Best Bets 2007 - The Canadian Toy Testing Council

MOBILE SYMPHONY LIGHT & MOTION

TINY LOVE
0 - 4 months

KNOCK KNOCK BLOCKS, I.Q. BABY

SMALL WORLD TOYS
6-24 months

SMART SPLASH MEMORY MATCH CLAMS

LEARNING RESOURCES
2 to 3 years

LOAD & SORT RECYCLING CENTER

EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS
3 to 5 years

K'NEX INDUSTRIES, INC.
3 to 7 years

CHICKEN SOCKS CLOTHESPIN CUTIES

KLUTZ INC.
4 years and up

RAVENSBURGER GERMANY
4 to 9 years

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Put on your thinking caps and test your memory skills! This game adds a new twist to the old classic concentration. The game includes nine firemen cards which are plain on one side and red, yellow, blue or white on the other, nine straw fire cards and a fire truck shaker containing eight red, yellow and blue balls. At the beginning of play, the nine firemen cards are placed face down on the playing surface and remain in the same order during the entire game. A player shakes the fire truck and then attempts to match the cards on the playing surface in the same order as each colour displayed on the shaker. When an incorrect card is turned over, a fire breaks out in one of the straw cards and that player's turn is over. Play continues until someone turns all the cards over correctly or until all the straw is on fire. This game is so much fun that Mom and Dad may sneak in a game after the children are in bed!

DINO ADVENTURE, MEGA RIG

MATTEL CANADA INC.
4 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Enter the land of dinosaurs! This 31-piece set includes a roaring dinosaur, two small action figures, a second smaller dinosaur and pieces to build one large adventure vehicle or thirty different little ones. The trucks are easy to build and stay together during play. Children spend hours building and imagining exciting encounters in the world of dinosaurs! NOTE: Three button cell batteries are included.

MAGIC CASTLE
and 5 ACCESSORIES

#4250, 4252, 4253, 4254, 4256, 4257

PLAYMOBIL CANADA INC.
4 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Is there a princess on your gift list wanting a castle? You need look no longer! This set contains a beautiful pink and white 57 cm x 54 cm castle with four rooms and two balconies. For accessories, there are a king and queen, clothing for the regal pair, magnificent golden furniture, and a horse. If you would like to enhance the contents of the castle, the following furniture and figure sets (sold separately) are available: bedroom (#4253); bathroom (#4252); nursery (#4254); garden (#4257); and, a throne room (#4256). This wonderful set will inspire your little princess to spend many happy hours in an imaginary land where dreams really do come true!

PLAYMOBIL CANADA INC.
4 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Family camping at its best! This realistic camper van and family of four have everything they need to drive across Canada. Moreover, it doesn't take up a lot of space, making it easy to park! There are over 50 accessories including bicycles, lawn chairs, dishes, cutlery, food, table, cell phone, propane tank and even a fire extinguisher. Best of all, there is ample space in the camper to allow for neat and clean storage. More often, girls are drawn to this camper, enjoying many imaginary adventures on their own or with friends.

PLAYMOBIL CANADA INC.
4 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Business is blooming! This garden center has everything needed for "budding" entrepreneurs and shopping enthusiasts. Arrange and rearrange the greenhouse, merchandise display areas and signage. Customers find it difficult to leave without purchasing something from the impressive array of plants, seedlings (some of which "grow" when watered), tools and accessories. The set also includes one staff member and customers with money to spend. Children enjoy the floral theme, carting bags of soil, loading and unloading the pallet and ringing up the purchases on the cash register. Lots of imaginative play value.

GREEN HOUSE and
PLANT BEDS WITH SHED

PLAYMOBIL CANADA INC.
4 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

These gardening theme sets provide hours of imaginative fun. The first set includes a 13x18 cm greenhouse with sliding doors. Children can create and plant a garden to fill the flowerpots for selling to customers who may drop by. The second set includes a garden shed with tools and accessories, including a hose (the hose does not actually work with water) and three flowerbeds. One filled with modeling clay so children can rake the soil and plant flowers. There are two additional beds in which the flowers wilt until children add water. Both sets come with one moveable figure and can be combined.

PIRATES HIDE & SEEK
THE LOST AND FOUND GAME

SMART GAMES
5 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Logic and fun all loaded into one! This challenging yet straightforward solitaire game includes a board with pictures of pirates, islands and ships, four puzzle pieces and a book of challenges and solutions. Each challenge displays pictures of some of the objects on the board. The goal is to use the four puzzle pieces to cover the board so that the only remaining, visible objects are the ones on the board. Children (and their parents) are enthralled with this game! It may look easy, but with each new challenge, the difficulty increases. It's a great quiet time activity and everything stores neatly in the board for easy transportation. A great addition to the family game collection.

