December 2009 Notable Toys — General Games

In four game variations the children will recognize the groceries by touching, ordering or assigning them as quickly as possible, all helped by a good memory. A game collection for two to four children. Also, the wooden groceries are perfect for "free play" games.

Go, Matria! is an educational word game based on the ancient Kaballah system of numerology, Gematria, where each letter has a numerical value based on its placement in the alphabet. As time begins, players roll the die and race each other to collect letters, but they must be careful – players can steal each other’s letters! Once a player collects ten letters they must yell out, “Go, Matria!” to be safe from having their letters stolen by another player. They then race the timer and each other to create as many words as possible with the highest point value, using each letter only once. For 2-4 players.

Enter the world of word strategy with Word for Word. Players embark on a race of wits from one side of the board to the other with their pawns by correctly answering the designated, category questions. Armed with an arsenal of 1,500 razor-sharp questions, Word for Word challenges players to spell words, provide definitions, identify antonyms and synonyms and solve word puzzles hidden in rhymes and scrambled letters. For 2-4 players.

With 48 game cards and six transparent puzzle pieces, this spatial reasoning game challenges kids to cover up arctic animals, making sure they don't overlap with people in the scenes. The single-player game has four levels of difficulty and built-in storage for all the pieces.
— "By the end of the month, I'll be selling 200 to 300 [of this game]," Lori Hershman, owner of Evan's Toy Shoppe in Camden, Conn., told TDmonthly in early December 2009. "It's very easy to explain and every age is attracted to it. Maybe it's because we (the staff) love it so much."
— Two of 44 specialty retailers named it as an overall best seller in late fall 2009.

This stainless steel puzzle features 15 number tiles that the player must slide into numerical order after scrambling.

This brainteaser puzzle includes 50 "mind-splashing" challenges set to the scene of a pool party. The goal is to move the puzzle pieces around in such a way that the boy on the red inner tube ends up next to the steps in the lower right corner of the pool. It comes with the swimming pool, 14 puzzle pieces, a storage bag and a challenge booklet with instructions and solutions.

This set of three-piece puzzle pairs features familiar characters and professionals. Children will learn to recognize many different people, such as a police officer, ballerina, and wizard. The colorful puzzle sets are self-correcting — only cards that belong together will fit together. Launch date: October 2009.

Baffle! consists of a 5 x 5 grid of 25 squares on the game board, plus 25 game pieces in five shapes and colors. The player strategically places and removes pieces to accomplish the goal of each particular game. In Baffle! Classic, he must end up with a configuration in which each row, column and diagonal has a piece of each shape and a piece of each color.
— At the Play House Toy Store in Durham, N.C., this game is a best seller, Owner Donna Frederick told TDmonthly in late November 2009.

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.

Kids toss it, catch it and then react to the concept under their thumb. This ball offers a fun way for children to get to know one another. The utilization of a ball during play allows participants to ask each other questions about personal preferences and life experiences. Launch date: March 3, 2009. Awards: Creative Child Preferred Choice Award 2007