March 2010 New Specialty Toys — General Games

Kids can pick up a pen and get started laughing with this wacky book of activities. The tote includes two write-and-wipe pens, a clean-up cloth and 17 pages of fun activities to play alone or with friends. Launch date: 2010.

Created for family game night, this bowling set features six hand-cut and sanded maple wood kitty pins with carved facial features and coated in non-toxic paints. It includes a 2"-diameter bowling ball, a game play sheet, four score sheets, and a handmade cotton canvas bag for storage. "We love that they function to help develop hand-eye coordination for a younger child but will last for years as the child grows older," Sara, co-owner of Kitty Baby Love, told TDmonthly. Launch date:

In this subtle competition, the forest is ablaze, the smoke is thick, and the flames are spreading. The only inhabitants seem to be a few courageous firefighters, their supporting planes and fleeing animals. Ablaze consists of three distinct games. In Wild Fire!, one to four players lead a crew of firefighters who are attempting to contain a rapidly spreading wildfire. The crew must cover the largest area of forest while always maintaining a link to water. In Volcano!, players pilot an air tanker struggling to help extinguish a conflagration initiated by an erupting volcano. They extinguish or isolate the most forest fires to earn honor and victory. In On the Run!, a lighting strike has started an intense brushfire, forcing fluffy forest fauna to flee the inferno in an effort to escape a fiery demise. Players shall decide the fate of some of the frantic forest fauna, and saving the most animals will win the game. Ablaze includes 48 pawns (firefighters) in four colors, 47 forest tiles, one volcano tile, one plane tile and rules. It is made in the USA and is not sold in the mass market, according to Robert T. Carty, Jr., VP of Sales and Marketing, Mayfair Games. Playing time is about 45 minutes. The game was designed by Heinrich Glumpler with art by Franz Vohwinkel. Launch date: March 11, 2010.

Pressman Toy Corporation has signed an agreement with Good Marketing, Inc., for WaveLength. Appropriate for adults and teens, the game includes more than 1,000 pop culture questions about movies, television, music, sports, history, politics, geography, and even household goods. Scores determine, “Are you and your partner on the same WaveLength?” "Invented by Ed Greenberger, a television newscaster, and friend Stan Loveman, WaveLength has been widely popular in Canada. The game has also won several national and International awards, including an iParenting, National Parenting Center, Major Fun, Dr. Toy and Canadian Toy Testing Council’s Best Bet award," Stephanie Meyering, Account Coordinator, G.S. Schwartz & Co., told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2010.

This 3D board game is designed to sharpen memory skills as kids play with glittery ostriches. Each turn, a player removes an ostrich from the sand. If the ostrich’s head matches the color the player needs, he gets one step closer to winning. Launch date: 2010.

The goal is to be the first player to pack everything in your backpack and head out to the car and win. Children get the chance to move through the house game board to collect everything needed for vacation. It includes vacation item cards, children movers, backpacks and packing lists. Launch date: 2010.

This game gives kids the chance to take a moveable shopping cart and a shopping list, and race along the supermarket aisles to collect fruits, vegetables, meat and fish. By paying at the end of every turn, players get closer to winning. This brightly colored game board comes with a supermarket shelf, four shopping carts with moveable wheels, 36 coins and six shopping lists. "The Chimp and Zee line of preschool specialty games that have been developed with the help of teacher and parent input. In 2010, an array of new games and puzzles will be added to the award-winning Chimp and Zee line that was introduced last year," Stephanie Meyering, Account Coordinator, G.S. Schwartz & Co., told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2010.

Licensed by Major League Baseball, this card game simulates an actual baseball game, with two players/teams, nine innings, three outs per inning, walkins-runs-outs, etc. Team-specific and generic titles are available. "Unlike any other baseball game, the MLB card game is like playing baseball and because of its convenient size, can be played almost anywhere," Sandy Bergeson, Executive VP, TDC Games, told TDmonthly. Launch date: April 15, 2010.

Reminiscing is the game for people over 30 and the younger people they let play. Asking pop culture questions from 1950-2009, this fun family game includes questions that allow players to reminisce about their own personal past. "In this game, older is better, but [it] plays best with teams of mixed ages," Sandy Bergeson, Exec. VP of TDC Games, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 5, 2009.

Wits & Wagers Family takes the unique trivia-betting game play of Wits & Wagers and makes it more family-friendly, for three to 10 players. The simplified, faster game-play and kid-friendly questions are designed to level the playing field and provide instant fun for all ages. "Previously found in hobby oriented board games, meeples have been gaining in popularity as gaming pieces. These cute wooden pieces serve as the perfect family-friendly replacement for the poker chips found in the classic Wits & Wagers game," Matt Mariani, Director of Marketing, North Star Games, told TDmonthly. Awards: Parent's Choice Award 2010; Mom's Best Award 2010. Launch date: March 2010.

These hip, four-color playing card designs are designed to bring a whole new level of fun to card games. Launch date: January 4, 2010.
THIS PRODUCT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Musical Circles is a game where players compete to stay in the game and be the last one standing. Players move around the outside of the mat as music plays and scramble for a spot when the music stop. The mat is 96" x 36". There are six blue circles labeled "NOT SAFE", six green circles labeled "SAFE," and one red circle in the center labeled "SAFEST." Players line up on the outside and move in the direction of the arrows as music plays. For 2-14 players.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Excellence Award

Challenge oneself and each other to spell words. Use adjacent letters on the mat to move about by spelling words. This game consists of a mat that is 96” x 72” that you lay out on the floor. There are 14 columns and 13 rows containing 182-letter circles. There is one letter per circle. Players compete to spell words moving from the “START/END” points (stepping on the letter circles) while moving to the far side and then return to the “START/END” points. The first one to return is the winner. Level I has the easiest level of difficulty.

