunnel of Love, Merry-Go-Round or a Roller Coaster? While everyone gets to vote, only the most popular answer wins. This is a great way to get to know what your friends and family really think of you! Assuming you do want to know, of course. Packaged as both a board game for your home and card game for the road, this game can be played anywhere...imaginable. 5/30/2008 (Price: $29.99) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Six by FOXMIND GAMES

Six is an elegant and subtle game of shape and strategy, where the goal is to be the first to form one of three winning shapes with one’s pieces. The game comes in a box cube and features high quality, red and black hexagonal wooden pieces. The game is great for travel. Launch date: June 2008.
Awards: Excellence Consumer Guide of Canada 5/30/2008 (Price: $24.95) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]

Pass the Pigs by WINNING MOVES GAMES

In this classic party game, two or more players roll the dice to score points and try to avoid “pigging out” so they don’t lose their points. It comes with two pig dice, a score pad and guide, two pencils and a plastic carrying case.
— “Every time we get it, it's crazy,” Donna Cole of Kaleidoscope Toys in Salida, Colo., told TDmonthly in May 2008.
— “Our best-selling game has always been Pass the Pigs,” said Joel Hardy, co-owner of Magpie Toys in Red Lodge, Mont., noting that they “display it vertically on a shelf.”
— In a late Summer 2012 survey, Mike Castor, owner of Pentwater Toybox in Pentwater, Mich., told TDmonthly that Pass the Pig was their second-best selling card game. 5/29/2008 (Price: $12.95) [Add to my Inquiry Basket][?]