FOXMIND CANADA
5 years and up

DIDI & DITTO FIRST GRADE,
THE WOLF KING

KUTOKA INTERACTIVE
5 to 7 years

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Children can play this game as Didi (a girl) or Ditto (a boy). Their mission is to save the valley from the wolves by completing two different activities in eight different areas. There are three levels of difficulty to challenge the children. The activities are fun and educational, and the graphics are exceptional. Children love playing this game and parents recognize the excellent educational content. NOTE: Can be played on PC or MAC. Minimum requirements for PC include Pentium II, 128MB RAM 12x CD-ROM and 560 MB hard drive space.

EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS
6 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Four in a row - that's all you need to win this game! This straightforward two-player game takes ten minutes to play. The game includes a brightly coloured board with a five-by-five grid, four pegs and a series of roads for each player, along with easy-to-understand instructions. Players take turns adding roads and moving their pegs along them, until they have four in a row. Fast moving strategic fun for all ages! NOTE: Instructions are in English only.

THINK FUN
8 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Magnificent, magnetic Sudoku! This game features a magnetic game board, 25 moveable magnetic tokens in five different colours, numbered one to five, 48 challenge cards, and an answer booklet. Each challenge card includes the set up for a 5x5 Sudoku puzzle. To begin this intriguing game, players attach a card to the magnetic board and add the starting tokens. Enthusiasm and curiosity carry players through the many levels of challenges which increase in difficulty as the game progresses. Once all of the puzzles have been solved, additional challenges can be downloaded from www.ThinkFun.com/sudoku5x5 . Players of all ages enthusiastically participate in this portable, fun-filled set.

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!

KLUTZ INC.
8 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Are you a chocolate chip cookie or a gingersnap? This book contains 65 fun personality quizzes to help you get to know your friends and family as never before! The book is colourful and amusing and there is pen and paper provided so the book can be used repeatedly. A surefire hit with the pre-teen set!

EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS
8 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Have you covered all the angles? In this game for two to four, players are challenged to find a way to place triangular pieces with sides of different colours on a triangular board in order to match as many coloured sides as possible. The tiles are numbered and each time a player lays a tile, the points earned are equal to the number on the tile multiplied by the number of matching sides. Plotting how to land on the bonus squares of double, triple, or even quadruple points adds excitement and a great deal of strategy to the game. The game is easy to learn and can be played over and over again. The self-contained storage box makes it perfect for travelling.

GAME WAVE LETTER ZAP!

ZAPIT GAMES
8 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

Hi-tech "spellbinding" fun! This game is played on a Game Wave player which connects to the family television. Each player has a remote control. The cartridge includes two games: letter tag and letter cube. In letter tag, all players play on one grid of random letters. Using their remote control units, players steal letters from their opponents to create words; points are awarded for each complete word. In letter cube, each player has their own smaller grid of letters to spell as many words as possible in the available time. A game can last three, five, or ten minutes and the player with the most points at the end of the game wins. Children and parents love the competitive, addictive nature of this game. It's so much fun, no one wants to stop! NOTE: A Game Wave (sold separately) is required to play this game.

KLUTZ INC.
8 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

A craft kit with style! This kit includes an excellent book about fashion design, along with three pages of stencils, 20 sheets of double-sided paper in a wide variety of colours and styles, ribbons, beads, sequins and glue. The book contains valuable information about mixing colours, patterns and accessorizing, along with suggestions about what to do with the completed crafts. Would-be designers start with the stencils to trace and cut out fashions and accessories from the coloured paper. Final touches are added with the ribbons, beads, and sequins. There are even 20 miniature hangers included with the book for displaying finished creations. Children with an interest in clothes and fashion are charmed with this set. The abundance of supplies makes this a great group activity and additional paper and hangers can be ordered from the company. The only limit to this craft is your young designer's imagination!

