December 2010 Notable Toys — Card Games

The PirateTalk Conversation Card deck features topics on pirate lore and legend, as well as facts about real-life pirates and how they lived life on the high seas. PirateTalk cards aim to fire up the imagination with topics like sunken treasure, swashbucklers in popular movies and books, and "Talk Like a Pirate Day." Each of the 52 colorfully illustrated cards presents facts with intriguing questions designed to get everyone talking about their own ideas and experiences.

With wicked humor, this witty playing card deck features 52 tragic female figures from history including Cleopatra, Ann Boleyn, and Diana Spencer. Each card includes a portrait and a brief history of how the royal met her fate. Suitable for most card games, the set comes packaged in a sturdy hinged box. "The deck is based on the book 'Doomed Queens,' which was reviewed by the New Yorker as a 'humorous and keenly observed history of women and power.' It's a delightful gift for women and girls of all ages," Lynn Araujo, U.S. Games Systems Inc. communications director, told TDmonthly.

Thanks A Lot! is a game everyone can enjoy. You receive six cards that say things like: 24 hours of invisibility, National Debt: paid Off, Shopping Spree.  You then give two of the cards to the other players.  They rank them in terms of their favorite things from 50 to 300.  You then get a corresponding chip to where they placed your card. 
Awards:  Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Toy Award, Platinum, 2010.

Volcanic Disaster: The Eruption Prediction Game asks players to save lives by predicting volcanic eruptions. Watch out for false alarms, accidents, sneaky players, and other complications, and hope to avoid disaster. Learn about some of the world's most active and dangerous volcanoes, and the ever-changing world of volcano monitoring, while enjoying a game of strategy and a little luck. Contains 80 Observatory cards for monitoring and taking action, and 40 glossy Volcano cards with beautiful photos and information.
Awards: Dr. Toy Top 10 Games 2010

Call-it! is the new fast-paced and fun word-burst game. Gather your family and friends, and give your swift thinking a whirl with this new category card game. Flip a card, match a symbol with your opponent, and be the first to call out a word from their category to win their card.  Easy to learn and can be played anywhere. Contains 80 Symbol Cards, 20 Category Cards, 1 Mini Game Board, and a Set of Rules. Good for 2 or more players of all ages.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

This set of trivia cards comes with a classic trivia deck and three themed decks. Players select a "host" who must read the question listed on the card drawn, and the other players pass the deck around, sliding the card up to reveal the correct answer to the question. One player reads the real answer, while the others make up fictional answers, and the host must decide which player is telling the truth. Players can gain points by guessing correctly or by tricking other players into guessing incorrectly, and the player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Feeling Sweet Bingo is a unique twist on the game of Bingo. Sweet-themed characters express a broad range of vividly illustrated feelings and emotions. The game includes 50 tiles, eight Bingo cards, and 100 Bingo chips.

The Feeling Sweet Matching Game brings to life a whole sweet shop of feelings. Each yummy treat shows an expressive feeling to be matched. 50 matching pairs of sweet tiles are included.

The Feelings in Bloom Matching Game brings a whole garden of feelings to life. Each expressive flower wears a different feeling on its face to be matched.

This game features a whole garden full of vividly illustrated flower characters that express a wide range of feelings and emotions, and is designed to be a unique twist on the game of Bingo.

Feelings in the Wild Bingo is a colorful Bright Spots game for the animal lover. The animated characters express a wide variety of emotions that can add new dimensions to playing the game.
Awards: Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products - 2010

The Feelings in the Wild Matching Game brings to life a vividly illustrated cast of animal characters, each with a different feeling to match. The game is designed to let kids have fun with feelings while they bring together matching animal pairs from all over the world. It includes 50 matching pairs of tiles.

With Funshine creating a sunny day is a group effort. In this earth-friendly matching card game/puzzle, players each flip over a card that shows one piece of art taken from pictures on the board. Each player has one minute to match their piece to the correct picture on the board as they each add a piece to the sun shape. The game is printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks.

Kids can discover some of the most celebrated, controversial and thought-provoking novelists of the 20th century while playing this simple, strategy-based card game.