Top Trumps is the name of a new series of six card games published by Parker Brothers / Hasbro and available only at Toys 'R' Us stores. Six games are available, each with a different theme: The Simpsons, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, military jets, dinosaurs, and predators.

The game, licensed from Winning Moves in Europe, is a beefed-up version of the children's card game War. And although War is completely random and mindless, Top Trumps offers some level of thought and strategy.

Each deck includes 30 cards, which are shuffled and distributed to the players (it's my guess that the game would work with up to six players).

Each card has a number of statistics on it. For example, the Simpsons cards have most lovable, smartest, fattest, biggest nerd, greatese anarchist, and Walk of Fame rating. The Star Wars cards have age, height, force, fighting, humility, and appearances. The military jets cards have max speed, max height, range, max take-off weight, and wingspan.

The cards feature various characters, jets, dinosaurs or animals. The Simpsons deck includes everyone from Homer Simpson to Groundskeeper Willie.

The first player looks at his top card and chooses one statistic to read out loud (e.g. "Homer Simpson, fattest, 47"). The other players read the same statistic; the player with the highest number gets all of the cards. (Only Chief Wiggum and Barney Gumble are fatter than Homer.)

Eventually, one player will have all of the cards -- that player is the winner.

It's not a deep strategy game by any stretch of the imagination, but Top Trumps works well for what it is -- an updated, more intelligent version of War. Perhaps best of all, it can be played easily in the back of a vehicle on long trips.

Each game comes in a convenient hard plastic case, offering good protection from damage between plays.

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