August 2010 Notable Toys — Board Games

In this game, players are CEOs in control of their own power grids on the continent. Each is responsible for bringing and maintaining full electrical service to a Populated Center. There are bonus revenues and other perks for fully servicing one’s own area. However, each grid is interdependent with other grids, so CEOs must work together for the survival of the Continental Power System.

In this game, players need to bring in enough stories, photos, cartoons and advertising contracts to meet the printing costs and staff payroll of a newspaper. If they can’t meet these combined costs, then it is a case of "Stop the Presses." Each player takes on a different staff role to maintain the paper's publication. The game includes a 17" x 17" board, a reporter mover, a press time marker, one die, 55 cards consisting of 10 staff, two cartoons, one comic page, six photos, six issues, 12 ad contracts, 18 assorted stories and rules.

In this game, players act as research and development teams trying to redesign North America's social-economic system before it's too late. The focus is on energy and resources, but many fields are explored. Designed for thinking friends and for high school and college classes, the game aims to provoke discussion among mature, thinking people.

This game is a Kafkaesque metaphor about seekers trying to escape the political, religious, economic and other illusions that entrap them, preventing freedom of mind and spirit. Captain K sails to a dark but enticing land to look for crew to help cross the dangerous seas to Freedom Island. Constant patrols make it difficult for the crew to gather documents and gear needed to make a boarding at any dock. Players are the crew, seekers after freedom, helping each other round up credentials which entitle them to board the Good Ship Freedom and avoid those feverish patrols, who never tire of vying for their very being.

In this game players are private investigators, all working for Eagle Eye Agency, gathering clues in a big city to solve the mysteries. They shadow suspects, do legwork and gradually work up a case. Everyone plays a key part. It's not who wins, but rather whether players can all solve the mystery. Thirty-nine original cases are provided. When these cases are exhausted, the game can be extended with the Mystery Maker Kit included to create more cases.

In this game, the cruise ship is sinking fast, and players manage to launch a lifeboat. They form a rescue team, working together to save themselves and as many of the survivors as they can. There are many variations on how the game can end. S.O.S. includes a 17" x 22.5" board, special dice, a lifeboat, charts (captain's marine forecasts, food supply, fuel/speed) and diecut cards (drifting currents, food marker, fuel marker, sharks, rocks, food and fuel packets, an assortment of survivors, rules for regular and nasty versions).

This expansion pack for the wordsearch game Wordquest Goliath comes with 20 additional topics to choose from on 10 circle board cards with topics on the front and back side.

This strategy game is about operating Coast Guard Ice Breakers in the Arctic. Players' job is to open up frozen waterways for freighters, supply ships, tankers and military craft. They succeed if they get all 12 ships to their respective destinations before the ice becomes too thick and widespread.
Awards: 2003 Dr. Toy Best Game

Players are visitors from outer space whose scout craft has crashed on an island. Their mission is to search the island, the shore, the sea, nearby forests and even mountains for the elements to repair their craft, before the mothership comes to pick up the scout craft. On Earth, players meet UTOCs (Ugly Things Out of Control) and use powers to deal with them. However, the aliens' world is without violence and is filled with people so deeply peaceful that they cannot harm anyone. If a player uses a special power in a violent way, his or her Being disintegrates. The game includes a 13" x 18" board, movers, a traveler chart, travel cards and dice.

Players use the detective card game to put the jigsaw together, and then have a picture mystery case to solve. Each case has 40 Clues and measures 8” x 14.” The sealed envelope contains the solutions, and a secret coded message. Rules are included for a group co-op game for 12 to 36 players, using all four cases together.

In this game, players are a team of private detectives solving such cases as theft, smuggling and blackmail. They move around a city looking for clues, while trying to avoid locked doors, guard dogs, getting tied up, secret codes, even mobsters — and using disguises, fast moves, a special tool kit, and their quick wits to get out of tight corners. If players pool strategies, use some intuition and help each other out of tough spots, they can get their client out of trouble. Investigators is a quick-moving game with lots of opportunity for sharing, consultation and decision making. It includes a 13" x 18" board, cue cards, "big bucks," a solution envelope, dice and movers.
Awards: 1989 Canadian Toy Testing, Top Rating

In this game, players try to gather the ingredients to fill various shopping lists. They must do this before the ingredients spoil and go to the green bins and the recycle truck, and are carted off to the Recycle Compost Depot. The set includes a game board, 10 spoiled stuff signs, 20 ingredients, six shopping lists, a shopping cart, a recycle truck and rules.

Spies & Alibis is a cooperative mystery game in which players act as a team of special unit detectives working together to discover which of the suspects has taken the government’s top secrets. Players must solve the case before the Spies board the Airplane and get away. The game includes a full color 12” x 12”board, 10 time flies cards, 22 eye witness cards, a government building card and three pairs of handcuffs for making arrests.

In this game, gardeners work hard to grow beautiful, fresh, organic vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers. But sometimes garden pests eat those good things before people can. Players must keep the garden safe by catching all six pests and taking them to the forest where they belong. The game includes a 12 x 12" board, two dice, seven pest movers, one "havahart" trap, one electric fence chart and rules. "Play as friends, not as enemies! Our games foster the spirit of cooperation," Jim Deacove, president of Family Pastimes, told TDmonthly.
Awards: 2010 Creative Child Seal of Excellence, CREATIVE CHILD MAGAZINE.

