droolicious : games for kids

Games To Play With During Family Time

Lisa Estall — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:28:00 GMT

I received a sample of the Gather 'Round Restaurant Game recently to review. What you get is not a board game with pieces but cards with questions relating to mealtime. There are almost 100 games to play with while you wait for your meal at a restaurant or at home. There is a push-button light but it doesn't emit any sound. The light stops by itself at a question on each card.

Created by familyfuntime.com, this is recommended for ages 5 and up. I'm not sure how many people would want to bring a game to a restaurant but for home, it would probably be more fun for the older kids.

The price is $24.95 and sold at familyfuntime.com

Game Review: Neopets Puzzle Adventure Hits Stores for Wii

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Remember that classic Othello slogan, "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master"? Apply that to videogames, add a slew of whimsical, well-drawn characters and the expansive online universe that spawned them, and you're pretty much talking Neopets Puzzle Adventure, which just hit stores for Wii after prior releases on PC and Nintendo DS.

The game's whimsical characters and comic-style art should be instantly familiar to Neopets.com visitors.

You start the game by personalizing one of 12 different Neopets and selecting your play mode: Instant Action, which throws you right into the game's titular puzzles, or Story Mode, which puts you into the three Lands of Neopia (whose landscapes should be instantly recognizable to kids familiar with Neopets.com) and lets you compete in a series of challenges against other Neopets. Minigames -- including a fun, easy memory game that will delight young players -- also abound and help to break up the story-based play.

The Neopets' main challenges revolve around deceptively simple, Othello-style puzzle gameplay.

The game's puzzle challenges may be called "battles," but there's nothing in the way of violence here: Instead, Neopets Puzzle Adventure finds players taking turns laying down tokens on a grid, with the winner being the one who can convert the most tokens to his or her color. If you're thinking it sounds a lot like Othello (or Reversi), good call: The similarities aren't just limited to a slogan, and if you're looking for a simple game that requires kids to put some strategic brainpower behind their onscreen actions, even grade-schoolers can rule in this conquest.

There's plenty of room to explore in the Lands of Neopia.

Also, while it may seem easy to breeze through, Neopets Puzzle Adventure has several features that'll keep kids engaged outside of the puzzle challenges. As your Neopet proceeds through the game, it can collect 150 different PetPet companions, each of which packs powers that can help you back on the game grid. The game also generates codes to unlock special items on Neopets.com, so if your kids haven't already set up camp there, they'll have plenty of incentive to do so now. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, by the way -- though the site has many immersive, community-oriented features and boards, all kids under age 13 must have a parental-consent form mailed or faxed to the company before they can use the interactive content.

Neopets Puzzle Adventure is rated "E" for Everyone by the ESRB. Get it at Amazon in any of the following formats:

Wii ($39.99)

DS ($29.99)

PC (from $19.99)

Weird Name, Great Game: Hi! Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Challenge for DS

Aaron Burgess — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:04:00 GMT

We reported not too long ago about the ways LeapFrog's been grabbing some of Nintendo DS' territory as a hand-held learning tool for the littlest gamers, but if we start seeing more DS titles like Natsume's new Hi! Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Challenge (say that three times fast), the mighty 'frog could be kept at bay a little longer.

Aimed at those kiddoes for whom Brain Age is too advanced but big brother or sister's DS is just too alluring, the game does require some rudimentary reading skills, so don't expect to be able to slide it into Junior's DS Lite and just walk away. In fact, it seems Ham-Ham Challenge's developers already had that possibility in mind, as they've thrown in a bunch of features that enable Mom and Dad to monitor children's progress, adjust the game's difficulty level, control play time, and even grant rewards via special in-game goodies.

As for gameplay, nothing too taxing here, which is just the point: The characters, all pulled from our favorite hamster-starring Japanese cartoon, are there to entertain, while the 12 minigames are meant to give kids' brains a workout, specifically through focusing on memory, math, word-comprehension and fine-motor skills, among other kindergarten-age necessities.