GIZA THE PYRAMID
BUILDING GAME

FUN FACTORY GAMES
9 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

In this strategy game for two to six, players compete to build pyramids filled with treasures. The game consists of numbered tiles with negative or positive values: stone tiles (+ or -), treasure tiles (+), and sphinx tiles (+). There are also demolish tiles used for destruction and scarab tiles used for blocking. Each player starts the game with four randomly selected building tiles and a base on which to build three pyramids and a sphinx. Players take turns placing their tiles on their own card or on another player's card. A pyramid is complete when a negative or positive tile with a value of one is placed on top. As soon as one player has completed three pyramids, the game is over. The player with the most points wins. Strategy comes into play when players must balance the temptation to earn points by building bigger and better pyramids against quickly completing their pyramids to avoid having negative cards placed on their pyramids by other players. An excellent and exciting game which becomes more challenging each time.

IMAGINE THIS COMPANY INC.
10 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

What happened to Reuben the warrior surrounded by hyenas in the steel factory? If it's your turn, you better think of something and make it good - your future as a scene writer could depend on it! This family game for two to eighteen players includes a board, a spinner, a timer, a score pad and cards in five different categories: characters, props, challenges, friends or foe and settings. Each card includes a totally random person, place, thing or statement from the category. Everyone starts the game with a character and a challenge card. Players then travel around the board collecting additional cards until they land on a Pitch Place. Each time a player lands on a Pitch Place, he must invent a story (the wilder the better) which includes all the cards he has collected. This is great family game; it spans several generations and it brings out the natural performer in everyone. Families laugh and have such a good time, they often forget about the score!

LEGO CANADA INC.
12 years and up

***BEST BET AWARD 2007***

This is a must for serious robotics fans! This incredible Lego set contains 577 pieces for constructing robots along with an electronic brain (the NXT) and three motors. As well, there are four sensors: an ultrasonic sensor which measures distance from an object and reacts to movement; a touch sensor which feels and reacts to objects; a sound sensor which detects and reacts to sound; and a light sensor which detects light and colour. Also included are a USB cable and a software package to write programs for the robot to follow. When children begin the initial construction of the robot, the NXT must be included; they can then add any of all of the sensors and parts and program the robot to perform using the NXT unit. Advanced users can program a more complex set of actions and reactions which can be downloaded to the brain unit via a USB or blue tooth connection. Once the robots are built and programmed using the NXT, they can perform many actions such as picking up and putting down objects, moving forward and backward, turning, and speaking. For children with an interest and understanding of basic robotics and computer programming, the possibilities are endless! NOTE: Computer requirements include a 880 MHz processor, windows XP professional or home edition with service pack 2 or a PowerPC G3, G4 or G5 processor MAC with 600 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 300Mb hard disk space and an available USB connection or compatible Blue tooth adaptor. Requires 6 AA batteries.


2007 Best Bet Awards

The toys are listed according to age. All award winners are of equal value.

MOBILE SYMPHONY LIGHT & MOTION #29060 46P A TINY LOVE 0 - 4 months

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* It's poetry in motion! This appealing mobile of lights, attractive dangling toys and liquid effects produces soothing nature sounds and musical selections from Bach and Mozart. The mobile operates in three separate modes: movement only; lights and movement; and, lights, sounds and movement. The combination of soft music and entrancing toys fascinate, charm and calm baby. NOTE: Requires 3C batteries. Unit has auto shut off and volume control.

KNOCK KNOCK BLOCKS, I.Q. BABY #7068300 SMALL WORLD TOYS 6-24 months
*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Better than the average block! This set of eight 10 cm square and eight triangular blocks is made of foam with colourful textured fabric covers. Each square block has a peek-a-boo door or window with a person behind it on one side and a colourful neighbourhood scene on another side. Babies enjoy the textures and colours and the jingles and jangles. The blocks are easy to stack and the peek-a-boo doors, neighbourhood scenes and triangular roof pieces keep toddlers entertained and stimulate their young imaginations. Everything stores conveniently in a handled zippered bag for easy carrying.

SMART SPLASH MEMORY MATCH CLAMS #LER 7304 LEARNING RESOURCES 2 to 3 years

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Splish splash fun in the bath! This set includes six brightly coloured clams and two starfish, two fish and two crabs hidden inside the clams. By looking for matching pairs inside the clams, children improve their memory skills and eye-hand coordination. A great toy which can go anywhere in the included mesh bag!

LOAD & SORT RECYCLING CENTER #LC99379 RC2 3 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Fun with recycling! This add-on set for Thomas Wooden Railway System by Learning Curve (sold separately) comes with 20 cm of magnetic track, two train cars, a load and sort center and lots of waste ready to be recycled. Children load up the train with recycling material and drive it to the center where, at the flip of a switch, paper, glass and cans are sorted into the appropriate bins. Sounds and lights add to the experience and children, particularly Thomas fans, are happy to sort and load all day long. NOTE: Requires 3AA batteries.

