July 2010 Notable Toys — General Games

Created by Nexus Games, known for War of the Ring, Moto GP, Wings of War and Age of Conan, Micro Mutants is a game of strategy and dexterity that’s fun for players of all ages and experience levels. Micro Mutants: Evolution is the first Micro Mutants game and includes everything up to four players need to do microscopic battle in 30 to 60 minutes, including the Usarthopod, Flyborg, Sovietopter and Chitinian armies. Fantasy Flight Games Sales Associate Rick Nauertz told TDmonthly, "Micro Mutants is surprisingly simple to pick up and learn."

Ingenious is the new abstract placement game from internationally-renowned game designer Reiner Knizia. Ingenious offers players a new way to train their brains by combining the simplicity of dominoes with the strategy Knizia is known for. Players place colored tiles on the hexagonal board, scoring points, blocking opponents’ tile placement, and trying to protect themselves from being blocked by their opponents. Ingenious is suitable for up to four players, as well as for solo play. Rick Nauertz, Sales Associate for Fantasy Flight Games, told TDmonthly, "Marvelously elegant and compulsively replayable, Ingenious is an excellent introduction to German-style abstract board games. It’s ingeniously simple, and simply ingenious!"

This edition of Colossal Arena features updated components and a more portable format. Colossal Arena is a game of titanic battles and high stakes for two to five players. Designed by the legendary Reiner Knizia, this Silver Line classic is a new version of Titan: the Arena originally published by Avalon Hill. Features include 12 creature cards, 132 combat cards, 11 spectator cards, three referee cards, 25 bet tokens and a rulebook. Rick Nauertz, sales associate for Fantasy Flight Games, told TDmonthly, "A game as comfortable in your family’s closet as on a table at a gaming convention, Colossal Arena is must buy for all gamers!"

In Through the Desert, two to five players each control a tribe of nomads vying for control of the desert. By establishing caravans and taking over oases, the players gain points as their tribes increase in power. Game play is designed to be under an hour. Fantasy Flight Games Sales Associate Rick Nauertz told TDmonthly, "From the award-winning game designer Reiner Knizia comes a game of strategy, patience and cool plastic camels!"

Kingsburg is a game of city building and resource management for two to five aspiring medieval governors, and is playable in roughly 90 minutes. Players adopt the role of a governor, and vie for resources to build up their province, military power to defend their homes, and above all the influence of the King. Over five years (five turns) players rely on various advisors to the King for resources. From tangibles like gold, wood and stone to soldiers and portents, each acquisition will shape the future of your community. Fantasy Flight Games Sales Associate Rick Nauertz told TDmonthly, "Combining many of the best elements of European and American board game design styles, Kingsburg has been praised for its clever use of dice and its high level of player interaction."

In the Warhammer world, four Gods of Chaos battle for supremacy: Khorne, the Blood God/Skulltaker, lusts for death and battle; Nurgle, the Plaguelord/Father of Corruption, luxuriates in filth and disease; Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways/Great Conspirator, plots the fate of the universe; and Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure and Pain/Lord of Temptations, lures even the most steadfast to his six deadly seductions. In the Chaos in the Old World board game, each player takes the role of one of the malevolent Lords of Chaos. Each god’s distinctive powers and legion of followers give the controlling player unique strengths and heretical abilities with which to corrupt and enslave the Old World. Yet, as the powers of Chaos seek domination by corruption and conquest, players must vie not only against each other, but also against the desperate denizens of the Old World who fight to banish the gods back to the maelstrom of the Realm of Chaos. Fantasy Flight Games Sales Associate Rick Nauertz told TDmonthly, "Chaos in the Old World takes place in the world of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game, and Warhammer Online, and so is bound to garner some name recognition."

In Dust, 2 to 6 players command vast armies of technologically advanced tanks, submarines, aircraft and “mechs” (massive piloted robots), all produced at factories which can be purchased and placed. To win, players must take territory through dice-based combat, controlling the most “power centers” in order to finance the expansion of their forces. By controlling the most of these power centers, along with the most capitals, players score victory points. The first player to score a set number of victory points claims the win. The game includes two variant rulebooks (quick-playing “Premium” rules and grand “Epic” rules), a puzzle-cut game board, more than 800 plastic figures, 45 lavishly-illustrated cards, 10 custom battle dice, 25 game tokens and three player reference sheets. Fantasy Flight Games Sales Associate Rick Nauertz told TDmonthly, "A few unique mechanics keep Dust somewhat shorter than other epic games of global conquest. In each player’s turn, for example, there is a cap on the amount of building, moving, and attacking allowed."

This portable Connect Four game features a Hello Kitty theme. The game frame rolls up to become a take-along canister.

