January 2012 Notable Toys — Family Games

Kids like watching clouds and finding the “match” to things. Enter Cloud Matchmaker, a game that encourages matching of geometric shapes using a cloud theme. Children use a chain to create a cloud formation displayed on the card drawn and the audience guesses the match. The player who collects the most cloud cards wins the game. For two to six players. Launch date: 2012.

The third Perplexus family member is a hot favorite with all ages, including teens and adults. Epic’s track is over 30 ft. long, and has 125 barriers. It is so challenging that it even has a mid-way restart point. Once kids pick it up, they won’t want to put Epic down.
— As of 01/12/2012 this product had 4.2 out of 5 stars from 114 reviews on Amazon.com.
— In an April 2012 survey about best selling travel toys, Kai Rady, owner of Shenanigans Inc in Charlottesville, Va., told TDmonthly that her best seller is "Perplexus, especially the Epic version."
Awards: 2012 The National Parenting Centre - Seal of Approval, 2012 Learning Express Toys - Best Toy Award, Games Category, 2012 Canadian Toy Testing Council- Best Bet 2012, 2011 The National Parenting Centre - Gold Seal of Approval, 2011 Parent Tested Parent Approved - Seal of Approval, 2011 Neighbourhood Educational Toy Stores - Gold Star, 2011 Fat Brain Toy ‘Award - Brainteasers, 2011 Family Fun - Toy of the Year, 2011 Disney Top 10 Family Fun - Toy of the Year, 2011 Creative Child Magazine - Game of the Year

4 dynamic action images - "picto-verbs" get minds in motion. Roll the dice & the creative problem solving, language learning, and story telling begins. "Once upon a time, a giant LAUGHED..." Rory’s Story Cubes Actions features 9 cubes that illustrate 54 every day verbs. Players can play with them solo or combine them with other sets of Rory’s Story Cubes to kick-start their creativity and set their imagination in motion.
— As of 1/02/2012 this product had 4.4 out of 5 stars from 5 reviews on Amazon.com.

Rapid reflex is a card game that challenges players to match images, colors, and left/right directions. Players take turns reading the action cards. The first player to slap the color that correctly matches the action card, with the correct hand, gets to keep the card. The first player to collect one card of each color wins.

Drawing inspirations from cards illustrated with whimsical characters and situations, players weave fanciful stories ranging from the romantic to the preposterous. Whether making up their own fairy tale or creating a story together, Tell Tale Fairy Tales revs up kids' imaginations.

Search the seas for matching shrimp in this fun family game. The shrimp may share any of 4 characteristics—quantity, origin, size, and color. When players catch a matching shrimp trait between the 3 fishing zones, they squeeze the starfish to haul in their catch and collect their cards. The slickest shrimp spotter will be crowned King of the Prawns.

Finally, a Spot It for little ones. With a scaled down card deck and 6 symbols instead of 8, Spot It Jr. Animals is accessible for kids under 6. Adorable animals appear on all the cards, with one big animal centered on each card for easier spotting.
Awards: 2014 TDmonthly Top Toy Debut Award, 2013 TDmonthly Seal of Approval

Everyone’s favorite travel-size game has officially hit the open road. Each colorful symbol is something one would see on a typical road trip. This edition has a new way to play: One card is turned over, and all players scan the scenery for things that match the symbols from the card. Spot it to win.
— Karl Steinbach, owner of Rainbow Toys in Falmouth, Maine, told TDmonthly in an April 2013 survey that this version of Spot It! is a best-selling travel toy.

Feed the Woozle is a cooperative game that focuses on developmental skills of children ages 3-6 in an active, fun game. The object of the game is for all players together to "feed" the Woozle 12 silly snacks. Players roll a die and then place the indicated number of snacks on a spoon. Then they spin a spinner that directs them to walk to the Woozle performing a gross motor movement like Bunny Hop or Walk Backwards. It's not so easy to keep those snacks from sliding off the spoon while hopping across the room. If everyone together can feed the Woozle 12 snacks, then everyone wins. "This game is cooperative - either the game wins or the players win. It encourages group participation and habits of cooperation. The game is leveled - meaning it focuses on specific preschool developmental skills in a fun way that is age-appropriate and grows with the child," Donna Jaffe, president of Peaceable Kingdom Press, told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 2012.

