Cranium
Hullabaloo
Cranium, Inc.
Borrowing a little from Musical Chairs and a bit from Simon Sez, Cranium demonstrates again that they know how to have a good time. Your child will be jumping, hopping, twirling and most of all having a blast as they follow the spoken instructions guiding them from shapes to colors and more. Hullabaloo is great for groups, the larger the crazier, so spread out and get ready to host a heck of a hullabaloo.
Recommended Ages: 4 to 6 Retail Price: $24.95
Bucket
Blast
Lolo Company
Bucket Blast is a brilliant concept that explodes out of the box with a huge assortment of fun active play that is perfect for family playtime as well as school or playgroup gatherings. You'll find a bevy of buckets, balls, beanbags and blindfolds here. No matter what the weather Bucket Blast is at the ready with a host of games that encourage everyone to run, chase and toss indoors or out.
Recommended Ages: 6 and Up Retail Price: $29.95
Scooby-Doo
Group Photo
USAopoly
Hidden within this colorful Scooby Doo themed tin box is an ingenious twist on the game of gin. That probably sounds as surprising as it was to our testers who gradually recognized the similarities. The object here is to try to build the perfect grouping of cards based on a visual clue. There are great twists added in such as being able to change an opponent’s card in the middle of the game and thus his strategy. Using the characters from Scooby Doo is a stroke of genius that kids loved. What's more is that they learned the game quickly and played it over and over.
Recommended Ages: 6 and Up Retail Price: $14.95
Fish
Eat Fish
Out of the Box Publishing
Here is a board game that is deceptively simple, but offers so many levels of higher thinking, plotting and strategy that any aged child or parent will be gobbled up by its ingenuity. Using the Fish Eat Fish concept found in nature you try to build a larger fish and gobble up food (otherwise known as your opponents). The real strategizing comes into play when everyone plays their hand of cards. Everyone starts with the same cards, making it all about the way to play your hand that determines the winner. Kind of a metaphor for life, isn't it?
Recommended Ages: 8 and Up Retail Price: $19.99
Simply
Suspects
Spy Alley Partners
Simply Suspects is a game that is brilliantly conceived and executed. We guarantee that the wheels of your brain will be spinning and whirring as you play not only to win, but to trip up your opponents. Using deductive reasoning, process of elimination and not a small amount of cunning, you will be challenged and entertained on your next family game night.
Recommended Ages: 8 and Up Retail Price: $24.95
Cranium
Conga
Cranium, Inc.
It's hard to put into words just how much we loved this fabulous family game. By now you'd think we would have learned to expect nothing less from Cranium. Your job is to get other players to answer challenges correctly. You may be called on to act or even sculpt clay to do this, but the reward comes in the form conga line dancers for you and the correct guesser. This scoring system is nothing short of genius, its like being at a wedding, when the line becomes a circle on your card, you win! Lots of fun and laughs are guaranteed.
Recommended Ages: 8 to 88 Retail Price: $19.95
Palabra
Palabra Enterprises
Some games inadvertently borrow ideas or themes from other games; some use it as a selling point, that would be Palabra. Sold as a Word, Poker, Rummy Card game, it does all that and lives up to the challenge. Players try to play their hand to construct words, runs of letters like D-E-F-G-H, or in colors. Each play results in a score that isn't safe because players can add onto, adjust or borrow. The game is also easy to pack up and take on your next trip.
Recommended Ages: 9 and Up Retail Price: $16.00
Jargon
USAopoly
Turning Scrabble on its ear by bending all the rules, Jargon is a liberating experience for those word playing fanatics who felt constrained by the rules of its more famous predecessor. The board features a familiar if slightly skewed grid for placing letter tiles. The twist is that you get points by making longer words, no matter what the letters AND you can use slang, abbreviations, names, whatever. Game play is also much faster.
Recommended Ages: 10 and Up Retail Price: $29.95
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Last Update: November 12, 2003