Rated "E" for Everyone, Hi! Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Challenge is $29.99 from Amazon.

Loving LEGO Batman: The Videogame

Aaron Burgess — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Even though the incredible LEGO Star Wars saga and equally worthy LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures were serious video games for serious players, they maintained enough levity that kids and casual gamers alike could still giggle their way through the games' more intense levels. But what happens when you bring Batman to the series -- can the Dark Knight (especially the Christian Bale version) retain his brooding edge in a world made of block-people and visual punchlines?

The answer, I'm happy to say, is sort of: LEGO Batman: The Videogame's visuals are sufficiently dark and gritty, and the Danny Elfman soundtrack is a great mood-setter, but come on, this is still a LEGO game: Don't expect to see the Joker's magic trick done with minifigures.

Like its predecessors, LEGO Batman offers a ton of cutscene goofiness, and the game's cartoon violence, while intense enough to keep things exciting, is likely no worse than what your kids are already acting out with their own minifigures (at least if they're like my boys): Stuff flies around, minifigs break apart, and the villains (including some lesser-known ones -- Clayface and Man-Bat, anyone?) stay on your trail. That is, if you're not being a bad guy yourself.

You begin your journey through Gotham City playing as Batman and Robin, but the heroes only account for half the action in LEGO Batman's 30 levels: The remaining 15 levels find you completing the story as villains -- from Joker and Riddler to the aforementioned lesser baddies -- in a nice twist on the way LEGO games usually force you embrace your dark side in Free Play mode.

The game's core features, on the other hand, will be pleasantly familiar to anyone familiar with LEGO Star Wars or Indiana Jones. Besides having the new ability to buy vehicles and actually play them (hands down, one of the game's best breaks with formula), you collect studs, including pieces of minikits, as you move through the levels fighting bad guys.

The AI, unfortunately, is a bit weak, so there are times when you're playing alone as one character while your buddy just sort of lags behind you. As an older, more patient gamer, I was mildly put off by what's now an expected element of any LEGO game, but my kids (5 and 8) often got frustrated when playing the game alone, especially during puzzles and other challenges that require two characters to interact. Definitely plug in a second controller for this if you've got one -- it makes the game all that much better.

Rated "E10+," LEGO Batman: The Videogame is available everywhere for PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PC, Sony PSP and Nintendo DS, and if you pick up an Xbox 360 Core Arcade Bundle at Amazon (click for offer details), they're also throwing in a copy of the game free.

The Babble Review: Kung Fu Panda the Game

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Unfortunately for the often great kids' movies that spawn them, video games based on CGI animated flicks tend to be so generic, bug-laden and unplayable that they end up doing more harm to the franchise than good (I'm looking at you, Ratatouille). So my expectations going into Kung Fu Panda, the new game based off the awesome Jack Black flick many Babble readers have no doubt been standing in line for the past few weekends, were a little less than high. Sometimes, though, it's good to be wrong: Not only is Kung Fu Panda one of the better movie spinoffs to hit game consoles in recent memory; it's also one of the more enjoyable kids' games that've landed in our mailbox this summer.

In a Nutshell: If you're an experienced gamer, you'll probably want to skip Kung Fu Panda altogether. With its tiny learning curve and relatively simple controls, the game can be beaten in a little less time than it takes to sit through the movie. It's a great game for younger players, though, with a fun script (complete with a dead-on Jack Black sound-alike) that uses the film's story as a springboard for bigger tales, as well as a big, jolly sense of humor to balance its cartoonish kung-fu fighting. And just as importantly, unlike so many movie-themed games, it plays as though it's more than a quick cash-in, with actual care put into easily botched stuff like graphics, gameplay and storyline.

Age-Appropriateness: Full disclosure: I reviewed the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS versions of Kung Fu Panda with my two sons, 7 and 5, fighting for controller time by my side, so right off the bat I defied the game's "E10+" ESRB rating. Odds are, though, that you may not be considering more than the "E" in a game's rating to determine whether it's suitable for your under-10 kiddoes, and with Kung Fu Panda itself being so appealing to a younger audience (in the theater where we saw it, giggling, cheering preschoolers far outranked any 10-year-olds), I figure it's only sensible to put the game in the hands of the age brackets that are probably asking for it. The good news is, at least one of those age brackets had no problem diving into the game and enjoying it -- more on the other in a bit.

