February 2010 Notable Toys — General Games

Winner of industry awards, this teacher's edition of the Spoils of Civilization is a math set for the classroom designed to motivate students to complete class and home work and improve class attendance and behavior through workbooks and class materials. Also includes a fun story about the Merbs™.

Featuring the Merbs™, this set consists of 3 short and quick multiplication games. The games take you through a journey on land, at sea, and in the air.  Mastery of multiplication facts is the key needed to win. Practice basic skills with colored-coded dice and pawns. Improve recall of multiplication facts using positive and/or negative numbers.

The Merbs™ present the Spoils of Civilization, the "Original Token Economy". A game of diplomatic manipulation, it teaches United States geography, money skills, and basic economics.

This fun memory game will challenge problem solving and develop memory skills of young children as they try to find a pair of matching cards. Bright, colorful illustrations teach upper and lower case letters of the alphabet. It's a great family game for all ages. Launch date: October 2009.

Whirled Peas® engages two teams in five challenges where everybody plays every turn. The object of the game is to earn and steal peas and be the winning team to fill its "PeaPod©". At the center of the game is the "PeaKing©" Spinner. He is the brand ambassador and symbolizes the party game atmosphere inherent in Whirled Peas. "The best part about Whirled Peas® is that sales will support our giving-based business model and help us build and grow our foundation, 'The Peas Project©'" Kevin Werntz, president of Peas-Corp, told TDmonthly. Launch date: February 13, 2010.

In this expansion, players still attempt to complete their Destination Tickets, claim routes, and block each other on the map, but rather than draw and collect Train cards, they roll five custom Train dice each turn. Depending on the outcome they can re-roll some or all, then use the dice to claim routes on the board, grab route Tokens for future use, or draw more Destination Tickets. "The Ticket to Ride: Dice Expansion makes for a shorter but just as intense Ticket to Ride game. It can be incorporated into any of the Ticket to Ride series games, and revitalizes them with elements of luck and strategy," Elizabeth Case, marketing assistant at Days of Wonder, told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2001.

Triagonal comes in a sturdy Eco-Box and includes seven game-playing options with 204 gaming pieces that may also be used to create colorful geometric designs and tessellations, aided by 40 "Get You Started" images free online. There's also an additional five new game options owners can download for free online. Some of the main games played with Triagonal include ones similar to Squares, Connect 4 and Left Center Right, as well as solo, four-player and prediction games. Triagonal received a 2008 Major FUN Thinking Award and a 2008 Dr.Toy Best Picks New Product Award. Launch date: December 25, 2006.

Scopa is a centuries old Italian card game of memory, strategy, and skill. Easy to learn, a challenge to master. Included in this set is an authentic set of imported Italian cards, a classic game board, and full instructions on how to play Scopa. Also included is a booklet with instructions on how to play other classic Italian Card Games. The Scopa playingboard features an attractive design with card values printed in each corner for players' reference. The Italian playing cards features 4 suits; and can be used for up to three separate Italian games.

Fish Stix is a visual strategy game. To start, players place 1 fish stick in the center of a table where all players can reach it. Give 3 sticks, 1 scoreboard, and 6 fish tokens to each player. Players take turns matching fish by color and direction. For every fish matched, a player moves her fish tokens that number of spaces on her scoreboard. The first player to move all tokens to 10 wins! For 2-4 Players. This game was named one of Dr. Toy's 100 Best Children's Products 2009 and 10 Best Games 2009.

In the board game, sworn enemies Black Xiacons and Red Xiacons must battle each other in order to take the other's bunker while each protecting their own. The game comes with red and black "casino looking" dice and a gameboard that provides the battlefield for play.

The idea behind the Thumball is to "Toss It, Catch It, React to the concept under your thumb!" The Ice Breaker version is designed to get everyone talking, as they learn about themselves and others. Launch date: March 3, 2009.

Collect hands full of herds and caravans over the course of 10 rounds of play and be the player with the least amount of points at the end to win! But be careful…the wild card may change when you least expect it, and you’ll be left to ask, “What’s Wild?!”

In this fast-paced game, the goal is to build the biggest, juiciest hamburger by recognizing matching ingredients. Be the first to see a match, slam the squeaker, and add the condiment to your burger. But watch out, some ingredients may not match, and you might lose some ingredients.

The KenKen board game takes the fun of solving the popular puzzles and puts in a board game. To play, players take turns trying to fill in sections of the KenKen puzzle. The person who fills in the most of the squares at the end of the round wins. Contains over 100 changeable puzzles of varying sizes and difficulty levels.

Each player picks a secret picture. The object of the game is to find out what image your opponents have chosen before they find yours. You find out by asking yes or no questions:  Does your animal have four legs? Does your animal fly? Does your animal swim in the water? The game comes with four different theme sets of images, including World, Animals, Transportation, and Flags.