Toyology

No Numbers Dominoes

So what do you call a donimoes type game that uses words instead of numbers? Yes, Wordinoes, and its out now. Players pull out their tiles and try and match their Wordinoes by making new words or phrases, word association, pairing opposites and by using rhyme. AS the game starts with ten tiles each its pretty straight forward but toward the end of play fewer tiles mean  more tension. If you don't agree with a players play and the majority of players agree they ave to remove the Wordino and take another one from the bag. There are other variations on play too making it worth the £19.99 price tag, a kind of scrabble/domino hybrid. Grab one HERE

Celebrate 40 years of Sesame Street

This'll leave some of you feeling your years, or older than you'd care to think you are, Sesame Street is 40 years of age, yup, the most famous kids programme on the planet reached this milestone and in its wakea legacy of comical characters who still have the power to induce a grin at their mere mention. Grab yourself a stuffed memory of your favourite character in the form of these fab muppet plushes from Firebox, alas not Kermit nor Miss Piggy - Haaaaaaaaaaaaaay Yah!

Retailers association picks their Hot Dozen for this Yule

The TRA represents over 75% of the Uk Toy Industry and has a decent idea whats going to be flying off the shelves at any given season. Its Xmas picks for 209 comprise amixed bacg of stuff that all steps in at under £50, most we agree with, a couple we're at a loss to explain : 

Bakugan Battle Pack, Spin Master (£19.99)
Battle Strikers starter Set, Mega Brands (£9.99)
Ben 10 Alien Force Kevins DX Action Cruiser, Bandai (£29.99)
Bendaroos Mega Pack, Spin Master ( £19.99)

GO GO Pets Hamsters, Character Options (£9.99)
GX Racers Tightrope Terror, Flair  (£22.99)
Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera, V-Tech (£49.99)
Lego Games Minotaurus, Lego (£17.99)
Monopoly City, Hasbro (£24.99)
Princess Peppa’s Palace, Character Options (£39.99)

Old School rock and roll

First time out of the box for me was in the late 70's but this bal rolling brain and dexterity teaser from Brio has beenaound since the forties! Using two dials at the side to control the pitch and yaw of the board you need to steer the ball fromstart to finish without disappearing down one of the many strategically placed holes, positioned to make you fail. Play against the clock versus other video games retirees or try your hand at getting a pair of the metal spheres around this tricky track at once. Itsready for you at Firebox and'll set you back £19.95

Boards games - Bringing families together

Well thats the general idea of Hasbros Family Game night promo activity after a survey of theirs showed a whopping 40% of mums feel like they don't spend enough time with their kids, the solution?  Grab a game and get down to some serious play - sounds simple, and is! You never know, there is even a suggestion that it could influence their future career choices, see picture for details!

Rather good at Rummikub? Read on...

If you're a bit of a whizz at the fast paced numbers game then get online and try and get yourself onto the UK Tomy team and represent the nation at the world chamionships to be held in Marbella later this year. Preliminary rounds are held online on the 22nd, 28th and 29th of August then a Semi Final for the best on the 5th September. The top eight will each grab £25 of Tomy toys, a special edition wooden Rummikub and be invited to an event in London to play for the top slot and represent Britain in Spain with acommodation and travel paid for two. Jump over HERE and click on the championship banner to register.

More Luck, Strategy and Logic from LEGO

We thought it appropriate to allow you to digest one new batch of board games before unleashing another, splitting them into two posts may well have resulted in you already making a purchase and now, with this final four, compelled to invest in another, we think you'll be thanking us though. A couple for the younger board gamers are Magikus (£7.99) and Monster Four (£9.99), the first is a race around the set to collect four ingredients for a magic potion, whilst of course others plot to steal or swap your stuff with a magic bat! the latter is a simple enough sounding game, make a line of four monster characters but the Giant Spider constantly conspires to wipe you out.

Fun in the Sun

Lounging around outside is fine for a while but when the tedium of being horizontal sets in you'll need one of our trusty toys at hand so you can stretch your legs and ready yourself to set back down and siesta once more. With these outdoor games to hand they'll also help keep the kids off your case as you get some downtime. Here's our top ten outdoor toys:

Turn yourself into a T-600 Terminator

  

Kit yourself up as a T-600 from the Terminator Salvation flick and no one will bother you however loudly you munch your popcorn. The T-600 mask Voice N Vision skull (£34.99)is a decent looking voice changer with sound effects and LED red eye that are menacing to those you stare at but from inside the mask you get an opaque view. The Power-fist (£29.99) should make a decent addition to you office warfare kit, not only a noise maker but with a flying fist for random attacks. Last in line are a collection of body transfers (£7.99) that aparently make you look metal underneath, now no one is going to mess with you!

Mind Games in Vegas

Mattel's new Mindflex game lets you control a floating ball with your mind as you navigate it through hoops, cages and hurdles on a circular racetrack. Control is by brainwave , stick on a headset that measures the level of your concentration, the more you concentrate the faster a little fan spins to blow the ball up in the air, which controls its height.
The aim of the game is move around the customisable course as quickly as you can, this Jedi like mind game is out in the Autumn for about £50.