November 2010 Notable Toys — Card Games

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.

In these four mathematical games, players are partners, forming as many good flower gardens as they can using their trowels to dig up the weeds that threaten to choke off the flowers. The basic mathematical skills of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing are all practiced in gameplay. 20 tiles, 12 garden trowels and rules are included.

In this game, players compete to collect the most matching pets.
 — As of 8.12.10, this product had 5 out of 5 stars from tworeviews on ToysRUs.com and was listed No. 4 in best-selling toys and games. PROS: Durable, easy to use, interactive.

In this collectible card game, players work with powerful Pokémon to become a Pokémon trainer. Each tin expands increases game play choices, and contains one promo foil card and four booster packs.
— In July 2010, five percent of 38 surveyed retailers told TDmonthly that Pokémon cards are a top-selling collectible.

The collectible card game's 2011 Core Set is available in booster packs featuring five different cover art images. Each pack includes 15 cards.
— In a July 2010 survey, two of 38 specialty retailers told TDmonthly that Magic: The Gathering cards are a best-selling collectible item.
— In August 2010, three percent of 43 specialty retailers named Magic: The Gathering a best seller in the card game category. The game was also mentioned as a top-selling overall item.

For 2 to 6 players, or up to 3 individual players, Sequence Numbers is similar to the original Sequence game, except the cards are a mathematical equation, whose answer is a number found on the game board. First player or team to achieve the required amount of Sequences wins the game.

S’Quarrels is a card game based around the theme of squirrels collecting acorns before winter arrives. Under a nearby oak tree, embark upon the rigorous task of collecting and storing acorns before winter sets in. Your opponents are trying to take them all before you do. Whirlwinds, Ambushing, Quarreling, and Hoarding are all part of the game. Get the coveted Golden Acorn, while avoiding the Rotten Acorn. The player to store the most Acorns before Winter arrives wins.
— "What's selling really well for me is S'Quarrels," Jude Larene, owner of Izilla Toys in Seattle, told TDmonthly in July 2010. "I'm selling piles of it and I need to order more today. It gets into a neighborhood and everybody wants it."
— S’Quarrels received a great reaction from The Board Game Family. “Bring out the S’Quarrels cards,” they explained, “and kids can automatically picture being a little squirrel running around gathering acorns.” However, the reviewers cautioned that younger players may get “more frustrated when they aren’t quick enough to slap the hoard pile when that card is played.”
— As of 10/30/2012 this product had 4.6 out of 5 stars from 7 reviews on Amazon.com. Pros: Easy for kids to learn, but enough strategy is involved to appeal to adults; fun for groups. Cons: Not as fun with less than three players.