Rory's Story Cubes is a pocket-sized creative story generator, providing hours of imaginative play for all ages. There are infinite ways to play with Rory's Story Cubes - Try them as a party game or ice-breaker, for literacy development, speaking and listening skills, creative inspiration, a mental workout or problem solving. Anyone can become a great storyteller and there are no wrong answers. Simply roll the cubes and let the pictures spark your imagination.

Features:

• 1 or more players
• Reinforces artistic expression
• Ages 8 and up
• Playing time: 15 minutes

 

Mattel Angry Birds Knock On Wood Game - Mattel W2793.

Our tactile wooden block game combines the logic and strategy of Set® with the creative multi-maneuver game play of Scrabble®. Easy-to-learn rules mean you'll be creating columns and rows of matching colors and shapes in no time! Look for opportunities to score big by placing a tile that touches multiple pieces and matches both shapes and colors; the player with the most points wins. 108 blocks.

Perplexus is a can't-put-down challenge!! Flip, Twist and spin the transparent sphere to move the ball along the numbered path working with and against gravity. Be careful, faster than the blink of an eye your ball can fall off course and you'll have to begin again. Fun for the whole family with over 100 barriers to master.

• Recommended Ages: 6 years & up

One of the most successful games of all time, Settlers of Catan is a trading and building game set in the mythical world of Catan. Players roll dice to determine which resources are generated each round and then must strategically trade those resources with other players to get what they need to build their settlements, cities, and roads. With multiple ways to gain victory points and a board that changes in every play, Settlers of Catan is a game that can be played hundreds of different ways. The base of a hugely successful franchise, with multiple engaging expansions, Settlers is the core game of many collections, and is a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends. For 3 to 4 players.

The Settlers of Catan from Mayfair Games is an award-winning strategy game where players collect resources and use them to build roads, settlements and cities on their way to victory. The board itself is variable, making each game a little different from the next. Each round of The Settlers of Catan is intended to keep three or four players ages 10 and above engaged for up to 90 minutes.

The game map changes every time for an endless variety of play. View larger.

Settlers of Catan engages both children and adults, garnering best-seller status in both Germany and the US. View larger.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Engaging strategy game that's different each time you play The Bad: Requires three or four players In a Nutshell: The Settlers of Catan is fun, easy to learn, and keeps advanced players on their toes At a Glance Ages: 10 and up Requires: Three or four players

On the Road to Settlement
The game rules and almanac booklet sets out four pages of guidelines for getting started. Don't worry, the rules are straightforward and the four pages include plenty of illustrations. There's a starting map that shows a well-balanced set-up for beginners to follow and directions that allow more advanced players to lay out the map of the island at random. You'll have to pop the die-cut components of the game out of their cardboard holders before you play your first game.

The almanac portion of the booklet is laid out alphabetically, so while playing you can find answers to specific questions quickly. Useful entries remind you exactly what role pieces like the robber play, how actions like maritime trade work, and how to set up the board or finish the game.

Exploring and Developing Catan
The board consists of 19 terrain hexes surrounded by the ocean. Each type of terrain produces a different type of resource: brick, wool, ore, grain or lumber. There's also a desert hex that produces no resources. As the game progresses, players use resources to build roads along the edges of these hexes and settlements or cities on the intersections where three hexes meet. Each player begins the game with two settlements and two roads.

Each player's roll of the dice causes certain hexes to produce resources, which you collect if you have a settlement on one of them. On your turn, you'll use various combinations of the resources you've acquired to build new roads and settlements, upgrade settlements to cities, or purchase development cards. The ability to trade resources with other players adds a new level of strategy and ensures that the game includes lots of interaction between players. You can also trade without worrying about other players using an unfavorable maritime trade rate. Elements including a robber piece that lets you steal from other players and a variety of development cards add intrigue to the game.