Po and two of the Furious Five take on the evil Tai Lung.

Plot and Gameplay: Kung Fu Panda follows its jelly-bellied title character, a bumbling-but-aspirational panda named Po, across multiple stages on his quest to become the fabled Dragon Warrior and stop the recently prison-busted Tai Lung from returning to destroy the village that spawned them both. Sounds just like the movie, right? Well, unlike the movie, the game packs a host of other animal bad guys to take on, and if you thought Tai Lung's nerve strikes were nasty, just wait till you have to rescue a group of baby turtles from the Croc Gang while flying down whitewater rapids and dodging flying arrows. Other levels allow you to play as Po's warrior counterparts, the Furious Five, or as their master, Shifu, while taking on similarly nasty animal crews created just for the game.

Close call: Crane hoists Po and a baby turtle up, up and away from a hungry croc.

As with other multi-console games, your experience with Kung Fu Panda is going to differ depending on the system on which you're playing it. However, even though the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions offer some bonus content and unlockable items , their basic action doesn't differ much from that of the Wii, PS2 and PC versions. Also, with minigames and missions being key parts of the game, the action isn't completely focused on combat (and I do use that term in the jolliest sense here). Of course, combat makes up the best parts of Kung Fu Panda's action, and your kids will have a blast figuring out the different moves and combos for each character as they clobber their way through the game.

Getting Personal (My Kids' Hands-On Experience): Where gameplay was concerned, my 5-year-old suffered most: After getting his butt kicked in a few rounds of combat and not being able to grasp the controls and combo moves as quickly as he'd hoped, he gave up on the Xbox 360 version. Unfortunately, even though the DS version offers a relatively simpler side-scrolling experience (read: you move from one side to the next, hurdling over obstacles and jumping up to different levels as you go), it ended up being twice as frustrating for the little guy, and he gave up after being unable to clear the first few screens. (Poor kid is still just learning to read, so the reading required to follow instructions -- par for the course in many DS games -- usually ends up being a point of frustration, anyway.)

A shot of Tigress in combat, from the Nintendo DS version.

The good news is that his brother, though three years younger than the ESRB's recommended age for Kung Fu Panda, had no trouble getting cozy with the controls and knocking out the bad guys -- although after playing the far more expansive, open-ended and graphics-rich Xbox 360 version of the game, he rarely went back to the DS version. Out of curiosity, I went back to the DS version and found it a blast, and if your kids are familiar with a game like Spider-Man 3 -- which combines the sort of side-scrolling action mentioned above with clever touchscreen controls (in this case, you move with the directional pad and put together your fighting moves with the stylus/touchscreen), they should have no problem getting cozy with this different, but equally solid, version of the game.

Grab your own copy of Kung Fu Panda the Game at Amazon.

First Look: Shaun the Sheep for Nintendo DS

Aaron Burgess — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:04:00 GMT

Your kids may already be hooked on Shaun the Sheep, the Disney Channel's stop-motion animated series from Wallace and Gromit/Chicken Run creator Aardman Animations (and if not, here are some clips to get you started). Assuming you let them access video games as well as TV screens, you'll want to leave some room in the budget this fall, when Aardman and D3Publisher team up to bring Shaun and his world to the Nintendo DS.

Shaun the Sheep encounters his naughty nemesis, Pidsley the farm cat.

The game finds our hero working to round up his escaped sheep brethren before the Farmer comes home, and in addition to playing as Shaun and interacting with familiar characters from the series (including Pidsley the feisty farm cat and Bitzer the slacker sheepdog), you'll make your way around new obstacles, access hidden areas, and take a whack at eight unlockable minigames and eight collectible slide puzzles. If mini isn't enough, the game also packs five "micro" games that put you smack in the middle of some of the show's more memorable moments.

