Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 17 (Part Two)

By W. Eric Martin
February 17, 2008

Playroom filled the morning post, but plenty of other game companies are on hand at Toy Fair, both known and unknown. I’ll start with one of the known, then dance through a few others…

Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games was showing off titles that have already been announced on BGN:

• Lascaux – released last week
• Horus – due in March
• Bacchus’ Banquet – due in April
• Catan Dice Game – due in May
• Toledo – due on June 5

Bacchus’ Banquet looks like a fun one. Players are at a Roman orgy and represent a character who is trying to achieve a certain goal: try certain food; get other people to do something; sample every wine without passing out; and so on. The game includes nine different characters, and more than one player might share the same goal. The artwork has a great cartoony look similar to the editorial cartoonist Gerald Scarfe.

Toledo is a big box game from Martin Wallace, co-published by Kosmos in Germany. The game has a superficial resemblence to Caylus in that players start at one end of a long trail with spaces for businesses along that trail. Players are going to place businesses in their color along the path, then move their figures along the path in order to collect raw materials, forge steel, visit the tavern (which somehow gives you money), and create swords that you’ll present to Alcazar, apparently the leader of Toledo, but perhaps I’m getting my Spanish history wrong. You can also duel with players during the game to test your sword-shaping abilities.

The Green Board Game Co.
A British game company, The Green Board Game Co. had several titles on display, including some trivia games, kids games, and other titles that brought a “Next!” to my lips. Two items might be of interest to BGN readers:

1. Square Up! – This game resembles the old Rubik’s Race, and by “resembles” I mean “appears to be the exact same game.” Each player has a plastic holder with 24 pastel tiles in a 5x5 grid. The game includes two plastic shakers that hold nine cubes with colored sides. Players shake one or both shakers to create target images, then race to create the image in the shaker before the other player. Square Up! is being distributed by Mindware, and I’ll ask about the resemblance tomorrow.

2. Brain Box – This is a series of memory games for kids on different topics (The World, Animals, Dinosaurs). Players stare at an image that’s decorated with different items, then once time runs out, one player rolls a die and players try to answer the question keyed to that number. Hmm, this one sounds familiar as well. Never mind...

Ballpark Classics
I found the winner of giant dexterity game award early this year with Ballpark Classics. This two-player game, which retails for $329, resembles the arcade game of old in which an automated pitcher would fling metal balls at you while you futilely “swung” your bat and regretted wasting your quarter.

In Ballpark Classics, however, one player is the pitcher and launches metal balls through a tube at home plate. He can drop the ball, put backspin on it, try for curves, and so on. The batter tries to hit the ball and knock it through various slots in the outfield wall for singles, doubles or triples. There’s also a ramp in shallow right field, and if you hit that, you launch the ball out of the park for a home run – as yours truly did in his first swing. Did Ballpark Classics president Doug Strohm loft a gentle pitch my way? I’ll pretend you didn’t say that.

Innovention Toys

Last year, one of the pics that brought the most “ooohs” and “aaahs” was this one—

One year later, history is repeating itself—

Yes, the Tower of Kadesh, an expansion for Khet, is complete and ready to start confounding the laser lover in you. The Tower starts shipping on March 20.

GiftTRAP
Nick Kellet was showing off four expansions for his multi-award winning party game GiftTRAP. The expansions – Guys, Gals, Kids, XXX – each include 100 cards (for 200 gifts since they’re double-sided) and a small plastic gift box figure.

Each of the expansions ($10) includes two new card games that can be played with the expansion, and the GiftTrap website will contain rules for four more card games. Bruno Faidutti designed one of the games; in Inspector Cadeau ("gift" in French), players try to solve a mystery by using the gift cards as evidence of the crime. You have to create longer and longer stories incorporating all of the evidence, but if you drop a piece of evidence, you have to take all of the cards as a penalty. Rob Bartel designed Priceless, in which players assign prices to the gifts and try to place their guess in the middle of the pack in order to score.

The expansions can naturally be combined with the base game as well, which now completely family friendly with all the potentially offensive material shunted into the XXX expansion – and speaking of that saucy box (and all the expansions eally), Kellet is still interested in receiving photos and gift ideas from you, the gamer. He goes to print near the end of February, so if you hurry, your gift may be enshrined in print for all to see and envy. (You can also write to Kellet through the GiftTRAP website if you want to test the rules for the new games before the company goes to print.) The expansions will be available in June or July 2008.

U.S Playing Card Company
The makers of Bicycle playing cards are adding a couple of new card games to its line-up: Take The Train and 4-Mation. Take The Train ($7) is a simple sequencing game in which you want to empty your hand of cards. Players have to start a train line with a station card, then play cards in order from that station, although special cards allow tricky plays (well, grandma-level tricky).

4-Mation is a rummy-style game in which players are dealt a hand of cards and four cards are laid face-up as target cards. You’re trying to form runs and melds, but you must use one of the target cards in your set, then replace that card with one from your hand, giving you some measure of control over the target for future sets. Once again, special cards spice up the game play.

These games don’t sound revolutionary by any means, but the company is putting some money into marketing Take The Train. A good percentage of the buses headed to and from the Javits Center are wrapped in Take The Train advertising, along with a Toy Fair logo. One can only dream of riding the Agricola bus…

Little Big Games
This publisher from Canada had a number of mainstream games that didn’t strike me as particularly inspired – such as Bindu which is a modified Pacheesi – but the company also helps independent designers bring their games to print, and two of those raised my jaded eyebrow.

One of those titles is Sodbusters, which bills itself as the “ultimate farming game.” From the description: “Starting with a simple homestead on a single plot of land, you must build a farm that can sustain your family for generations. You choose what to plant, which livestock to raise, and where to buy land. The only thing you can’t control is the weather… and the markets… and your neighbors… and your luck.” Surely the world can use more farming games, right? Alas, I couldn’t get a better idea of the game play, so this one will remain a mystery for now.

The other game is Race of Faith, a game based on Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. The general description from the publisher makes the game play sound basic, but the imagery on the box is fairly stark and twisted. Did I take a photo of it? No, I did not. Something to do tomorrow…

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Starbucks is closing, so part three of the report – with pics of the new Risk game from Hasbro – must wait for now!

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Comments:

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Take The Train has just shown up in Target, along with Nacho Loco.  I haven’t seen 4Mation there yet. Posted by Diane Close on Feb 18, 2008 at 03:14 PM | #

Diane, 4Mation is due out in June or July and I forgot to include the date in my post. Eric Posted by W. Eric Martin on Feb 18, 2008 at 10:09 PM | #

Whoops, Diane! I retract the comment about 4-Mation being out this summer as the game is already appearing in stores. The rep did give a release date of June or July, but given the blurry state of many people after seeing a few thousand faces, I can understand the confusion. Eric Posted by W. Eric Martin on Mar 9, 2008 at 02:33 PM | #

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