The objective of The Settlers of Catan is to be the first one who collects 10 victory points. Each settlement is worth one victory point and each city is worth two victory points. You can also earn victory points by holding the "Longest Road" card, the "Largest Army" card, or special victory point development cards.

Best-Selling Game of the Year
It's easy to see why The Settlers of Catan has been recognized as a best-selling Game of the Year in both Germany and the U. S. We found this game to be fun and engaging for both children and adults, and the variable nature of the playing field really made us want to play again and again. When we started pausing to contemplate our opponents' strategy and factoring the probability of different dice rolls into our moves, the game sometimes took longer than expected, but we were so engrossed we didn't even notice until it was all over.

Due to the widespread popularity of the original game, several expansion sets (sold separately) are available that allow you to explore new aspects of the game or add more players. The only downside to this game is that you need to have either three or four players to play, so it's great that expansion sets are available that will allow you to add players.

What's in the Box
Six sea frame pieces, 19 terrain hexes, nine harbor pieces, 18 circular number tokens, 126 game cards, 16 cities, 20 settlements, 60 roads, two dice, a robber and a rules and almanac booklet.

Truly Amazing. There is always one, and only one, matching symbol between any 2 cards in this game. Spot it and you win. There are only 8 symbols on each card, but 2 matching symbols may be different sizes. This challenge increases as new cards are quickly revealed in this fast-paced game. Spot it contains four fast, challenging mini-party games in which all players play simultaneously. The Tower, The Well, The Hot Potato, and The Poisoned Gift can be played in any order, or you can just play your favorites. The bottom line is, have fun. Designed for all ages and packaged in a travel-size tin, Spot it. has colorful, appealing symbols on high-quality, glossy card stock. With fast action and endless fun, this unique card game is sure to be a splash at your next party and to become a family favorite. Spot it develops visual perception and matching skills. It supports quick mental processing and sharpens cognitive skills in a fun atmosphere. The symbols are universal and easy to remember but the variety of imagery will challenge any eye.

• For 2-8 players
• Takes 10-20 minute to play
• Contents: 55 cards and illustrated rules
• Travel size
• Recommended ages: 6 years & up

In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can "buy" as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end. You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn

Rory?s Story Cubes®: Actions is the first expansion set for the Rory?s Story Cubes® range. This time we have created 54 unique icons (or picto-verbs?) that depict the most important verbs (action words) to be learned in second language development. Rory?s Story Cubes®: Actions does not require Rory?s Story Cubes® in order to use them. They can be played on their own straight out of the box or mixed with other sets of Rory?s Story Cubes®.

October 2, 1900 was 28 years to the day that noted London eccentric, Phileas Fogg accepted and then won a $20,000 bet that he could travel "Around the World in 80 Days". Now at the dawn of the century it was time for a new "impossible journey." Some old friends have gathered to celebrate Fogg's impetuous and lucrative gamble and to propose a new wager of their own. The stakes: $1 million -- and the winner takes all competition. The objective: to see who can travel by rail to the most cities in North America - in just 7 days. The journey begins immediately...

Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure where players collect cards of various types of train cars than enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. Includes a detailed board, game cards, help cards, rules, train miniatures and more.

Now five to six players can explore and settle Catan! The 5-6 Player Expansion for The Settlers of Catan allows you to add up to two more opponents without sacrificing ease of play. Designed for five or six players, it adds even more drama to the award-winning game of discovery, settlement, conflict, and commerce. You must have The Settlers of Catan board game in order to use this extension, sold separately.

Angry Birds On Thin Ice Game* Save the Angry Birds! The second installment of the exciting skill and action game based on the bestselling phone app, Angry Birds On Thin Ice, lets players build, launch and destroy with fun new features, including pigs with helmets, breakable ice block building pieces, an exploding TNT box and a new large red bird character. Players draw a card and build the structure shown before their opponents launch Angry Birds in an attempt to knock down the structureand the pigsto win points. Includes 2 Angry Birds, 3 green pigs, 1 slingshotstyle catapult launcher, structure pieces and mission cards. Ages 5 and older.

