Chris Kovac: 2010 Canadian Toy and Hobby Fair

As another January ends, it means a trip for me to the Canadian Toy and Hobby Fair. This year brought a few changes for the show, such as moving from downtown Toronto to near the airport (to accommodate out-of-town participants), tying the show to the much larger Toronto Gift Show (CGTA), and unfortunately moving the media day to Monday, meaning I miss getting my juice and cookies.

Ideally in the long run, the change in location will help the show, which has been shrinking for the last couple of years. The show had about 50 booths but since most of these distribute or manufacture toys rather than board games, hunting for games was much easier than at larger shows. Buried among the dolls, plastic models (flying helicopters seem to be all the rage right now) and plush toys this year, I found seven games which might be of interest to gamers. Please note some of these games might have already been released, but they are new to me and are most probably being distributed for the first time in Canada. The games are:

1. The Lazy Bowler, from Dory Dan

This was a beautifully crafted prototype for a five-pin, mechanical miniature bowling game, complete with pin setting and ball return. The Lazy Bowler was built by Dory Dan, a rather nice gentleman from Gander, Newfoundland, who has a successful business making musical spoons (over 100,000 sold). Whether this coffee table-sized design is viable as a commercial game is up to you dear reader to decide, but it is sure pretty to look at. If anybody is interested in producing or developing the game, please contact the game developer.

Arlekino is an abstract checkers-like game by Bernard Tavitian of Blokus fame. In this game the goal is to have the most of your color on the board by the end of the game.  Each turn you can jump one tile over another tile or tiles using checker moves. Each tile you jump is eliminated from the game board. Since most tiles have more than one color on them, you have to balance eliminating some of your color in order to eliminate more of your opponents’ colors. The game seemed to play okay and it is due out in May 2010.

The most innovative game I saw at the show was Matocto, a cross between Scrabble and dominoes in which you are trying to get rid of your tiles before your opponent does in order to win. Each tile has a number, the four basic math operators, and an equal sign. To play your tiles, you must create valid math operations using one or more tiles already in the playing area, so you can get rid of multiple tiles in one turn if you do your math right. I would definitely look up this game if you are a fan of abstract games or are looking for a game to teach your kids math. Matocto is being produced by Marek Czekanski, a local, first-time game designer, and the game comes in a two-player introductory version and four-player standard version. The game should retail for $25-$40; Czekanski did not provide any firm release date for the game.

The best way to sum up this game is a PitchCar variant. Instead of flicking wooden disks with a car-racing theme, you are flicking a patented “Zball” around the track with a bicycle-racing theme.  The ZBall is a plastic ball with microballs in it which make it move more like a disk than a ball. As described on the Bisikle website, “[The Zball] is a sonic-welded plastic marble filled up with about 10 iron micro-beads.... It can stop in hills and keeps a very stable trajectory. Shots can be extremely precise. The hardcore gamers will tame the effects of the marble. It can even turn by itself!”

Each player flicks the ball from the current position of his bicycle rider, then puts the rider at the new position where the ball stops. You then pass the ball to the next rider behind you on the track. The components are really well done, and the track could quite easily be use for PitchCar. The game currently comes in a thirty-piece, two-player set and a 57-piece, four-player set. The game has a number of expansion tracks allowing you buy extra balls, riders and tracks. It should retail in the $30-$50 range and looks like a nice complement to PitchCar.

A collectible soccer trick-taking game. You need two decks to play, and each nationality has a different mix of cards. The basic idea is to score the most goals with efficient use of your cards before your deck runs out. On your turn, you play an attack (goal attempt) card or special card and your opponent attempts to play a higher value defense card to block it. If he cannot, you score a goal.  It looks to be a decent, though light 15-30 minute filler and the differing nationalities allow some variability in play. You might look into it if you are a soccer fan or in the market for a quick filler.

Kewbz, another title from this prolific producer of large wooden games and puzzles, is similar in play to Pueblo but without the Tetris-like pieces. You are trying to gain control of area by placing more blocks than your opponent. Each time you gain control, you get to put a block of your colour over an opponent’s block, creating towers of various sizes (up to five blocks high). When all blocks have been placed, whoever has the most pieces visible by looking down at the board wins. An okay abstract, but produced with the usual high quality from this company.

This oddly-named light kid/family filler uses the rock/paper/scissor game. At the start of the game, you get a puzzle centre and a set of puzzle pieces of which you draw three to form a hand; each piece shows a hockey sweater and a rock, paper or scissors symbol. You then duel against your opponent, and whoever wins gets to add both pieces to his central puzzle piece, if he can. The first person to surround the central piece and “complete” his puzzle wins. You can also play for rounds or for points if you wish.

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