E-Z AS ABC #EI-3150 EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS 3 to 5 years

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* This set includes 52 colourful puzzle pieces, two for each letter of the alphabet. Each piece has an upper or lower case letter on one side and half of a colourful picture of a common object beginning with that letter on the other. There are also 26 word cards with the name and a picture of each object, an alphabet strip, a vocabulary list and instructions for playing seven different games with the pieces. This is a great set for teaching upper and lower case letter recognition along with sounds, basic spelling and vocabulary. A wonderful learning tool for young pre-readers.

DINO PALS #85135 K'NEX INDUSTRIES, INC. 3 to 7 years

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Roaring fun for everyone! This 52-piece building set features a wide variety of colourful shapes and sizes to build incredibly bizarre dinosaurs. Building is only half the fun because once completed, these models are sturdy enough for play. The set comes with detailed easy-to-follow instructions and can be incorporated with other K'Nex kits. When play is over, everything stores well in the included carrying case. Wonderful construction fun for little dinosaur lovers!

CHICKEN SOCKS CLOTHESPIN CUTIES ISBN 1-59174-191-2 KLUTZ INC. 4 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Make a cutie as cute as you! This book includes directions and supplies to make three pocket sized dolls from the included wooden clothes pegs. Take a wooden clothespin, a silk flower petal, some sequins, yarn and cardboard cutouts. Glue them together and what do you get? Besides squeals of delight - a little girl's dream has come true! Children are thrilled with the craft and the lovely finished product, a cute little friend to carry in your purse or your pocket. The fun doesn't have to stop when the clothespins run out; just get more supplies and use the well-written book for reference.

ALARME #5709600015 RAVENSBURGER GERMANY 4 to 9 years

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Put on your thinking caps and test your memory skills! This game adds a new twist to the old classic concentration. The game includes nine firemen cards which are plain on one side and red, yellow, blue or white on the other, nine straw fire cards and a fire truck shaker containing eight red, yellow and blue balls. At the beginning of play, the nine firemen cards are placed face down on the playing surface and remain in the same order during the entire game. A player shakes the fire truck and then attempts to match the cards on the playing surface in the same order as each colour displayed on the shaker. When an incorrect card is turned over, a fire breaks out in one of the straw cards and that player's turn is over. Play continues until someone turns all the cards over correctly or until all the straw is on fire. This game is so much fun that Mom and Dad may sneak in a game after the children are in bed!


DINO ADVENTURE, MEGA RIG #G3714 MATTEL CANADA INC. 4 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Enter the land of dinosaurs! This 31-piece set includes a roaring dinosaur, two small action figures, a second smaller dinosaur and pieces to build one large adventure vehicle or thirty different little ones. The trucks are easy to build and stay together during play. Children spend hours building and imagining exciting encounters in the world of dinosaurs! NOTE: Three button cell batteries are included.

MAGIC CASTLE and 5 ACCESSORIES #4250, 4252, 4253, 4254, 4256, 4257 PLAYMOBIL CANADA INC. 4 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Is there a princess on your gift list wanting a castle? You need look no longer! This set contains a beautiful pink and white 57 cm x 54 cm castle with four rooms and two balconies. For accessories, there are a king and queen, clothing for the regal pair, magnificent golden furniture, and a horse. If you would like to enhance the contents of the castle, the following furniture and figure sets (sold separately) are available: bedroom (#4253); bathroom (#4252); nursery (#4254); garden (#4257); and, a throne room (#4256). This wonderful set will inspire your little princess to spend many happy hours in an imaginary land where dreams really do come true!

FAMILY CAMPER #3647 PLAYMOBIL CANADA INC. 4 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Family camping at its best! This realistic camper van and family of four have everything they need to drive across Canada. Moreover, it doesn't take up a lot of space, making it easy to park! There are over 50 accessories including bicycles, lawn chairs, dishes, cutlery, food, table, cell phone, propane tank and even a fire extinguisher. Best of all, there is ample space in the camper to allow for neat and clean storage. More often, girls are drawn to this camper, enjoying many imaginary adventures on their own or with friends.

GARDEN CENTER #4480 PLAYMOBIL CANADA INC. 4 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Business is blooming! This garden center has everything needed for "budding" entrepreneurs and shopping enthusiasts. Arrange and rearrange the greenhouse, merchandise display areas and signage. Customers find it difficult to leave without purchasing something from the impressive array of plants, seedlings (some of which "grow" when watered), tools and accessories. The set also includes one staff member and customers with money to spend. Children enjoy the floral theme, carting bags of soil, loading and unloading the pallet and ringing up the purchases on the cash register. Lots of imaginative play value.