Rummikub is played with a set of 106 elegant tiles that are as durable as they are easy to handle. Like Rummy, players build melds of run of the same colors - Red 7, Red 8 and Red 9 - or sets of the same numbers - Blue 8, Red 8 and Black 8. If you're looking for a fast action game where the outcome is undecided until the last play and has a never-ending variety of strategies and play situations, you'll love Rummikub! For 2 to 4 players. Game includes: 106 engraved plastic tiles, 4 sturdy two-tier racks, 8 rack holders, and instructions.

It's hard to find family games that are fun and challenging for both kids and adults, but Rummikub fills the bill on all counts. The rules are simple, the game is varied, and the fun is free for everyone! This version of Rummikub has 106 plastic tiles with numbers in different colors and four dark-blue plastic tile racks to hold the tiles during play. The object is similar to rummy card games, combining your tiles in runs (consecutive numbers in the same color) or sets (groups of the same number). The game rolls along at a fast clip, with wild-card joker tiles adding a bit of luck to the strategy needed to win. Get this game out the next time the power goes off and show the kids some old-fashioned fun. --Marcie Bovetz

Race around town solving mysteries! How many objects can you find? Join Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm on a fun-filled race around Busytown to solve mysteries and find hidden objects. Drive through lively city streets, an activity-filled farm, an action-packed airport, and a bustling harbor full of silly boats. There's much to discover on this gigantic, colorful game board that's over six feet long! As players race through Busytown, they'll team up every time someone lands on Goldbug-leaving no corner of the board unexplored as they discover hidden objects and race toward Picnic Island. With hundreds of objects to find this game provides hours of fun, while building confidence each time a child says, "I found it!"

Blokus develops logic and spatial perception while kids learn to be tactical. Players take turns placing pieces on their board, each starting from their corner. Each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners. The goal is to get rid of all your pieces. The game ends when all players are blocked from laying down any more of their pieces. Includes one game board with 400 squares, 84 game pieces in four bright translucent colors, and an instruction guide.

Fun for both kids and adults, Blokus is a strategy board game that challenges spatial thinking. Bright colors and simple rules make it ideal for ages five and up, but adults will certainly be engrossed by this unique and challenging game.

Not Your Average Board Game
Blokus encourages creative thinking and has received a Mensa award for promoting healthy brain activity. The goal of this game is for players to fit all of their pieces onto the board. When placing a piece it may not lie adjacent to the player's other pieces, but must be placed touching at least one corner of their pieces already on the board. The player who gets rid of all of their tiles first is the winner and strategic thinking helps as you block moves from your opponent. Blokus sometimes comes to an end because there are no more possible moves.

Four players make this abstract game especially fast and exciting; however, it can be just as fun for two or three players. Blokus has come up with a number of different ways to play the game to make it more thrilling when playing with less than four players. Draft Blokus allows a player to use more than one color and Reverse Blokus reverses the entire game so that the person who places the least amount of tiles on the board is the winner. It can even be played in a solitaire version when one player attempts to place all of their pieces in a single sitting. A game of Blokus typically lasts a 30 minutes. As a practical feature, raised edges on the board help keep the tiles in place and allow convenient clean-up. This game includes 84 pieces in four vibrant colors, an instruction guide, and one gameboard with 400 squares.

Blokus is simple to understand, but the game's complexity is revealed shortly after everyone begins to play. It can be addictive, even for those not normally into abstract games. Blokus is a catalyst for spatial thinking, as players form images in their mind before placing the pieces on the board. Children and adults can play together for hours of competitive family fun. As Europe's 2003 Game of the Year, Blokus is adored by many and even played in professional tournaments.

What's in the Box
84 pieces in four colors, gameboard with 400 squares, and an instruction guide.

Once a piece has been placed on the board it can't be moved, so plan your moves carefully.