In this tactical card game, players are monarchs who rule small peasant kingdoms. The players compete to enlarge their kingdoms by claiming as much land as possible. The game is for two to four players and can be played in approximately 30 minutes.
— As of 1.06.2011 this product had 5 out of 5 stars from 128 reviews on Amazon.com and was No. 29 on the top 100 bestselling toys and games. PROS: Variety keeps players entertained. CONS: Cards are easy to lose.

Players use swiveling ramps to launch chips onto the play board. With careful aim, the chips will fall into the desired hole. As players take turns, the stack of chips in each hole gets higher. The goal is to try and get three matching color chips in a row, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. This game is for two to four players.

In this game, players shuffle the five discs and place them on the table, then everyone at once tries to find the common object that’s on all five discs. Whoever finds it first gets to mark that object with his or her colored coin and flip over any one of the discs. There will always be only one common object that appears on all five discs, no matter which disc is turned over during the game. This game is for two to four players ages 5 and up.

In this game, everyone plays the role of detective and suspect. At the beginning of the game, each player blindly draws a card from the deck, and the character on the card becomes their secret identity. The dealer deals the cards and roll the dice to set up the crime scene. Players can “solve the case” by matching their six fingerprint cards to the six fingerprint dice, and can "tamper with the evidence” by drawing a new card, or re-rolling one of the dice.

Kids can race to be the first to get the animals into the barnyard in this fast-paced multiplayer matching game. Players search their cards to complete a barnyard animal, then use the barnyard flipper to flip the card and reveal the next image to be matched. Images are added to help children match, while the text on each card is designed to help early readers associate words with images. The game includes a barnyard flipper, 37 animal cards and a parents' guide.

The ZBall is a special marble very easy to control and that can stop in inclines. Players have to flick their way through the obstacles as fast as possible to win the race, and they can jump over their opponent’s car to pass them. No batteries are required, and hundreds of tracks can be designed for over 13' of fun. Kids can also use the track and cars separately to play by themselves. "This is the only race track on the market that can be played on with the whole family and doesn't need electricity!" Cedric Arnould, vice president of CEPIA Games, told TDmonthly.

Icosoku is a puzzle designed to make simple addition a challenge. Users explore every angle of this puzzle as they make all of the dots touching a yellow peg add up to that number. The puzzle can be solved regardless of how the yellow pegs are arranged, so there are thousands of games to play. It offers "the ability to play a new puzzle every time the number pegs are rearranged," Brandi Field, general manager of Recent Toys, told TDmonthly.
—  Two of 12 retailers named games from Recent Toys among their favorite products at ASTRA 2010, during a June 2010 TDmonthly survey.

This skill game is inspired by the party favorite, "pin the tail on the donkey."

This construction skill game includes dozens of multicolored play pieces.

Reggie the Pigeon dreams of a life in the circus as a high wire acrobat. Now he needs help to perfect 12 poses to “land” his dream job. Players must master the 12 unique poses and be the first to make it to the end of the line. Sturdy Birdy is designed to challenge children on a physical level while encouraging counting skills, self-esteem and more.

In this interactive game, girls can spin the wheel to answer a question, tell a secret, perform a silly stunt or see what they know about the Hannah Montana show. The player who scores the most points is the winner. This two-to-four player game includes a plastic game tray, cardboard wheel assembly with a two-piece spinner knob, three anchor pegs, three twist locks, 96 Hannah Montana secret cards and instructions.

This playing card set consists of four timeless card games - Crazy Eights, Hearts, Old Maid and Go Fish - each designed with its own vibrant and vintage Ringling Brothers artwork.

It's All Fun and Games contains more than 230 activities from crafts to magic tricks to outdoor activities. The activities are color coded by type, so kids can easily find exactly what they are looking for. Each activity lists the materials needed, the object of the game and the number of players required, along with easy-to-understand instructions and fun visuals.

This set of nine dice is printed with a full deck of 52 playing cards and two jokers. The set is specially designed to allow hands to be rolled for poker and most other card games. Instructions for both family and betting games are included.

This game for two or more players comes with a cup and 13 dice. Each player is a zombie, rolling a die for one of three outcomes: the brain icon that represents points, the footsteps icon that stands for a victim on the run and an opportunity to re-roll, or the shotgun blast icon that is detrimental to a player's undead health. Players score one point for each piece of gray matter and a strike for each shotgun blast. The first zombie to hit 13 points wins.

The Mayan Calendar is much more than a system to mark off the passage of time; it is a prophetic calendar that may help us understand the past and foresee the future. Some people believe it predicts the end of the world as December 2012, while others believe it forecasts the start of a new era. This game incorporates both views.The object of the game is to create a physical vehicle like a pyramid to focus and spread universal spiritual power. For this task players will need builders, materials, equipment and money. They must work together to build 11 spiritual centers around the planet to ward off destructive perils entering from many directions. "2012" includes a 13” x 18” board, four movers, two dice, a sheet of 55 die-cut pieces, eight player roles, six centers destroyed, 11 spiritual power markers and 12 destructive perils markers.