Balloon Lagoon is not going to knock your socks off -- it doesn't contain any brilliant new mechanics or clever scoring systems. What it does contain is a whole lot of fun in a well-built package that entertains the heck out of kids. Mark Jackson has more in his review of Balloon Lagoon.

More Children's Games:

• Castle Keep
• Clue Jr.
• Gumball Rally

^{Image courtesy of Cranium}

The latest expansion for HeroScape is now available. Five unique heroes and six common squads are part of the wave 9 expansion (Blackmoon's Siege), including the dwarf Migol Ironwill, the ninja Kumiko, and the Marro Dividers. A complete list of the new characters is available in all of our HeroScape character checklists:

• HeroScape Character Checklist by Expansion
• HeroScape Character Checklist by Faction
• HeroScape Character Checklist by Package
• HeroScape Character Checklist by Race

Fortune magazine has declared that board games are back. (I would argue that they never went away, but positive press for a great hobby is always welcome.) "In 2008, board game sales climbed 23.5% to about $808 million, and they're expected to grow more this year," according to the article. "With the onset of the recession, as video games have suffered from the dip in consumer spending, their older, less-costly cousins -- Clue, Candy Land, and the like -- have benefited."

The brilliant abstract game Blokus (pictured here) is featured prominently in the article, which also features comments from Jay Tummelson, head of Rio Grande Games, and Geoff Walker, Mattel's senior vice president of Wheels, Games and Radica. (Mattel acquired Blokus earlier this year.)

^{Image courtesy of Educational Insights}

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game United States 2009 National Championship is taking place this weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The culmination of a series of events around the country, the U.S. National Championship is expected to draw about 900 Yu-Gi-Oh! players. The top four finalists will be invited to compete in the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship in Tokyo, Japan, on August 8 and 9.

In Yu-Gi-Oh!, players create individual decks of cards -- monsters, spells and traps -- by choosing from cards collected from starter decks and booster packs. The decks are used in a two-player duel.

^{Image courtesy of Konami Digital Entertainment}