Adding to the game's challenges, each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners.

Spice up your family game night with the Hedbanz Board Game, a fun, fast-paced, and simple question game that everyone aged 6 and up can enjoy. In a group of two to six players, you'll draw an identity card for an animal, food, or common object but with one catch--everyone but you will see the card, displayed by the headband on your forehead. The goal is to deduce who or what you are by asking the players questions before the clock runs out.

Hedbanz Board Game Ages: 6 years and up What We Think Fun factor: Durability: Ease of assembly: Educational factor: Novelty factor: The Good: Simple gameplay invites humor and creative critical thinking The Challenging: Only three categories of identity In a Nutshell: An easy-to-play and fast-paced question game for everyone

Hedbanz is fun, playful game that encourages communication and is sure to make you laugh. View larger.

I'm a tomato! Have fun discovering what you are with Hedbanz. View larger.

A Fast-Paced, Kid-friendly Game with a Simple Concept
The Hedbanz game comes with a stack of picture cards, each featuring an animal, food, or common object. The categories are few and simple, but this allows everyone, even young children, to get in on the family fun. And because you'll be racing against the one-minute sand-clock timer, each round moves quickly, ramping up your energy and challenging your wit.

This board game comes with everything you'll need to play. Your group of two to six players will be strapping on headbands, asking funny questions, and making wild guesses without complicated setups and rules.

Ask Questions to Guess Your Identity

Sample questions.

Playing Hedbanz is simple. After dealing one card and three chips to each player, take your card and place it in your adjustable headband without peeking. When your turn arrives, ask each player a question about who, or what, you are ("Am I a food?"). If you get stuck, the sample questions card offers tips on the types of questions you might ask.

When you get a yes, your questions will become more specific ("Am I cooked?" or "Did Dad serve me for dinner last night?") until you're ready to guess the answer ("I am spaghetti!"). For each identity you guess correctly, you'll discard one of your chips. If you give up, you'll collect a chip from the chip bank and be dealt a new card. The first player to get rid of all her chips is the Hedbanz winner.

Educational Gameplay for Kids
Hedbanz is not only fun, but inherently educational. Kids will flex their deductive reasoning skills with the game's simple question-and-answer premise. By making connections and coming up with questions that will lead to answers, kids will also practice creative critical thinking skills.

What's in the Box
Hedbanz rule sheet, 74 cards, 24 chips, 6 headbands, and sand-clock timer.

Hedbanz Game The Hedbanz game comes with a stack of picture cards, each featuring an animal, food, or common object. The categories are few and simple, but this allows everyone, even young children, to get in on the family fun. And because you'll be racing against the one-minute sand-clock timer, each round moves quickly, ramping up your energy and challenging your wit. Fast, Easy and Fun to play for Kids and the whole Family Educational encourages deductive reasoning skills. One Game per Box

Four diseases have broken out in the world and it is up to a team of specialists in various fields to find cures for these diseases before mankind is wiped out. Players must work together, playing to their characters' strengths and planning their strategy of eradication before the diseases overwhelm the world with ever-increasing outbreaks. A truly cooperative game where you all win or you all lose.

Quick! Find a state that ends with the letter A. Now find one that borders Tennessee. Have fun learning about the United States in this madcap game of observation and quick reflexes. Collect cards by matching states to a Scramble card. Or "Go the Distance" and find a state's closest neighbor. Whoever scrambles to match and collect the most state cards wins. Includes 50 scramble cards, 50 state cards, 4 U.S. maps, and rules.

Quelf is the game that gives random a new name! Use your creativity and imagination to answer crazy questions and perform ridiculous stunts. There's only one rule - OBEY THE CARD! If a player obeys their card they get to move ahead! You'll laugh until you cry with this outrageous, unpredictable, and fun filled party game. Be the first person to cross the finish line and you win! Enjoy a non-stop hilarious adventure with Quelf!