GREEN HOUSE and PLANT BEDS WITH SHED #4481, 4482 PLAYMOBIL CANADA INC. 4 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* These gardening theme sets provide hours of imaginative fun. The first set includes a 13x18 cm greenhouse with sliding doors. Children can create and plant a garden to fill the flowerpots for selling to customers who may drop by. The second set includes a garden shed with tools and accessories, including a hose (the hose does not actually work with water) and three flowerbeds. One filled with modeling clay so children can rake the soil and plant flowers. There are two additional beds in which the flowers wilt until children add water. Both sets come with one moveable figure and can be combined.

PIRATES HIDE & SEEK THE LOST AND FOUND GAME #SG 102 SMART GAMES 5 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Logic and fun all loaded into one! This challenging yet straightforward solitaire game includes a board with pictures of pirates, islands and ships, four puzzle pieces and a book of challenges and solutions. Each challenge displays pictures of some of the objects on the board. The goal is to use the four puzzle pieces to cover the board so that the only remaining, visible objects are the ones on the board. Children (and their parents) are enthralled with this game! It may look easy, but with each new challenge, the difficulty increases. It's a great quiet time activity and everything stores neatly in the board for easy transportation. A great addition to the family game collection.

ZOOLOGIC #8717344310178 FOXMIND CANADA 5 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Can you figure out how to keep peace among the animals? This captivating and challenging game includes a set of puzzle pieces and a book with over 60 puzzles. Each puzzle piece pictures an animal or food for an animal. The challenge is to position pieces in such a way that rival animals (e.g. cats and dogs) and animals and their favourite food (e.g. mouse and cheese) are not together. There is only one correct solution for a puzzle and as play progresses, the puzzles increase in difficulty. Logical and intriguing fun for all ages!

DIDI & DITTO FIRST GRADE, THE WOLF KING KUTOKA INTERACTIVE 5 to 7 years

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Children can play this game as Didi (a girl) or Ditto (a boy). Their mission is to save the valley from the wolves by completing two different activities in eight different areas. There are three levels of difficulty to challenge the children. The activities are fun and educational, and the graphics are exceptional. Children love playing this game and parents recognize the excellent educational content. NOTE: Can be played on PC or MAC. Minimum requirements for PC include Pentium II, 128MB RAM 12x CD-ROM and 560 MB hard drive space.

ZIGZAG #EI-2994 EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS 6 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Four in a row - that's all you need to win this game! This straightforward two-player game takes ten minutes to play. The game includes a brightly coloured board with a five-by-five grid, four pegs and a series of roads for each player, along with easy-to-understand instructions. Players take turns adding roads and moving their pegs along them, until they have four in a row. Fast moving strategic fun for all ages! NOTE: Instructions are in English only.

SUDOKU 5X5 #08250 THINK FUN 8 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Magnificent, magnetic Sudoku! This game features a magnetic game board, 25 moveable magnetic tokens in five different colours, numbered one to five, 48 challenge cards, and an answer booklet. Each challenge card includes the set up for a 5x5 Sudoku puzzle. To begin this intriguing game, players attach a card to the magnetic board and add the starting tokens. Enthusiasm and curiosity carry players through the many levels of challenges which increase in difficulty as the game progresses. Once all of the puzzles have been solved, additional challenges can be downloaded from www.ThinkFun.com/sudoku5x5 . Players of all ages enthusiastically participate in this portable, fun-filled set.

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME! ISBN 1-57054-225-2 KLUTZ INC. 8 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Are you a chocolate chip cookie or a gingersnap? This book contains 65 fun personality quizzes to help you get to know your friends and family as never before! The book is colourful and amusing and there is pen and paper provided so the book can be used repeatedly. A surefire hit with the pre-teen set!

SPECTRANGLE #EI-2965 EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS 8 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Have you covered all the angles? In this game for two to four, players are challenged to find a way to place triangular pieces with sides of different colours on a triangular board in order to match as many coloured sides as possible. The tiles are numbered and each time a player lays a tile, the points earned are equal to the number on the tile multiplied by the number of matching sides. Plotting how to land on the bonus squares of double, triple, or even quadruple points adds excitement and a great deal of strategy to the game. The game is easy to learn and can be played over and over again. The self-contained storage box makes it perfect for travelling.

