The Monster Mash-Up

It’s hard to think of October without thinking of candy, trick or treating, pumpkins, and costumes. It’s also the time when you watch scary movies, tell ghost stories, and sleep with the lights on. This month in the “Toy Box,” I’ve found some great toys to celebrate this month without giving you the urge to check under the bed when you go to sleep.

First, there’s the Design Your Own Monster from curlyqcuties.com. These aren’t the monsters that go “bump” in the night. They’re the ones that you cuddle with when you sleep. Design Your Own Monster is a stuffed monster that you get to create by going to designamonster.com or curlyqcuties.com and clicking on what size monster you wish to create. Then you are taken to a monster creator where you pick the body, eyes, mouth, belly shape, and colors of your monster. For a little extra, you can even have the monster embroidered. They cost between $25 for the smallest (11.5 inches tall) to $135 for the extra-large (2.5 feet tall), and you can buy them at designamonster.com.

If the design part is more up your alley, Fuzzoodles may be right for you. Fuzzoodles can be easily described as Mr. Potato Head, but instead of a potato you have pipe cleaners. The kits come with several long and short pipe cleaners as well as eyes, mouths, and other accessories that give you a wide range of creation. When I first saw this product, I was a little wary of the pipe cleaners. The pipe cleaners you normally think of are pretty small and wimpy. However, the Fuzzoodle pipecleaners were larger than I expected, and the fuzz in the pipe cleaner is actually pretty lush. The accessories have hooks that keep them in place and the set also comes with an idea booklet that shows you how to make some Fuzzoodles and also gives you some techniques that you can use to design your own. The big box cost $20, but there are smaller boxes that are $10. You can buy them at ToysRUs or at Amazon.com.

Finally, who can think of Halloween without thinking of The Great Pumpkin. From the pages of It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, comes Yahtzee. I had never played Yahtzee before seeing this, and I have to admit I really like the game. With Yahtzee, you have five dice and you roll them three times with the aim of getting certain sets of numbers. After three rolls, you write your score on the score card, and then it’s the next person’s turn (unless you’re playing by yourself, and then you get to go again). Once the scorecard is full, the person with the highest score wins. What makes the Charlie Brown version of Yahtzee different is that the dice have all your favorite characters on their sides with the number in the corner. I didn’t have a problem distinguishing between the sides, but you may want to start off slowly so you don’t confuse some of the drawings. The cost of the game is $17 on Amazon.com. And if you want more Great Pumpkin, you can also play The Great Pumpkin Countdown at www.greatpumpkincountdown.com and win some prizes.

Find Them Online:
Design Your Own Monster
Fuzzoodles
It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown Yahtzee

Family Fun Night

With summer here and kids having more time on their hands, it is the perfect time to start a Family Fun Night. Once you find a night that’s right for everyone, here are some games and toys that your family should look into.

First, there is Clue: Secrets and Spies. Clue is my favorite game, so I, of course, bought this as soon as it came out last year. It still deals with “who, what, and where,” but that is the only similarity (besides the name of the game and the characters) that it shares with the original Clue game.

In Clue: Secrets and Spies, everyone gets a secret identity (the who), which is drawn from the identity cards and is kept secret until the game ends. This solves the argument over who gets to be Scarlet. The object of the game is to have your identity score the highest on the scoreboard. To do this, you need to gain the most points and to gain these points you use cards to hold secret meetings (the where) and complete missions (the what).

Basically, to hold secret meetings, you have to be in a certain city with a certain character. When that happens on your turn, you get the secret meeting card. To complete missions, a player must have two certain objects (the ones on his mission card) in his object squares in order to succeed in his mission and get to draw another mission card. Now, while this is happening, there are tokens that are also receiving points, so you may be scoring a point for another player while collecting your cards. However, card points are tallied at the end of the game, which will count for moving your players’ game tokens up. The game ends when the black token meets any of the player tokens. Then, cards are counted, and whoever is at the top of the point system goes first. Each player moves point by point (each card is one point), skipping any space occupied by another player’s tokens. And that’s the basic game play.

