Aliens, Pirates and More from Out of the Box

Word on the Street, published last year by Out of the Box Publishing (and my pick as the best easy-to-find game of 2009) was successful enough to spawn a pair of follow-ups scheduled for 2010, including the Word on the Street party case (an easily-portable deluxe edition of the game with two sand timers) and Word on the Street Junior. The latter is for two players, ages 8 and up. Unlike the base game, the junior edition uses all 26 letters and has simpler categories. It is scheduled to be available soon.

Out of the Box also had several other upcoming games on display at the 2010 American International Toy Fair, including a new entry in the 10 Days in... series. Those travel-themed games have already visited the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. This year, it will expand to include 10 Days in the Americas (2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, designed by Alan R. Moon and Aaron Weissblum). In these family-friendly strategy games, players race to be the first to build a suitable 10-day travel itinerary. 10 Days in the Americas features North and South America, along with the Caribbean. It is scheduled to be available in late spring.

In Pirate vs. Pirate (2 to 3 players, ages 8 and up), the goal is to kill off your opponents' pirates, or to capture a certain combination of coins from the middle of the board and return them to your home base. The game board's grid is based on triangles, making for some interesting movement possibilities. The pirates from this game can be mixed and matched with the ninjas from last year's Ninja vs. Ninja. If all goes according to plan, there will be at least one more game in this series... perhaps Robot vs. Robot.

Shake 'n' Take (2 to 10 players, ages 8 and up) is a wild, fast-paced party game. Every player is given a dry-erase board filled with a variety of aliens. One player rolls a die and starts to mark off all the aliens on his board which share the same general shape revealed on the die (e.g., circle, triangle, or heart). At the same time, the player to his left starts shaking a clear egg-shaped container with a second die inside. When that die shows an alien on top, the die-shaker grabs the dry-erase pen and starts taking a turn. With more than six players, two pens and two shakers are used -- doubling the chaotic fun.

^{Image courtesy of Out of the Box Publishing}