Above: a shot from the "Flock 'n Roll" minigame. Below, "Tap a Mole."

Whereas many kid-oriented DS games seem aimed at the youngest players but upon opening require either extensive reading or a steep learning curve just to understand the logic behind their controls, Shaun the Sheep promises an intuitive, "pick up and play" experience, as well as sound, graphics, and character animation that stay true to the show's idiosyncratic style. The jury's still out on both of those claims, but what we've seen so far has us ready to hit the farm for some quality game time with Shaun and friends. At least that's how my 5-year-old seems to be interpreting the buzz...

Rated "E" for Everyone, Shaun the Sheep will retail for $29.95 when it hits stores this fall. For all the latest, keep your eye on D3's website.

EA's Smarty Pants (Wii) Packs Trivia Fun for Everyone

Aaron Burgess — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:02:00 GMT

While it doesn't have many frills, EA's Smarty Pants is a party-style trivia game for the Wii that'll keep adults and older kids (or at least prodiguous little ones) alike entertained for hours -- and at over 20,000 questions, that's a literal estimate. You can play by yourself, but odds are you'll spend more time in one of the game's two multiplayer modes -- either competing head-to-head against up to three friends, or breaking into teams for family-style co-op play. You can also set the game's difficulty based on the players' age, so your first grader won't need an advanced knowledge of pop culture to feel like a valuable part of the team.

From there, gameplay's a breeze: Flick your Wii remote to spin the Wheel of Fortune-style game wheel (see above), and get served up a trivia question from the category you land on: from arts and entertainment to video games, sports and fashion. This is where Smarty Pants really gets competitive (and fun), too, as you've got to buzz in using the Wii-mote to have a shot at answering. If you're playing in countdown mode, you'd better buzz in quickly, too, because you can lose points as the seconds tick away.

Smarty Pants supports Mii avatars, so you can upload a bit of yourself into the game to make it feel even more competitive. And what kind of competition would it be without a little bit of "Who's your daddy?" at the end? As our corporate-casual friend below demonstrates, there's even a victory dance:

Unlike seemingly every other team-oriented game these days, Smarty Pants doesn't come loaded with minigames or flashy online components, and visually speaking, it's light on bells and whistles, too. But trivia buffs will love the fast-paced challenges and variety of questions, and if you're stuck on a holiday gift for the Wii-owning casual gamer on your list, you'd be hard pressed to find a better starting point.

Smarty Pants is rated "E" for Everyone.

Video Game Review: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Rules)

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:02:00 GMT

Geeks the world over may be frothing over the upcoming be-all, end-all multimedia project Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but in my house, the only Star Wars universe that matters is the one you make yourself out of plastic bricks and minifigures.

Needless to say, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, the new, third installment in LucasArts' awesomely, endlessly fun video-game series, has been at the top of my and my kids' Christmas lists this year. Luckily for me (but unbeknownst to them -- hey, they don't read Babble), I got it early. Sorry, little dudes.

LEGO Star Wars II marked the series' entry into next-generation consoles, but The Complete Saga maximizes the systems' technology -- which means, if you're playing on an Xbox 360 or PS3, you're going to notice some major improvements in graphics, as well as some cool new online capabilities. Wii users, unfortunately, don't get either, although the Wii version does make use of the system's motion-control capabilities. DS players, meanwhile, get a LEGO Star Wars experience completely redesigned from the ground up.

Playing like a combined version of its predecessors, The Complete Saga works in LEGO-fied versions of the characters, scenery and scenarios from all six Star Wars films, complete with LEGO Star Wars' trademark cheeky humor to take the edge off. Meaning: Star Wars Battlefront this ain't -- and you'll dive right into playing alongside your kids for just that reason.

Even if you beat the games the first go-round -- and despite the kiddie appeal, that's not as easy as you might think -- there's plenty here to keep you playing. Besides new characters like Watto, Zam Wessell and Boss Nass (with over 120 playable characters in all), you'll find 10 new bounty-hunter challenges, the ability to mix and match characters from all six episodes, and even a cameo by a certain archaeologist movie hero who's about to get his own LEGO video-game treatment.

