We didn`t notice any trends in children`s games this year. Sure, there were a couple of ”dare” games (reviewed on the Insider page) and a few junior editions of grownup games. Not exactly a major swing.
There is, however, the usual impressive variety in this year`s new games. Here are a few of them:
Antsy, Ungame Co., $10. Each player starts with 10 ants. Object is to get rid of all your ants, accomplished by performing the tasks required on the various game squares (”Shake each player`s hand; lose three ants.”). Some squares add ants to your pile. Ages 5 to 10.
Baby Bird Game, Discovery Toys, $13. Players each control a baby bird, who must fly from the tree by rolling the dice and following its color-coded path. Ages 3 and up.
Baggage Claim, Ravensburger, $8. Memory game in which players move their airplane tokens from airport to airport, trying to collect 10 pieces of matching, sequentially numbered luggage. Mom and Dad can probably identify with this game. Ages 5 and up.
Boggle Jr., Parker Brothers, $10. A preschool spelling game with several levels of play. On the basic level, player hunts through letter cubes, trying to match the letters on the card (and its matching picture). On a more advanced level, the card`s letters are hidden, and the player tries to remember the word (the picture still is in view as a hint) and spell it correctly. Ages 3 to 6.
California Raisins Game, Decipher, $17. The ubiquitous raisins are now a board game. Players try to get their four raisins on the stage. On each turn, players may move one raisin or move the stage. Strategy involves knowing when to advance raisins and when to block opponents by moving the stage. Ages 5 and up.
Chicken Out, Parker Brothers, $10. Players race their chickens back and forth across the road, while facing challenges from opponents. A chicken card means that your chickens may be sent back to start, if the flipside of the card has your color. Do you use up your safe cards to protect your chickens?
Do you gamble that the card doesn`t match? Or do you ”chicken out” by moving backwards to a safety spot? Fast and fun. Ages 6 and up.
Computer Star, Trigame Enterprises, $12. This game hasn`t got a whole lot to do with computers. Players race along a gameboard to the finish; along the way, they may pick up a few basic computer terms (cursor, software, monitor). In terms of educational value, it may help some kids become more familiar with, or less fearful of, computers. Ages 6 and up.
Crazy Quilt, Orda Industries, $4. Domino-like game in which players try to form matching triangles with their colorful cards. Ages 3 and up.
Dodge in the Dark, Parker Brothers, $20. Battery-operated dodge `em game. Game is actually a hand-held projector; point it at a wall in a dark room and a series of ghosts, brick walls and obstacles moves across view. Object is to maneuver your car without hitting any obstacles. Ages 6 and up.
Drugs/Alcohol: Play It Straight, Goodwin/Geier Inc., $25. Complex game that challenges players to answer questions and voice opinions about drug and alcohol use. Designed for family play, to provoke parent-child discussion and interaction. Well put together. Ages 7 to adult; play is more suitable to older kids.
Eldorado, Discovery Toys, $15. Simple and enjoyable game in which players try to accumulate gold nuggets. Attractive game board. Meant for family play; good for youngsters, if there`s an adult to help them with the rules. Ages 5 and up.
Finders Keepers, Cardinal Industries, $20. Home version of children`s game show on the Nickelodeon cable channel. Players race through the Finders Keepers house in search of hidden objects, clues and, ultimately, play money. Ages 7 and up.
First to Reverse, Discovery Toys, $13. Strategy game in which players race to the far point of the board; when the first player reaches the end, all players immediately turn around and race to the starting point. Ages 5 and up. Free Parking, Parker Brothers, $10. Race game in which players ”feed”
their parking meter with time units, allowing them to run errands and collect points. But don`t let time run out on you. Ages 8 to adult.
Fun House, Pressman, $19. Team game in which players compete in simple skill games, mostly involving rolling marbles or small rings into scoring areas (equipment provided). First team to finish wins. Ages 7 and up.
Guess Who?, Milton Bradley, $12. Reissue of a classic game. Each player has a tray depicting 24 faces. One player takes a card matching one of the faces, designating that person as ”it.” The other player, by asking questions about the selected face (”Is he fat? Is he wearing a hat?”), tries to eliminate possibilities and guess the correct person. Ages 7 and up.
Hot Potato, Parker Brothers, $10. Battery-operated, soft-sided ”potato” plays ”Pop Goes the Weasel” at the push of a button. But you never know when the music will stop. The player stuck with the potato gets a letter; spell H- O-T and you`re out. Fun and fast-paced, with a really cute toy potato. This spud`s for you. Ages 4 and up.
I`ve Created a Monster, International Games, $5. Silly, fun card game. Players pick card, representing monster body parts, and discard them on their operating tables. Players can steal, exchange or draw extra cards as they race to be first to complete their monster. Ages 4 to 10.
Junior Couch Potato Game, TDC Games, $13. Card game designed to be played during TV cartoons. Players are dealt cards with various recognizable objects (good guy, shoes, etc.). Players discard when they match their cards to objects on the TV screen.
Just Say No!, Games Gang, $15. Players move about board, taking turns resisting ”peer pressure” to use drugs or alcohol. Ages 5 to 14, but there`s not a lot here that would keep a 14-year-old interested very long.
Lie Detector, Mattel Toys, $13. Reissue of a classic game. A battery-operated lie detector allows players to ”question” suspects and identify the guilty party. There are 24 suspects to choose among. Ages 8 up.
Loco-Motion Memory, Milton Bradley, $7. Players draw cards denoting a specific action (stick out your tongue, spin like a top, yodel) and perform those actions, trying to repeat the activities of all previous cards-in order. Ages 5 to 8.