"Fill in the BLEEP" is the single answer card game that creates a thousand laughs. Players are dealt BLEEP cards and are presented a sentence with a missing word. Players then fill in the blank with their best BLEEP card based on the die roll, (Funniest, Quirkiest, Choice). The dealer will then "fill in the BLEEP" with the best submission. But beware of action cards that can change the game in an instant. The first to get rid of all of his or her BLEEP cards wins. "This is a game that is different every time you play. It can be enjoyed by both teenagers and adult game players. It is set apart by the unique images included on the game cards," Talicor Inc. Vice President Todd Jacobs told TDmonthly.

This Memory game features the beloved characters from the Toy Story films.
 — As of 8.12.10, this product had 5 out of 5 stars fromsix reviews on ToysRUs.com and was listed No. 3 in best-selling toys and games. PROS: Educational, durable, easy to use.

Tri-Cross is a game that requires strategy before the first game piece is even placed. It evolves from poker-like play (reading your opponent) into total strategy (much like chess). Play takes less than 20 minutes, and the more times one plays, the more challenging the game becomes. There are no ties or draws, and beginners should not be totally intimidated, since they still have an outside chance to win against the pros. The game is for two to four players and features five variations of play. This version is made from wood and is designed to be eco-friendly. Awards: Dr. Toy Best Green Toy Award 2010

This special edition Monopoly game for two to six players features the video game characters Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Luigi, Ganon, Link and Kirby. Each is represented by a collectible pewter game token.

The classic game of chess takes a wacky turn with the Super Mario Brothers video game characters. This set features 32 highly-detailed authentic chess pieces and a themed chess board. Everything comes packed in a collector's tin.

Lemming Mafia - a leap of a game by Michael Rieneck. Leap into the wild world of Lemming mafia! Bet on lemmings as they race to be the first to Jump. But yours more than a mere wager. Lemming bosses give you missions. You must slow some lemmings, or stop them altogether by putting them in concrete shoes. You must guide your favored lemmings, using jackhammers to cut off any concrete and limos to speed them along. Pick the right mission, and the swiftest Lemming, and you win! Laughingly Larcenous Leaping Lemmings.

Contains 1 Game Board, 6 Mafia-Lemmings, 36 betting cards, 18 mission cards, 2 Lemming Dice, 1 Regular die, 12 concrete markers, Rules.

For 3-6 Players

Conflict of Heroes merges the elegance of streamlined Eurogame rules with deep strategic wargames. The series is designed to create a tense and highly interactive game play experience. You must manage multiple command resources to move, attack, and take other actions with your units. This gives you great flexibility in executing your battle plans, but makes constant caution necessary as unit activations on either side can happen at any time. Price of Honor is an expansion and requires ownership of either Rise of Hero or Storms of Steel to play.

Price of Honour includes 2 new Polish landscape mounted boards, 2 Sheets of early war Polish, German and Russian tanks, airplanes and other units, 1 Sheet including all Awakening the Bear upgraded counters with new artwork and updated stats, 16 firefights. 10 playable with the AtB base game and 10 playable with the SoS base game, New summary sheets summarizing terrain and unit data for all of the Eastern Front games, Rule sheet adendum covering cavalry charges and other new unit data.

For 2 Players.

Las Vegas. The Strip. To the untrained eye, it's a sleepy desert crossroads. A wasteland of cheap hotels, gas stations, and dust. But to you, it is Paradise. Your brilliant plan? You will construct a magnificent chain of casinos and fill them with light. You will manufacture the ultimate dream of easy money and impossible luxury. You will sell-basically-nothing. You are not alone in this plan. In Lords of Vegas, you and your friends play rival developers, building on the Las Vegas Strip. You can get ahead by building the glitziest, most glamorous, and most popular casinos. But you can fall behind by letting your enemy become your boss. Lords of Vegas is a clever strategy game with all the thrills, risks, and rewards of the casino business. You start out with empty lots, build small casinos, and expand them as your bankroll grows. Your rivals can build next door, and they just might take you over with a clever paint job or a lucky roll of the dice. Buy, sell, trade, and gamble your way to the top as you build your empire along the storied Strip. So come on, roll the dice, and build your piece of Paradise!

For 2-4 Players.

Contains Snazzy game board, 4 turn summaries, 55 cards, 40 chips in 4 colors, 48 dice in 4 colors, 4 poker chips, Money, 45 casino blocks, Rules

Cave Troll pits bands of heroes in a contest to recover the most gold and treasure from the dangerous lair of the cave trolls. Created by designer Tom Jolly, Cave Troll is a fast-paced game of heroes, monsters and treasure for two to four players that is playable in 20 to 60 minutes. It includes a game board, 104 game cards (one deck per player), six Artifact Cards, 64 plastic hero and monster figures (16 for each player), four plastic treasure chests and four Score Counters. Fantasy Flight Games Sales Associate Rick Nauertz told TDmonthly, "This is the second edition of Tom Jolly's classic board game. It features upgraded components, streamlined rules, and new variants."

The old dragon Drakon has captured a brave band of adventurers who have sneaked into her lair to steal her gold. In Drakon, players each control one of the heroes trapped in Drakon’s lair. The first player to collect enough coins for a total value of at least 10 gold immediately wins the game. On each turn, a player either places a tile (then draws another), or moves his of her figure one space. Rick Nauertz, Sales Associate for Fantasy Flight Games, told TDmonthly, "Drakon is cutthroat fun for the entire family. After all, you don’t have to outrun the dragon, you just have to outrun your opponents!"