April 2013 Notable Toys — Board Games

Portal Masters, let out your battle cry! MONOPOLY®: Skylanders™ is here and the Skylanders need your help to fight the forces of darkness. Buy, sell, and trade your way to reign over all of Skylands and protect the elements from evil. Then battle your opponents to be the true ruler of it all! Available to retailers: Summer 2013. SRP $39.95 ©2013 USAOPOLY. ©1935, 2013 HASBRO. ©2013 Activision Publishing, Inc. SKYLANDERS is a trademark and ACTIVISION is a registered trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc.

Rainbows and Storms lets kids create their own unique board game with hundreds of stickers and many creative chance cards. Everything you need is included to have a great time. In this twist of a snakes and ladders style game, players will find themselves moving along the multi-colored tiles attempting to be the first to the finish but watch out for the Rainbows and Storms. Write your own chance cards each time you play.

Shmowzow! It's the world's most popular matching game – Memory® - now with an Adventure Time™ twist. Turn over the cards to find matches of your favorite characters from Lumpy Space Princess, Marceline and The Lich, to the Ice King. New Item Cards unleash new powers for added game play. The fun will never end. Game comes complete with 56 Adventure Time™ Character Cards (28 matches) and 16 Item Cards (8 matches) with fun directives. 1+ Players Available to retailers:  Spring 2013.

For the first time ever, America’s favorite trivia game teams up with the world’s most famous rangers in the Power Rangers 20th Anniversary Edition of Trivial Pursuit. Fans can show off their knowledge by acing over 1,800 questions from six categories covering two decades of everything Power Rangers - including their gear, the villains they fought, quotes and plot lines and more. 2-36 Players. Available to Specialty Retailers in Summer 2013.

The Vampires of the Night are in trouble. Can you help them against the wicked vampire hunter, who has managed to empty an entire sack of garlic throughout the old, abandoned castle. With the help of the little bat, you can magically move the vampires and get rid of the smelly garlic. But, be careful - if the garlic falls into the dungeon, it will spread its nasty smell to the rest of the vampires. With glow-in-the-dark pieces this exciting game can be played all day or from dusk until dawn.

It's a Busy Busy Day at the Airport. Set up destination game boards around the room. Load the plane with Busytown characters and wait for the all clear for take-off. Then fly to faraway places - the beach, mountains, the city, and more. Collect souvenirs wherever you go. The player with the most wins. It's out-of-your-seat role play fun. Learning Fun includes picture identification and matching, physical movement and imaginative play, as well as strategic thinking. Product Contents include: 4 Airplanes, 1 Airport Box, 1 Dice Tower, 16 Passenger Tiles, 16 Souvenir Cards, 4 Destination Pads, 2 Dice, and 1 Game Rules Manual.

A companion board book to Ben Loves Bear, Bella Loves Bunny shares the sweet story of friendship between a little girl and her beloved stuffed bunny rabbit, from morning till night. Bella and Bunny do everything together. In the morning, they play piano and dance (and hop!). In the afternoon, Bella has lunch and Bunny has carrot cake. At night, they pick out Bella’s favorite pajamas and snuggle close until they fall asleep. Launch date: March 2013.

Different from traditional memory games in which two identical cards are matched, Puzzle Match has kids search and match three puzzle piece parts of one image to complete the match. For example, players search for puzzle pieces of the head, body and claws of a parrot to make the match. As an added value, once kids finish the memory game and match the interlocking pieces, the pieces can be assembled into a giant, beautifully illustrated scene. "Unlike traditional memory games in which two identical cards must be found for the match, Puzzle Match - The Pet Shop has players searching and matching three different parts of one full picture to make the match," Ari Weinstock, CEO of Wowopolis, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2013.
Awards: 2012 Dr. Toy Best Picks New Products