This game consists of a mat that is 96” x 72” that you lay out on the floor. There are 14 columns and 13 rows containing 182-letter circles. There are two letters per circle. Players must spell words consisting of four or more letters using any letter combination from the circles they choose. Players compete to spell words moving from the “START/END” points [stepping on letter circles] while moving to the far side and then return to the “START/END” points. The first one to return is the winner. This is the moderate level of difficulty. This game can be played indoors or outdoors. The fabric is washable. For 2-4 players.

This game consists of a mat that is 96” x 72” that you lay out on the floor. There are 14 columns and 13 rows containing 182-letter circles. There are three letters per circle. Players must spell words consisting of six or more letters using any letter combination from the circles they choose. Players compete to spell words moving from the “START/END” points [stepping on the letter circles] while moving to the far side and then return to the “START/END” points. The first one to return is the winner. This is the most difficult level. This game can be played indoors or outdoors. The fabric is washable. For 2-4 players.

In this game designed by Klaus Teber, three to four players who are immigrants to Catan must develop their colony on the island by establishing roads, villages and settlements and making strategic trades of bricks and lumber, livestock or other commodities to obtain necessary resources. Play takes about 60 to 90 minutes. The first player to 10 points wins. "The new edition was released three years ago and has sold more copies in those three years than the first, second or third editions combined," Bob Carty, Sales & Marketing Director, Mayfair Games, told TDmonthly in early 2010.
— In August 2010, five percent of 43 retailers surveyed named The Settlers of Catan an overall top seller. The same month, Steven Levy, owner of Toy City in Keene, New Hampshire, told TDmonthly his store sells approximately three Settlers of Catan games per week.
— “It's real easy to teach, and then you just develop strategies from there," Mike Snyder, owner and manager of Cville's Hobbies, Games and Toys in Charlottesville, Va., told TDmonthly in a February 2012 survey about best selling games. Cville's sells 16-20 copies of the game each month.
— As of 12/17/2012 this product had 4.7 out of 5 stars from 632 reviews on Amazon.com.

In this sequential logic puzzle fashioned by the rules of chess, participants pick a challenge card and set up the pieces as shown. They they alternate turns moving pieces one by one until only one piece is left on the board, declaring the winner. It includes 60 challenges, from beginner to expert.

Celtic Challenge is a timeless strategy game for one or two players. Crafted in an old-world style, the game features rustic tiles, a Celtic "rune" staff for scoring, and an elegant hardwood playing board. Players try to remove as many tiles from the board as possible in the turns allowed. Legend has it that no one has ever accomplished the nearly insurmountable "Celtic Challenge" — sweeping all tiles from the board in one game. Rich with Celtic symbols, this game is designed for families, dads, or anyone looking to expand their library of classics. "While it is evocative of mah jong or solitaire, our Celtic Challenge game can be learned in less than five minutes, and played in 10-15 minutes. The sheer beauty of the game, and the look and feel of the playing tiles, set the product apart as deserving of an everyday place on the coffee table or anywhere in the home," Brian Maggio, Sales, Find It Games, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2010.
Awards:  2010 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Toy Award, Gold Seal.

Do Tell Family game takes five minutes to learn and requires no knowledge of anything. The game sets up quickly and the average play time is about an hour. In this game, players get to reveal themselves using both words and actions, some thought-provoking, some side-splitting. DO cards invite you to step into the spotlight and demonstrate your talents, TELL cards invite you to share your thoughts and feelings, RISK cards add excitement to the game, and WILD cards shake things up. Contents include four decks of cards, eight tokens, two dice, scorepad, pencils, timer, and instructions.

In this gravity-defying, 3-D word-building game, two to four players are challenged to add stacking letters to a tower to form words up, down or sideways to earn points. They must be careful, though, as any new letter could send the Konexi into a full collapse. The game comes with 26 red letters, a die, a mover, a pad and pencil, and a rules manual. Launch date: Fall 2010 (specialty and mass retailers).

In this medieval-themed game for two to four players, oppenents must work to protect their castles as they try to knock the other players' wrecking balls off track. It's a sturdy wooden game with several movable elements. Launch date: 2010.

In this game for three to six players, each participant in turn is given a picture card, while the other players receive a hand of six pictures. The designated storyteller uses a word or phrase to strategically hint at his picture (without being too obvious), and the other players each choose one of their cards that best fits the description. Everyone then bets on which picture belongs to the storyteller.

One hundred giant elephants are running amok, but one tiny mouse has got their number! Roll the dice and move the mouse around the board, searching high and low for elephants that are either higher or lower than the number on your card. If you spot a mouse hiding on a card, shout “Eeek!” and grab the mouse figurine before it scampers away! You’ll need to have a memory like an elephant and be quick as a mouse to win. Includes 100 elephant cards, 2 custom dice, 1 mouse figurine, Rules of Play, and Instrucciones en Español. For 2-6 players. Launch date: Spring 2010
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Magazine Preferred Choice Award, Major Fun Award, Tillywig Best Family Fun Award, Dr. Toy’s Best New Products Picks, Parents’ Choice Recommended, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award.