I hope you’ve been following so far, but if you’re completely confused, I’m not surprised. Clue: Secrets and Spies is not your regular Clue game and is hard to explain. If you purchase this game, read the directions carefully, and play some practice rounds. The game can be played with just two players, so start off playing a practice game with one other person, and then invite others to play, with someone standing by who can help explain things when they get confusing. The game sells for $19 on Amazon.com.

If basic Clue is more your style, try finding Clue: Secrets In Paris. The suspects are a high school drama club, the props are the same weapons from Clue: Discover the Secrets (See my review from August 2009 on my toy blog), and the places are landmarks in Paris. Finding the game may be the hard part, because apparently it’s no longer in production. If you’re in the mood for a hunt, I highly suggest scouring the internet or local toys stores for this.

Next, you can’t beat good classic board games. One that I’ve recently developed an affection for is Sorry! If you haven’t played it, it’s simple to get into. There are four pawns for each color, and each one has to make it from the start position all the way around the board and then up a little walkway to its home. Cards drawn by each player determine how many spaces to move. Each card has a purpose: Players can only move pawns from the home row after drawing a “one” or “two” card; the “two” card allows the player to draw again; the “four” card moves the player’s pawn backwards; the “seven” card can be split between two pawns; and the “Sorry” card allows you to take someone’s place on the board, sending his pawn back to the start position. The instructions even include additional rules that will expand the game for older players. It sells for $15 on Amazon.com.

And lastly, try Make These Toys for Family Fun Night. Make These Toys is a book that gives you the instructions to create 101 toys. The projects in the book are separated by the main type of materials used. For instance, there is a section for clothespin projects and another for drink container projects. The projects are simple to make, and once you complete your projects, you have more toys to play with. We’ve enjoyed this book so much that this is our second mention of it. In our June issue, we featured instructions for making a great party favor, one of the many homemade toys included in this book, which sells for $10 on Amazon.com.

Find Them On-line:
Clue: Secrets And Spies
Sorry!
Make These Toys

June Hodgepodge

As I sit in my office chair, my muscles slightly aching from my exercise commitment (which you can follow at scottstoybox.blogspot.com), I’m looking around my cubical at the toys I have to review trying to find some way to connect them together. So after a couple of days of this, I figure I should just go again not try and force a connection, not when the word “Hodgepodge” exists. And that’s what this is a summer hodgepodge of some toys.

First we have a classic summer toy, the water gun. Specifically, the Super Soaker Shot Blast. The Shot Blast is part of a four-gun ensemble that makes up one team in the Soaker Wars. The Shot Blast can fire up to 25 ft. and holds 38 fl. oz. To fire the gun you slide the slide forward to load it and then slide it back to fire. It also has a shoulder brace that’s adjustable and a tactical rail for the N-Strike tactical scope that’s sold separately. I personally would prefer if the gun had a trigger but the Hydro Fury (another of the four guns) does have one so if you’re like me you’d probably want to consider that one. The Shot Blast can be found on Amazon.com for $21.

Now if you’d rather cool down indoors (or on a breezy porch) Run Wild is a great card game to play to pass the time. The object of the game is to get all the cards out of your hand first. To do this you have to play a set (three cards of the same number) or a run (three cards in numerical order & of the same color) on the table. If you don’t have the right cards (or you aren’t drawing the right ones from your draw pile) you can use the cards on the table but only if there is a least three cards in still in the set or run (and runs have to keep numerical order). At first I was concerned of how disorderly it could be because players don’t take turns. However when I played with my friends there was time to think and make decisions on your game play even with its high paced. I wish the draw three cards that are played actually had the words “draw three” on them. Our first game was really confusing because of that. You can play with 2-4 players and they can be found at www.otb-games.com for $10.

Find Them On-Line:

Super Soaker

Run Wild

Is This Your Card?

As I grew up, there were many occupations that I thought I wanted to have when I grew up. At one point in time I wanted to be a magician and started a collection of card decks that I used to do simple card tricks. These decks came in handy on trips where my friends and I played all types of games. When thinking about this month’s Toy Box, I thought it would be a good idea to dive into the world of card games. Even though there are as many card games as there are cards in a deck, I selected a few old favorites as well as some new ones you may not have heard of.

