Toyology

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)

Cube Construction kit is addictive stuff

'Train your brain' we're ordered as adverts featuring folk of all creeds tapping away on Nintendo DS's flit across our TV screens. Train your brain with endless puzzles now or wait for it to turn to warm, soupy mush before your very eyes, they warn. However prudent this may seem, avid toy lovers could be forgiven for wondering whatever happened to good old fashioned, Rubiks Cubey, vastly frustrating puzzles involving twisting things and fitting stuff together and angrily forcing bits of plastic into the wrong holes when no one was looking?  

European Connections

 

You may well know your Sweden from Spain in shape form, and have a fair idea of where they fit into the continent, Ukraine and Belarus however might prove a little more tricky! Grab yourself a 58 piece jigsaw from Geopuzzle with pieces the shape of the countries and you'll excel at this subject in pub quizzes. A great learning tool thats fun for kids too. £10.99 at Amazon

$2 Million up for Grabs

Do you like a challenge? With $2million in the kitty for the person who completes this 256 piece puzzle first, what more inspiration do you need to go out and buy one of these mind bogglers? Following the success of its predecessor Eternity I and its $1 million prize fund, Eternity II has made a long-awaited comeback, so if you want to get in the rat race we suggest you do so now because as we speak there are geeks and nerds worldwide trying to get their hands on that precious booty. The incentive has been laid out for you – it’s up to you what you do with this information. Available from Amazon for £19.99.

Hang the Man

Three dimensional Hangman...genius – we wish we’d thought of this brilliant idea. If you aren’t familiar with the rules firstly, where on earth have you been, and secondly, the rules are simple so you’ll soon get the err hang of it! Traditional hangman seems boring in comparison – pencil, paper, drawing the scaffold etc – because there is something morbidly satisfying about getting excited when your opponent guesses an incorrect letter and you get one step closer to literally hanging the man – the kind of satisfaction you just can’t get with the traditional version. To the creators of this game – we salute you. To get a piece of this 3D action visit iwantoneofthose, around £10.

The REVO-lutionary Challenge

Who else finds the Rubiks Cube a bit too complex of a challenge? We don’t...we were just asking - we’re way too intelligent to find it difficult. Saying that we must track down our Rubik’s cube which was slung behind some office furniture after a frustrating attempt to complete it! Those geniuses at Rubiks have come up with another challenge for us to addictively spend endless hours on. The Revo is an electronic game that won’t have you twiddling squares into the desired pattern; instead it tests your reactions against six solo or multi-player games - Light Speed, Rapid Recharge, Pattern Panic, Cube Catcher, Multiplayer Madness and Code Cracker -  and will challenge even the most dedicate player. You’ll need fast fingers, rapid reactions and patience as it will infuriate as well as entertain – still bearing resemblance to the original puzzle we see. Loaded with electronic wizardry, this REVO-lutionary (get it) gadget is available from iwantoneofthose for £14.95.

Towering Inferno

Your rescue mission starts here! Stimulate the brain and test your logic by finding the right path in the burning building to rescue the person trapped inside. There are 48 different challenges of varying difficulty (Starter; Junior; Expert; Master) so be warned it can get highly addictive. This is a great game for old and young alike and a good way to keep the family entertained. The pieces are magnetic so Tower of Logic – Inferno also makes an ideal traveling buddy. No batteries or refills are required for this hot new arrival so you will be able to keep yourself amused for hours.

Mix Up

Teaser - “Jill…the hill…Jack and…up…went...
Okay that one's pretty easy but there are much more fiendish ones to rearrange inside this latest game from Mattel. Start the game on one of three levels and then shuffle the balls to sort the saying! Frantic fun to be had unscrambling the jumbled phrases. There are over 300 to be untangled inside including song titles, popular movies, TV catchphrases and lyrics. Perfect post-pub party play for £25.

Built to Last

All too often we have jigsaws that kids fall in love with only to fade in colour or bend and warp into uselessness. These heavyweight contenders from MonkeyShine are bulky, brightly coloured and comprise hand crafted pieces all contained within a cotton drawstring bag. The Alphabet Rage extends beyond just maps to animals, colours and other educational puzzles. This one is priced at £36, Europe £36.50 andthe US version £39.95 (pictured on the next page).

Star Wars Stunner

The famous smugglers starship belonging to Han Solo is a 5000+ piece beast of a build but stop your drooling Star Wars Fans this limited edition Millenium Falcon isn't ready to ship until October, but at least you can prepare some diary space for this challenging construction. 33" long, 22" wide and 8" tall you'll be needing to clear some "space" to show it off too. Rotating radar dish, extending boarding ramp, laser turrets and five mini figures of Chewy, Obi-Wan, Luke, Hans and Princess Leia. £349.99 secures your sizeable spaceship, the queues will be long for this one.