Math Race, Ravensburger, $14. Players move along a path of cards, each of which contains a simple math problem. Players must solve the problem to continue. Ages 6-10.
Mattix, Orda Industries, $4.50. Numbered tiles, plus one star tile, are arranged randomly on a grid. One player takes the horizontal rows, the other the vertical rows. First player removes any tile sharing the same horizontal row as the star tile, replacing the removed tile with the star tile. The second player then removes any tile sharing the same vertical row as the star tile, moving the star tile in the same manner. Player with the most total value wins. Game is simple to play, but requires strategy; it may be to one player`s advantage to take a lower-value tile, if that forces an opponent to take a still-lower tile. Addition and subtraction skills required. Ages 6 and up.
Miss America Pageant Game, Nalpac, $20. Involved, multistep game in which players acquire cards representing the talents needed to compete in the Miss America Pageant. First to collect all the necessary cards and make her way across the board wins. For pre-teens and up.
Oh, Nuts!, Cadaco, $20. Players try to catch colored nuts as they swirl around the concave playing tray. First to gather all five of his nuts wins. Ages 6 and up.
Oh, Rats!, Discovery Toys, $12. Players try to complete simple jigsaw puzzles by spinning a color spinner, which tells them which color piece they may add. Ages 3 and up.
Oreo Cookie Factory Game, Cadaco, $12. Matching game. Players must recall what symbols are written on the middle (underside) of the Oreo cookie halves; it takes two matching halves to make a cookie. Player with the most cookies wins. Ages 4 to 8.
Pass the Trash, Milton Bradley, $15. Four-player action game. Each player controls two paddles; one advances the two garbage trucks that move on a turntable in the center of the game, the other shoots marbles (trash) into a chute positioned above the turntable. Object is to dump your trash into the garbage trucks as they pass under your chute. One of the trucks, however, has a hole in it, meaning it can pass trash back into your bin. First to finish wins. Ages 5 and up.
Pictionary Junior: Play It With Clay, Games Gang, $19. Players guess words that are being shaped out of clay by a teammate. First team to guess four words wins. Ages 7 to 11.
A Question of Scruples for Kids, Milton Bradley, $10. Series of hypothetical questions, most dealing with ethical issues (”You have just had a fight with your sister. At supper, you see a small green caterpillar in her salad. Do you tell her?”), and discover how others would answer. My answer?
Hey, pal, how do you think the caterpillar got there? Ages 8 to 11.
River Rafting, Johnston Games, $11. Move your token around the gameboard, which represents a winding river. The river changes speeds at different points. Simple, colorful and fun race game. Ages 8 up.
Shaft, Family Games Ltd., $9. Card and dice game in which roll of dice determines which numbered card may be discarded from player`s hand. Certain rolls allow you to ”shaft” a player, playing a card on him that counts against his point total. When one player runs out of cards, the round ends;
the winner, however, is the person whose cards add up to the highest total. Ages 8 up.
Shrieks and Creaks, Western Publishing, $16. A haunted-house game with special effects. Players move through the rooms of a haunted mansion; each time they enter a room they must insert their key into the ”talking tombstone,” an extension speaker that operates off a cassette player (not included). The keys randomly access the ghostly voice of ”Sir Simon,” who orders players to move to the dungeon or some other uncomfortable place. But a room that`s safe (no voice is heard) for one player isn`t safe for another. Randomness of audio cassette (included) ensures no two games play alike. Ages 6 and up.
Space: The Game That Defies Gravity, Toys to Grow On, $30. A skill game requiring considerable dexterity. Battery-powered unit sends forced air through craters in a lunar surface; player tries to ride a lightweight ball on the air current, maneuvering the ball through a series of hoops. Hoops are adjustable, to make the game more or less challenging. Ages 6 and up.
Take Ten, Orda Industries, $5. Players place numbered cards on spaces of a 16-square grid. The player who completes a row of four cards whose values add up to exactly 10 wins those cards. Play continues until all cards are played; winner is one with most cards. Addition skills needed. Ages 6 and up. Time Factor, Ideal, $10. Cunning version of tic-tac-toe. Players insert colored discs into the slots of a vertical grid, attempting to arrange three discs of the same color in a row. A mechanical pendulum timer forces players to make a move within 15 seconds, or lose the game. The game console, which contains the grid and timer, is very clever. Ages 5 and up.
The Treasure Hunt Game, Toys to Grow On, $17. Terrific party game that includes treasure map and 30 clues. ”I`ve got hands; I`ve got a face-you take the time to find this place,” says one clue. Answer: A clock. Run to the clock and another clue awaits. Components arrive in cardboard ”treasure chest” box. Ages 5 to 12.
Up Against Time, Ideal, $10. A clever stacking game. Players take turns trying to stack barrels (to do so, they have to match shapes to slots; only certain barrels will stack together) before the timer, consisting of a steel ball rolling down a vertical series of ramps, runs out. You can lock in a part score, or try to stack every barrel and risk everything. Ages 5 and up.
Up the River, Ravensburger, $14. Game of strategy with lots of chance elements. Players move wooden boats along a river, aiming for favorable currents while avoiding the waterfall. A player can win by being the first to dock, or by docking all three of his boats first. Ages 6 and up.
Willow, Parker Brothers, $8. Players move about the board, accumulating hero cards and discarding villain cards. Object is to gather three pairs of hero cards while discarding all villain cards. Ages 6 to 12.
Win, Lose or Draw Junior, Milton Bradley, $10. Just like the grownup game-players draw common words or famous people as teammates try to guess who/ what it is-but with easier words to draw. Adults who aren`t very good at the regular game might use this version as a training course. Ages 8 to 11.