Uno has been a favorite for years. Based on Crazy 8’s, the object of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your hands by placing cards of the same number or color on the top of the discard pile. There are also Skip, Reverse, and Draw cards that add some challenges to the game. And if that isn’t enough, everyone has their own house rules, from playing an exact same card out of turn to slapping the deck when someone plays a 9 (the last person to slap the deck draws 2 cards). Mattel has also come out with several variations of Uno, most of which include a base. With Uno Attack, instead of drawing from a deck, you hit a button. Sometimes the base doesn’t spit out anything, but other times it spits out many cards. With Uno Spin, you spin a wheel when the spin card gets played. When it stops spinning, you may have to trade your cards or draw some. A pack of Uno cards salls for about $7 on Amazon.com and the other versions of the games between $18-$35.

Apples to Apples is another great card game. To play this game you’ll need at least four people. There are red cards and green cards. Each player has seven red cards in their hand. These red cards have nouns on them ranging from famous people to events in your life (i.e. “my prom”). The green cards have adjectives on them. One player draws a green card and reads aloud the adjective. Then the other players pick a red card in their hand and slide it secretly over to the first player. The card they pick is what noun they think goes with the adjective. The first player picks up the cards (not knowing who picked which card), and from those cards the first player picks what they think is the best answer. Whoever wins gets the green card, and the next player in the circle pulls the green card for the next round. The game ends when someone gets 3-7 green cards (this is decided at the beginning of the game and depends on how many people are playing.) The fun thing about this game is that it all depends on who is playing and their personalities. When deciding which red card to play you have to think about who the judge is and what card they’d pick instead of what card you’d pick. It’s also a good game to get to know one another with. The party box it comes in is for ages 12 and up. This is because some cards have words like “Sultry” on them. However, there is a Junior box for ages 9 and up, and kids’ box for ages 7 and up. The party box is about $27, the junior pack is about $19 and the one for 7 is about $25, all from Amazon.com.

Top Trumps comes to us from England. It’s similar to the game War, and there are many different packs with themes from Star Wars to insects. Each card contains a character; for example, Yoda would be in a Star Wars deck. On each character card there are about five statistics like knowledge, likability, or cuteness, and each character has its own numbers. When playing, one person chooses a statistic, then the players tell what number they have for that statistic. Whoever has the highest number gets both cards to place in the end of his deck. Whoever wins the cards gets to pick the next statistic. If there is a tie, those two cards are set aside, and the player who picked the statistic goes again. The player who wins those cards also wins the two cards that tied. You can find these card packs at Barnes and Noble in the Renaissance or at Amazon.com. They cost about $8 per pack, or you can get them in bundles of three on Amazon.com for around $20.

If you don’t feel like buying any of these specialty card decks to play a game, there are many card games that can be played with just a simple deck of ordinary cards. Hearts, Spades, Spoons, Crazy 8’s, Bridge, Rummy, Gin... the list goes on and on. www.pagat.com is a website with an extensive list of card games and how to play them. Some other websites focused on just one game are http://www.acbl.org/learn/howtoplay.html for Bridge and http://rummy.com/rummyrules.html for Rummy. And if you ever get board and you’re by yourself, there is always the basic game of solitaire, 10 games of which can be found at http://boardgames.about.com/od/solitaire/tp/best_solitaire_card_games.htm.

Find it online:
Uno
Uno Attack
Uno Spin
Apples to Apples
Top Trumps

Move and Groove

What happens when you take snowboarding, surfing and skateboarding and throw them in a blender? You get the Shred Sled. It’s basically two footpads, each with two in-line wheels pieced together with a flexible connector. Instead of pushing off the Shred Sled like a skateboard, you propel yourself using your hips, legs and arms much like when you use a surfboard or snowboard. The hardest part about using the Shred Sled that I’ve found is getting on it. When I tried, one of the footpads would tilt one way or another and I found the only way I could fully get on was with the support of a wall or column. However, once on, it was fun to ride around on. I don’t recommend this for beginners but I’m sure those experienced in the ways of the three above sports will enjoy this much more than I did. Also make sure to wear a helmet and other protective gear if you want to try this out. To see more about it check out www.theshredsled.com where you can see videos and pictures or even purchase one.