A lightning fast shape and color recognition game for kids, families and gamers alike. In Ghost Blitz, five wooden items sit on the table waiting to be caught: a white ghost, a green bottle, a cute grey mouse, a blue book, and a comfortable red chair. Each card in the deck shows pictures of two objects, with one or both objects colored the wrong way. With all players playing at the same time, someone reveals a card, then players grab for the "right" object - but which object is right? The first player to grab the correct object keeps the card, then reveals the next card from the deck. If a player grabs the wrong object, she must discard one card previously collected. Once the card deck runs out, the game ends and whoever has collected the most cards wins. Launch date: 2011.
Awards: 2011 Deutscher Lernspielpreis "6 years and up" Nominee; 2011 Golden Geek Best Children's Board Game Nominee; 2011 Spiel des Jahres Recommended.

12 new cubes and new cards for the FauxCaublary Game. Launch date: February 2012.

216 new categories and an extra timer to add to kids' Word on the Street fun. "Word on the Street is great for spelling practice, but is also a party game," Leah Sugar, VP of marketing at Out of the Box Publishing, told TDmonthly. Launch date: February 2012.

Children can direct their own stories from one of four magnetic story backgrounds: Fairytales, Robot's Landing, Animal Cottage, and Forest Adventure. Theater directors-in-training can move their magnetic figures around the scene to help tell their own original story. Launch date: January 2012. 

The Gate is a challenging strategy game for 2 to 5 players. It’s two games in one: beginner and advanced. The Gate combines the fun of a classic board game with the fantasy of a role-playing game. Fight dragons and other monsters, escape encounters, or buy weapons from the gnome. The stakes intensify as players advance through 3 exciting levels. Earn special fighting dice; battle friends for treasure. The first player to the Gate wins, but they mustn't forget their key. Launch date: November 2011.

This Christmas inspired kit includes: 6 washable, durable nylon 27" square IDEAScarves in Christmas colors. 2 of each of the following colors: Santa suit red, holly green and snow ball white. The Nutcracker (Peter IIyich Tchaikovsky) Music CD with 7 music selections instructional/informational insert. The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet - Paperback by Diane Goode. Nutcracker Activity Book - by Victoria Fremont, a fun candy cane pencil and a sturdy, self-closing, reusable carrying bag with handle. Made in the USA. Launch date: October 2011.

Donkey - It’s a Kick! is an all-play, action-packed, process of elimination card game (with plastic components) that will have up to 8 players (ages 8 to adult) engaging in simultaneous social interaction while at the same time sharpening their hand-eye coordination skills with every round of play. In addition to the playing cards, the "Kicker Cards" present group challenges for each round of play; this not only adds diversity to each round, it creates a platform on which players feel "safe" and "eager" to show off their unique creative talents. "Donkey It's a Kick! is the only game that makes “losing” FUN!... The losers get to stay in the game and wreak havoc on the remaining players!  Although the game will only produce one champion, everyone walks away feeling like a winner," Jayne Cleveland-Kolesar, secretary at Cleveland Kids, LLC., told TDmonthly. Launch date: March 2011.
Awards: 2011 The Toy Man™ Seal of Approval, 2011 The Toy Man™ Award of Excellence, 2011 The Toy Man™ Recommends Award, 2011 The Toy Man™ eChoice™ Award.