GAME WAVE LETTER ZAP! #G223 ZAPIT GAMES 8 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* Hi-tech "spellbinding" fun! This game is played on a Game Wave player which connects to the family television. Each player has a remote control. The cartridge includes two games: letter tag and letter cube. In letter tag, all players play on one grid of random letters. Using their remote control units, players steal letters from their opponents to create words; points are awarded for each complete word. In letter cube, each player has their own smaller grid of letters to spell as many words as possible in the available time. A game can last three, five, or ten minutes and the player with the most points at the end of the game wins. Children and parents love the competitive, addictive nature of this game. It's so much fun, no one wants to stop! NOTE: A Game Wave (sold separately) is required to play this game.

PAPER FASHIONS ISBN 1-57054-534-0 KLUTZ INC. 8 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* A craft kit with style! This kit includes an excellent book about fashion design, along with three pages of stencils, 20 sheets of double-sided paper in a wide variety of colours and styles, ribbons, beads, sequins and glue. The book contains valuable information about mixing colours, patterns and accessorizing, along with suggestions about what to do with the completed crafts. Would-be designers start with the stencils to trace and cut out fashions and accessories from the coloured paper. Final touches are added with the ribbons, beads, and sequins. There are even 20 miniature hangers included with the book for displaying finished creations. Children with an interest in clothes and fashion are charmed with this set. The abundance of supplies makes this a great group activity and additional paper and hangers can be ordered from the company. The only limit to this craft is your young designer's imagination!

GIZA THE PYRAMID BUILDING GAME #1501 FUN FACTORY GAMES 9 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* In this strategy game for two to six, players compete to build pyramids filled with treasures. The game consists of numbered tiles with negative or positive values: stone tiles (+ or -), treasure tiles (+), and sphinx tiles (+). There are also demolish tiles used for destruction and scarab tiles used for blocking. Each player starts the game with four randomly selected building tiles and a base on which to build three pyramids and a sphinx. Players take turns placing their tiles on their own card or on another player's card. A pyramid is complete when a negative or positive tile with a value of one is placed on top. As soon as one player has completed three pyramids, the game is over. The player with the most points wins. Strategy comes into play when players must balance the temptation to earn points by building bigger and better pyramids against quickly completing their pyramids to avoid having negative cards placed on their pyramids by other players. An excellent and exciting game which becomes more challenging each time.

PITCH! A STORY IMAGINE THIS COMPANY INC. 10 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* What happened to Reuben the warrior surrounded by hyenas in the steel factory? If it's your turn, you better think of something and make it good - your future as a scene writer could depend on it! This family game for two to eighteen players includes a board, a spinner, a timer, a score pad and cards in five different categories: characters, props, challenges, friends or foe and settings. Each card includes a totally random person, place, thing or statement from the category. Everyone starts the game with a character and a challenge card. Players then travel around the board collecting additional cards until they land on a Pitch Place. Each time a player lands on a Pitch Place, he must invent a story (the wilder the better) which includes all the cards he has collected. This is great family game; it spans several generations and it brings out the natural performer in everyone. Families laugh and have such a good time, they often forget about the score!

MINDSTORMS NXT #8527 LEGO CANADA INC. 12 years and up

*BEST BET AWARD 2007* This is a must for serious robotics fans! This incredible Lego set contains 577 pieces for constructing robots along with an electronic brain (the NXT) and three motors. As well, there are four sensors: an ultrasonic sensor which measures distance from an object and reacts to movement; a touch sensor which feels and reacts to objects; a sound sensor which detects and reacts to sound; and a light sensor which detects light and colour. Also included are a USB cable and a software package to write programs for the robot to follow. When children begin the initial construction of the robot, the NXT must be included; they can then add any of all of the sensors and parts and program the robot to perform using the NXT unit. Advanced users can program a more complex set of actions and reactions which can be downloaded to the brain unit via a USB or blue tooth connection. Once the robots are built and programmed using the NXT, they can perform many actions such as picking up and putting down objects, moving forward and backward, turning, and speaking. For children with an interest and understanding of basic robotics and computer programming, the possibilities are endless! NOTE: Computer requirements include a 880 MHz processor, windows XP professional or home edition with service pack 2 or a PowerPC G3, G4 or G5 processor MAC with 600 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 300Mb hard disk space and an available USB connection or compatible Blue tooth adaptor. Requires 6 AA batteries.


© 2006 Canadian Toy Testing Council