There are some toys that are physically impossible for me to test out, Giraffalaff Limbo is one if these games. The poles for Giraffalaff Limbo stand a little higher than three feet and with every limbo game the height just becomes lower. Then again, I don’t believe the company had adults in mind when they were cooking this toy up. No this is geared towards preschoolers who will enjoy the moving to the beat while avoiding Giraffalaff hanging from the bar. The game comes with a dial with six different ways to go under the bar from a bird walk to the crawl. It took me a moment to figure out the difference between the limbo and what the dial calls “backwards bend”, which means you bend over and walk backwards, not bending backwards (or the limbo). One thing I learned the hard way is that once you assemble the game you can’t completely disassemble it, so don’t prepare to store it in the box it comes in (Note to self: read directions first).

Also from Hasbro is Scatterpillar Scramble. Scatterpillar is a caterpillar with four rows of seven hands. Four players have to place their own color marbles on each hand of their row. However Scatterpillar is grooving to his own beat and may drop one of your marbles while you’re playing. Whoever is the first to have all seven marbles in his hands wins. This, like Giraffalaff Limbo, is geared toward preschoolers but with this game there is a chocking hazard with the marbles. Both games require three AAA batteries and are about $25 over at Amazon.com but can also be found in the usual toy departments.

Find it online:
Shred Sled
Giraffalaff Limbo
Scatterpillar Scramble

Scent of a Toy

With summer ending, I’ll certainly miss the smells I associate with it. The smell of popcorn that engulfs the movie theatre as I go see a summer blockbuster, the smell of chlorine from the swimming pool, and the smell of hot dogs at a summer cookout. This month in the Toy Box, we have a group of toys that have a certain scent to them.

First off, we have the new Strawberry Shortcake collection. When Hasbro acquired Strawberry, they gave her a makeover. The most notable part was shaving off a couple of feet from her height, now she and her friends are “bite-sized”. Strawberry also works in her own Berry Café, which is the big playset of the Strawberry Shortcake collection. It comes with a big strawberry-like café with tables and chairs, a Strawberry Shortcake figure and lots of tiny foods to serve. And the foods are tiny, so take caution before buying this for a really young child. She and her friends are also available separately as three inch dolls.

Strawberry Shortcake also comes as an 11 inch doll. She has brushable hair and hair extensions, along with stickers, hair clips and a pen that uses water to make makeup appear. The box says that there is a choking hazard, which I guess are the hair clips, even though the size of these accessories is much larger than the ones in the Berry Café playset. All the toys also have the sweet fruity smell that lasts a while. We’ve had these toys in the office for weeks and they still smell as good as they did the day they arrived. You can find Strawberry and her fruity pals in stores now.

Next we have the Candy Land Sweet Celebration Game. In celebration of its 60th anniversary, Hasbro has come out with this new Candy Land game. They have gotten rid of the board and replaced it with a customizable track that you put together. You control how long you want to make the track, so it’s great for a quick game while waiting for dinner or for a long family game night. A spinner replaces the cards that lead you around the track to the different stops where you collect treats to take to the palace. However, Lord Licorice can and will block your path during the game to make it longer and more challenging, although he can be omitted for younger players. With the track changeable, each game feels new and different, and gives players the ability to create their own game. When I played with it, I tried to use every piece of the track, including the end pieces, but it was a little difficult to include them since most of the track is curvy and circles around itself. It would have been helpful to include a booklet of pre-made track designs so you can easily jump into a game and make setup just a bit shorter.

Finally, one toy I’m glad didn’t come scented is Norman PhartEphant. He’s a stuffed elephant that farts. Maybe I’m childish—I mean, I’m 26 and play with toys for a living—but this is one of the best toys I’ve come across. He’s soft and cuddly like any stuffed animal, and there is a button in his tale that releases the sound of passed gas when pressed. This is Fierce Fun Toys’ first toy. One of their mission statements is to promote laughter, and they hit the bull’s-eye with Norman. Everyone in our office has had a good laugh when they’ve played with him. Fierce Fun Toys has a book in the works that will help explain Norman’s gassy tendencies. But even without the book, Norman is perfect for anyone young at heart. You can find him at www.PhartEphant.com.

Find it online:
Strawberry Shortcake Berry Café
Strawberry Shortcake Doll
Candyland
Norman PhartEphant

A New Twist on An Old Favorite: Clue

It’s about time.