Cosmic ConneXion is an entertaining and educational word search card game created to familiarize players with the Greek alphabet and objects of the cosmos. The deck consists of 2 sets of cards, letter cards and celestial point value cards. The letter cards consist of all 24 letters of the Greek alphabet from Alpha to Omega. Each letter card displays the name, uppercase & lowercase Greek letter, along with English equivalents and variants. The letter cards are played in a diamond arrangement to create words. The celestial point value cards consist of 28 objects of the cosmos from our local solar system to the constellations of the zodiac along with wild cards of the cosmos. For each word formed, a player acquires a celestial point value card from the draw pile. The object of the game is to acquire as many celestial point value cards as possible. However, after all the letter cards have been played, the player who has acquired the sun card during regular play has a final opportunity to score additional points during the bonus round by forming a grammatically correct sentence from the words formed during regular play. The player with the highest point value wins. "The greatest benefit of playing games with these cards is to increase player's familiarity with the Greek alphabet. The Greek alphabet is widely utilized in many fields of math & science, yet not widely recognized to the general public," Joseph Bongiorno, president of N.E.T. & Computing, told TDmonthly. Launch date: October 2011.

Slooooks! is a new game that's a cross between eye-spy and a scavenger hunt. The rules are simple and all ages can play together ... and the game board folds up like a book so it can be taken anywhere. "It's never the same game twice," Kate Patterson of Ashare Patterson Design told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2011.

Ugh is the life of a caveman through the eyes of John Kovalic. In Ugh! players encounter the Stone Age life by pushing their luck against the deck and trying to lock in as many sets of cards as they can before they are abruptly shocked by a natural disaster… Ugh! Each turn players can flip over up to three cards, all of which are good options for their set. Contents: 110 cards, including 4 Wild Cards, 28 Ugh! Cards, and 78 Number Cards.

Players must trap their opponents' pawns in one of two games of escape and capture. In Bright Got 'Em! players must outsmart and corner their opponents through savvy card play, sly movement, and clever placement of blocking walls. In the still-casual but even-trickier Brainy Got 'Em!™ players toss aside card actions in favor of a purely strategic challenge. Both games share the same goal, the same exciting intrigue, and the same social fun. Contents: One game board,  The side with colored squares is used for Bright Got ’Em!, The side with white squares is used for Brainy Got ’Em!, 84 wall pieces, 55 Got ’Em!™ cards, 4 pawns.
Awards: Major Fun Award; 2011 Creative Child’s Seal of Excellence

Double Double Dominoes is a new approach to Dominoes. Players score points by matching up dominoes over key areas of the game board. Play a Double Domino and players double their score. Players can grab bonus points every time someone matches their position on the score track with a domino played… including themselves. Contents: Game board, 56 dominoes,  4 score pieces, Game rules.

A completely new, patent-pending "two-in-one" board game, SOUND IT! FOUND IT! is both a guessing game AND a hidden-object game based on silly sounds other players make.  With 96 cards and eight giant-scene boards, it's perfect for today's kids, combining visual fun with the unique twist of guessing sounds to offer hours of laugh-out-loud fun. Launch date: February 2012.
Awards: 2013 TDmonthly Seal of Approval
— "What a cool game! If your kids like acting out (not acting up), this game is made for them. I had fun playing with Alex and her friend Lily...Alex and Lily are both tweens, but even kids a few years younger or older would love this game. Being silly is the only pre-requisite." - A review by Mike on the blog Just Find it 4 U.

SOUND IT! is a hilarious new card game that offers two great ways to play: On one side of the card, guess the picture based on hearing the silly sounds other players make. On the other side, read the special clue and quickly identify the correct sound to make. Fun and challenging but simple to learn, a deck of 96 SOUND IT! cards offers unlimited possibilities. Launch date: February 2012.

This beautifully crafted board game is an educational and insightful presentation of the principles of karma. 2 to 4 players. It's Monopoly but with karma instead of money; Chutes and Ladders but for adults; and The Game of Life but the life of the soul. 30-90 minutes. Features "Artistic presentation of sophisticated concepts that even a 5th grader can understand," Linda Look, game developer at Cosmic Karma Game Partners, told TDmonthly. Launch date: February 2012.
— As of 10/5/2012 this product had 4.7 out of 5 stars from 3 reviews on Amazon.com. Pros: Well designed; helps to illustrate the concept of karma; thought provoking.