It's not entirely "new," so calling LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga the season's best kid-friendly video game may be a stretch (and besides, Mario did come back fighting this fall). But for those of us who've enjoyed bonding with our kids over George Lucas' universe, boy, it'll sure feel that way.

Bee Movie Opening-Weekend Overload: Bee Movie Game

Aaron Burgess — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:02:00 GMT

If you took the kids to the theater this past weekend, odds are pretty good it was to catch the opening of Bee Movie; now, you can relive the flick over and over (and over) again via Activision's new Bee Movie Game. What -- I'm not making this sound appealing? The game is actually a lot of fun, especially for a licensed spinoff (see Ratatouille for an example of how badly such games can go wrong), although you're likely to beat it in a few hours after the kids go to bed.

You play as Jerry Seinfeld's character, Barry B. Benson, buzzing in and outside of New Hive City through a series of races, battles, stealth missions and action sequences that, while playing like individual minigames, flow together by working off the movie's storyline. (For you true minigame fiends, there's also a ton of unlockable content based on classic arcade games.) Bee Movie stars Seinfeld, John Goodman and Patrick Warburton all lend their voices and comedic timing to the game, and the animation (especially on the Xbox 360) is sharp enough that kids will feel like they're right there in the movie battling dragonflies and dodging raindrops in slow-motion "bee time" -- especially on a big honkin' HD screen.

Rated "E" for Everyone, Bee Movie Game is available now for Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PC and DS.

Scooby-Doo 3D Board Game Fun for You and Your Meddling Kids

Aaron Burgess — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:32:00 GMT

Hard to believe it's been 38 years since Scooby-Doo! debuted, especially considering the number of Scooby-related gizmos that seem to find their way into stores every year. Capturing all the spooky-fun kitsch of the classic series, the Scooby-Doo! Haunted House 3D Board Game from Pressman ($17.99 at Amazon.com) is one of the more creatively designed Scooby toys of late, as well as a great way to get your kids in the Halloween spirit while satisfying their (and, if you're like me, your) Scooby jones.

A breeze to assemble, the game is equally simple to play: Flick the spinner, move your character, and try to avoid the booby traps as you work your way through the haunted house and reveal the mystery villain who awaits you at the top. Given the simplicity, older kids may not see the replay value, but their little siblings (especially those frustrated by board games that require reading) will have a blast, and you'll enjoy repeatedly telling them you would've won "if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

Video Games: Crash of the Titans Ships for Multiple Platforms

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:32:00 GMT

Crash Bandicoot made his debut 11 years ago on the Sony PlayStation, which means that, assuming my math is right, many of us hadn't started breeding when we first got down with the mischievous, planet-saving marsupial. Today, 14 games into the Crash series, the game's developers are still writing code with us in mind: See the Clash of the Titans and (in the game itself) Brokeback Mountain references in the new Crash of the Titans, both guaranteed to soar over our kids' heads while we giggle into our cupped hands.

Crash Of The Titans still finds our hero facing off against the evil Dr. Neo Cortex, who this time has discovered a mysterious substance called "mojo" (another term that'll be fun to explain to kids) and is using it to build an army of mutants out of the Wumpa Islands' peaceful inhabitants. As Crash, you spend the game battling the mutants, a.k.a. Titans, while collecting mojo and showing off your new acrobatic fighting skills; and this time, you've got an added skill called "jacking" that lets you take control of the Titans. (In two-player mode, you can even, er, jack yourself as the mutant-hero Carbon-Crash.) A learning game this isn't, but kids will eat it up -- as will the more slapstick- and action-loving parents among us.

Rated E 10+, Crash of the Titans is available for PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, GBA and PSP.