For many years, Monopoly has… well, monopolized the custom board game industry. You can pretty much get any version of Monopoly that you want, from your favorite movie to your alma mater. Which is great for Monopoly fans, but I’m not one. The board game that captured my heart is Clue. I’ve been an avid Clue collector for many years, which has been easy since there hasn’t been much to collect, but in the past year things got harder.

Last year Clue was revamped. Instead of taking place in Tudor Mansion, the scene of the crime is a large estate in Hollywood. Instead of the usual suspects, the accused are now the rich and famous partygoers. There are also more weapons and modernized rooms. But all these changes are superficial; the real change is the game play. Die-hard rulebook-following fans, like me, can take a breath. The changes in game play are more add-ons that can easily be taken away if you still want to play the classic way or with whatever your house rules have always been. But don’t disregard these add-ons without trying them.

First, there are “intrigue” cards that give you powers to help you through the game. You get these cards by landing on certain spaces or having the die end up on the question mark. With them, you can do things from taking another turn to not answering a rumor (or suggestion). Also among these intrigue cards are eight clock cards. During the game, people will draw the clock cards and for the first seven cards there is no consequence, however when someone draws the eighth clock card, he is out of the game. This creates a draw back to drawing the intrigue cards. Another card you get is a character card, for the character you choose. Each character has a special power (much like those on the intrigue cards) that he can use once per game. Although this adds more strategy for each player, it becomes more repetitive for those who only want to play a certain character.

There are also two rules that have changed. One rule change is that accusations must now take place in the center room where the confidential file is kept, rather than making an accusation at any point in the game wherever you are. This adds a bit of fun when more than one person knows the answer and whoever can get to the center room first wins. The other rule change is now players can pass through other players (but still not land on the same space). I personally don’t like this new rule because getting in another person’s way can be a strategic move in Clue. However, these rules aren’t set in stone and can be changed for whatever crowd is playing.

There are also two other versions of Clue that can currently be bought. One is 24 Clue and the other is Harry Potter Clue. 24 Clue is basically the same as the Clue revamp, dressed up in attire from the hit series, 24. You play as one of six characters from the show’s sixth season, each still with his own special power. The locations are rooms in CTU, and the weapons are terrorist acts represented by little pewter pieces; for example, the bus means that the terrorists are going to halt all the U.S. transportation. In this game you are trying to figure out who is the mole, what attack they are involved with and where they are going to execute the attack. The intrigue cards are included, as well as the clock cards, to add some more strategy and the two changed rules are found as well. This is a great game for those who love the show.

The Harry Potter Clue is different from the Clue revamp but has similar changes. First, the characters you play are different from the suspects. You play as members of Dumbledore’s Army while suspecting six different dark wizards. The weapons are spells and the locations are rooms around Hogwarts. To set this game up, you take the six playable characters and draw one unlucky soul to be the victim. Unfortunately, this means the most that can play is five people, with the rules and add-ons that are in this game. Instead of intrigue cards, Harry Potter Clue comes with two different kinds of cards: dark mark cards and help cards. No good can come from the dark mark cards because they rob players of their house points, which replace the clock cards. Once you lose all your house points, you lose. The help cards have a friend, an item, or a spell that protect you from the dark mark cards. The board also becomes active with four spinning wheels that change entrances amd secret passages and can even cause the dark mark to appear, making each turn different from the last. Even though this is exciting, the weapon and suspect pieces are round cardboard discs instead of pewter pieces. This is somewhat of a let down, although understandable, considering that one of the weapons is Impedimenta.

Coming out in August are two new Clue versions, The Office Clue and Seinfeld Clue. These are both being released by USAopoly, which is responsible for 24 Clue. Because of this, I expect that both games will have intrigue cards and clock cards, much like the revamped version of the game. These releases open the door for more like them. I, for one, am hoping for LOST Clue.

Clue is a wonderful game to help children learn deduction. It also provides a great time to spend as a family. Don’t be afraid of the newer versions of Clue because the classic version of Clue is still at the heart of each of them.

Find it online:
Clue (Re-envisioned)
24 Clue
Harry Potter Clue
The Office Clue
Seinfeld Clue