June 2011 Notable Toys — Electronic Games

Laffy Laffalot is an innovative, interactive toy designed to bring laughter back into the lives of sick children. With its bright orange body and big engaging eyes, Laffy Laffalot is heart-warming and fun, but can take the tough love kids have for their favorite toys – withstanding a drop of up to 6 feet. Laffy Laffalot also can stand upright on a bedside table or desk - always a smiling companion, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  When kids touch one of the 20 pre-programmed blue buttons, they can hear a hearty belly laugh, the giggle of an infant or a silly snort. The contagious laughs will instantly put a smile on kids' faces and help distract them from the pain and challenges of medical treatment. Laffy Laffalot was created to lift the spirits of anyone who may be feeling blue or just needs a good laugh. Laffy Laffalot's unique features include: Four buttons to record and play custom, comforting messages from mom, dad, friends or loved ones; a hilarious helium effect dial that alters any laugh or custom message for endless hours of fun. Laffy Laffalot also comes with a built-in speaker, MP3 quality sound, headphones that won't hurt small ears and two AA batteries.

This game features the Cars 2 characters in a global spy race. Teaches measurement, graphs, patterns and problem solving. In different challenges, kids must measure the correct distance to make a fantastic jump; complete patterns to find clues or escape traps; and race as Lightning McQueen and see who's the fastest car. Appropriate for children ages 4 to 7 years (grades pre-K to 1). Only for Leapster Explorer.

Children can carry along their own electronic tablet with the ABC WordPad, a compact electronic learning device that looks and feels like a little tablet. It features include five different learning activities: Letter Learning Fun, Word Learning Fun, Find It!, Spelling Practice Fun and Music Fun. This portable playbook requires two “AA” batteries (included). Launch date: May 2011.
Awards: 2011 Creative Child Preferred Choice Award; 2011 Dr Toy 10 Best High Tech Products and 100 Best Children's Products.

After a mysterious explosion in the high school science lab, 16 ordinary bugs were transformed into something more: Smarter, stronger, faster---they became Power Buggz. Power Buggz turns standard vehicle play into a character-based competition between well-developed personalities battling with their unique speed features. Ripcords, pullbacks, crawlers and a competition Stunt Battle play set make up the initial product line. Figures include a Battle Card with bio, stats and multiple game play options to get things going.

For the first time ever players are able to customize and personalize their UNO game with UNO Roboto. Record each player’s name and set unique house rules, then let UNO Roboto get the party started with surprise commands and funny phrases that change-up the game every time.

Give a kid a camera and they'll want to take pictures of everything they see, everywhere they go. That's why this real digital camera is designed to be tough enough to stand up to the ways kids play and the places they go. This 1.2-megapixel, drop-resistant digital camera has a rotating lens so kids can even take pictures of themselves. Launch date: July 2011.

This laser tag game features fingerprint identification so that no one can use another player's weapon, long-range LED targeting, built-in health and ammo meters, and the ability to play with up to four teams of unlimited size, bringing video games to life. Each fully customizable shooter includes interactive lights and sound effects. Launch date: August 2011.

Crayola ColorStudio HD is an entirely new digital play experience, coupling a multi-activity drawing application for iPad (Crayola ColorStudio HD App) with a custom-built digital stylus, called Crayola iMarker™. Together with iMarker, the ColorStudio HD App allows young artists to color and interact with special “live” animated coloring book pages that move and react as they color, combining custom-produced pictures, animations, music, sound effects, and high quality special effects. Like a marker, crayon, pen, and paintbrush in one, iMarker creates favorite Crayola colors within the ColorStudio HD App. iMarker safely interacts with iPad's Multi-Touch display, allowing the ColorStudio HD app to differentiate between the child’s input (fingers, swipes, etc.) and the iMarker automatically. Launch date: Spring 2011.

This updated version of the classic game features a renovated board and a tower that uses infrared sensors to ensure that players whose ships are attacked actually remove them from play. Launch date: Fall 2011.

This new version of Monopoly features the same rules as the classic game- it's the middle of the board that's really different. Players rely on a computerized tower in the center of the game board to issue instructions, keep track of money, and ensure that no cheating occurs. Players hold their hands over their piece, and the tower tells them how many spaces they can move. Instead of paper money, players use debit cards. The game also throws in spur-of-the-moment curve balls, like a horse race that all players must bet on.