March 2013 Notable Toys — Board Games

Portal Masters, let out your battle cry! MONOPOLY®: Skylanders™ is here and the Skylanders need your help to fight the forces of darkness. Buy, sell, and trade your way to reign over all of Skylands and protect the elements from evil. Then battle your opponents to be the true ruler of it all! Available to retailers: Summer 2013. SRP $39.95 ©2013 USAOPOLY. ©1935, 2013 HASBRO. ©2013 Activision Publishing, Inc. SKYLANDERS is a trademark and ACTIVISION is a registered trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc.

Rainbows and Storms lets kids create their own unique board game with hundreds of stickers and many creative chance cards. Everything you need is included to have a great time. In this twist of a snakes and ladders style game, players will find themselves moving along the multi-colored tiles attempting to be the first to the finish but watch out for the Rainbows and Storms. Write your own chance cards each time you play.

Shmowzow! It's the world's most popular matching game – Memory® - now with an Adventure Time™ twist. Turn over the cards to find matches of your favorite characters from Lumpy Space Princess, Marceline and The Lich, to the Ice King. New Item Cards unleash new powers for added game play. The fun will never end. Game comes complete with 56 Adventure Time™ Character Cards (28 matches) and 16 Item Cards (8 matches) with fun directives. 1+ Players Available to retailers:  Spring 2013.

For the first time ever, America’s favorite trivia game teams up with the world’s most famous rangers in the Power Rangers 20th Anniversary Edition of Trivial Pursuit. Fans can show off their knowledge by acing over 1,800 questions from six categories covering two decades of everything Power Rangers - including their gear, the villains they fought, quotes and plot lines and more. 2-36 Players. Available to Specialty Retailers in Summer 2013.

The Vampires of the Night are in trouble. Can you help them against the wicked vampire hunter, who has managed to empty an entire sack of garlic throughout the old, abandoned castle. With the help of the little bat, you can magically move the vampires and get rid of the smelly garlic. But, be careful - if the garlic falls into the dungeon, it will spread its nasty smell to the rest of the vampires. With glow-in-the-dark pieces this exciting game can be played all day or from dusk until dawn.

It's a Busy Busy Day at the Airport. Set up destination game boards around the room. Load the plane with Busytown characters and wait for the all clear for take-off. Then fly to faraway places - the beach, mountains, the city, and more. Collect souvenirs wherever you go. The player with the most wins. It's out-of-your-seat role play fun. Learning Fun includes picture identification and matching, physical movement and imaginative play, as well as strategic thinking. Product Contents include: 4 Airplanes, 1 Airport Box, 1 Dice Tower, 16 Passenger Tiles, 16 Souvenir Cards, 4 Destination Pads, 2 Dice, and 1 Game Rules Manual.

A companion board book to Ben Loves Bear, Bella Loves Bunny shares the sweet story of friendship between a little girl and her beloved stuffed bunny rabbit, from morning till night. Bella and Bunny do everything together. In the morning, they play piano and dance (and hop!). In the afternoon, Bella has lunch and Bunny has carrot cake. At night, they pick out Bella’s favorite pajamas and snuggle close until they fall asleep. Launch date: March 2013.

Different from traditional memory games in which two identical cards are matched, Puzzle Match has kids search and match three puzzle piece parts of one image to complete the match. For example, players search for puzzle pieces of the head, body and claws of a parrot to make the match. As an added value, once kids finish the memory game and match the interlocking pieces, the pieces can be assembled into a giant, beautifully illustrated scene. "Unlike traditional memory games in which two identical cards must be found for the match, Puzzle Match - The Pet Shop has players searching and matching three different parts of one full picture to make the match," Ari Weinstock, CEO of Wowopolis, told TDmonthly. Launch date: May 2013.
Awards: 2012 Dr. Toy Best Picks New Products

The Biking Game is a multi-generational game that allows every member of the family to play together. Themed around the legacy of biking with one of the more iconic biking companies on the planet, Schwinn, the Biking Game promotes an active lifestyle while educating and inspiring a future generation of bikers. The Biking Game was created to inspire families and bike enthusiasts to get outside and enjoy one of America’s greatest recreational activities together. The game is designed to grow with the player, starting at level one questions, which are primarily identification of basic bike parts and riding etiquette. As the players increase in their knowledge about biking culture they grow into the higher level questions. A fun & educational game where parents & children can race to see who can get their bike through multiple terrain and back home first.

Laser Maze is an innovative new game that integrates the use of laser beams into a mind-challenging logic game. 60 challenges flex strategic thinking muscles and ignite the light both on the grid and in players' minds.

Where to buy:
NORTH EAST

In Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives, players collaborate to found and run a democratic business. In order to survive as individuals and to strive for the success of their co-op, players make tough choices regarding big and small challenges while putting their teamwork abilities to the test. This is an exciting game of skill and solidarity, where everyone wins – or everybody loses. By playing Co-opoly, players discover the unique benefits, challenges, and operations of the cooperative world – as well as the skills needed to participate in a co-op.

eeBoo's newest Spinner Game is an instant classic that the Sugar Plum Fairy herself would adore. The Dancing Game comes with four different dancers, and with each, a different style of dance: salsa, jazz, step or ballet. After each player has selected a dancer, she must spin for all of the items her dancer needs to perform: costume, bag, bouquet, head piece and music. Collect all the pieces to win, but if you miss a beat – miss a turn.

Categories is a friendly new game, created by children's book illustrator Saxton Freymann, that invites children to exercise their minds while enjoying a fun group activity. Each of the 60 image cards has a charming, often hilarious illustration of a character –a pig, duck, a frog, bug, monkey, rabbit, dog, cat or person – involved in an activity. Children must group cards in sets of three based on shared features. For instance, cards that feature instruments, hats, balls, wheels, hat or the same animal can go together, and cards can often be grouped together in more than one way. Whoever is able to make the most categories with the cards they have wins.

Have you heard - Word's out? It’s the fast, fun, easy to play word game for the whole family. Just roll the dice, then find a letter in the 'Lettergraph' on the game board. If that letter matchers one in your word card, place a chip on the Corresponding space. Players may get to remove an opponent’s chip, swap words, or lose one of their own chips. Be the first player to 'spell out' the word and that player wins the game. Words Out is about having fun with letters and words, and for the younger players what a great way to learn.