The 2010 American International Toy Fair is over, but I'll have plenty more to report on in the coming days and weeks. Here are a few more highlights:
A company called Digital Game Technology -- best-known for high-end chess timers -- has created a super-cool cube-shaped timer (the DGT Cube). Each side of the cube has a colored frame, and only the side which is currently displayed on top of the cube is counting down. It can be programmed to be used with a wide variety of games, and it is expected to sell for about $49 when it becomes available in late spring.
Two new word games were featured at the Patch Products booth. Stir 'Em Up (2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up) finds players racing to be the first to use all of their double-sided letter tiles. As words are built, there's a possibility that the roll of a die could shake up the game by forcing everyone to flip over all of their tiles. Word Shout (2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up) is a small, dice-based word game where players compete simultaneously to build words and score points (one per letter). The first to reach 50 points wins the game.
Patch also is publishing a new party game, 5 Second Rule (3 or more players, ages 10 and up), which boasts a very cool timer with several small ball bearings spinning around a plastic track to keep track of the titular five seconds. What do you have to do within five seconds? Name three things... three holidays, three beaches, three spices, etc. The player who succeeds most often wins.
Identity Games is releasing a new dexterity game, Wobble (2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up). The board, balanced on a round base, includes a hole in each corner -- and each is protected by a wooden peg. A ping pong ball starts the game sitting in a small indentation in the middle. On your turn, you roll a die to determine how many actions you have. An action can be either adding a weighted token to the edge of the board, or removing one that was placed earlier.
Players are trying to get the ping pong ball to travel to the four corners in a specific order (marked by wooden pegs on their side of the board). When you reach the first hole, you remove that peg. (Of course, removing pegs also affects the board's balance.) The first player to remove all four pegs wins. I played Wobble and had quite a bit of fun. At about 15 to 20 minutes per game, this is a great choice for family game nights.
The Deadliest Catch from Cadaco is a strategy game based on the Discovery Channel television series of the same name. Players use cards to move their ship across the board, dropping lobster traps along the way. Once a player reaches the other side of the board, he begins to backtrack, choosing which traps to pick up on the way back to his side of the board (each is worth a different number of points, and the values are hidden). The Deadliest Catch, for 2 players, ages 10 and up, is expected to be available in late spring.
Image courtesy of Digital Game Technology
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