Fisher-Price Smart Cycle Shaping Up (Get It?) as Holiday Must-Have

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:12:00 GMT

Elmo has traditionally been Fisher-Price's sure thing at the holiday shopping season, but in light of the company's recent lead-paint recalls, Sesame Street is starting to look like Love Canal. With the new Smart Cycle Physical Learning Arcade System ($99.99 from Amazon.com), however, Fisher-Price's positive image may be on the rebound.

Despite the bizarro factor of having Richard Simmons as a pitch man, the Smart Cycle makes the hot exercise-gaming market appealing to folks not yet old enough to enjoy Wii Sports or Dance Dance Revolution. Once the cycle is connected to a TV's A/V inputs, kids race through various levels of play, ~~plowing through~~ collecting letters, shapes and numbers, or racing against other riders (either virtual or playdate) onscreen. A built-in joystick allows for a more sedentary gaming experience, but the biking action is exciting enough that kids should quickly forget about alternate controllers.

The only drawback: The lack of an AC adapter means you'll go through plenty of the four D batteries (not included) it takes to power the Smart Cycle. Suggestion for version 2.0: a "hamster" option where kids have to keep pedaling to generate power.

Gamewright Card Holder Rescues Little Hands

Mir — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:03:00 GMT

So your little guy is finally big enough to learn how to play Go Fish or any one of the million brightly-colored junior card games out there. There's just one problem -- he can't seem to hold the cards properly, so at best he drops them everywhere and at worst he has a meltdown because he just can't seem to fan them out. Gamewright's Little Hands Playing Card Holder is that brilliant never-knew-you-needed-it-til-you-got-it solution. Just $3.75 at Amazon for fuss-free card games.

Pokémon Global Trade Station Launches

Aaron Burgess — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:04:00 GMT

Having three young boys, I've learned more than I ever wanted about the complexities of Pokémon trading (and on many grocery trips have found myself empathizing with this poor mom). Now, with the launch of the Pokémon Global Trade Station, my junior Trainers can match wits (and collections) with potentially millions of others outside of our home base. Using Pokémon Diamond and Pearl software and a Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, players beam their info to the GTS (imagine E*TRADE, only with flashing colors and a hyperactive 8-bit soundtrack), where they can deposit their collections and trade/battle/compare with fellow Trainers around the world. (Mindful of global etiquette, the site even teaches vistors how to say "hello" and "thank you" in select languages, and also provides mini-lessons on countries visited.) And, parents, even if you don't have the gadgets needed to connect, it's also a fun primer on the ever-expanding world of Pokémon.

Blue Orange Zimbbos Game is Elephantastic

Mir — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:01:00 GMT

A Dr. Toy Product of Excellence, this Zimbbos game from Blue Orange is sure to please kids of all ages. Roll the dice, stack your elephants. Learn strategy, balancing, and that a bunch of elephants in a pyramid are pretty giggle-worthy. For ages 3+, and one to four players; $17.48 at Amazon.

Because You Already Have the Book Memorized: Good Night Moon Game

chrisjordan — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 17:02:00 GMT

The classic board book, Good Night Moon, is now a game for preschoolers! Six different ways to play, promoting visual, matching and manual dexterity skills.

Winner of two Best Toy Awards. Available at Gile Toys for $14.28

I SPY a Game, and for Grown-Ups, Too

Aaron Burgess — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:14:00 GMT

The only thing kids seem to enjoy more than actually reading Scholastic's I SPY books is poking and tearing at the books as they dig for the curiosities hidden in each page. Now, Scholastic Media and Activision bring a neater sort of I SPY experience to the Nintendo DS with I SPY Fun House ($29.99 from Amazon.com), an interactive extension of the book series that has you working the DS' dual- and touch-screen functions to corkscrew through dozens of brain-teasing riddles and games. Rated E for Everyone, and challenging enough to keep even grown-ups entertained for hours.

Eat Your Veggies, Play Your Dinner Games

Mir — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:02:00 GMT

Keep kids from three to six in their seats, having fun, and even finishing their food with this great little set of cards ($16 at Uncommon Goods). Beginner Dinner Games' meal-appropriate, easy-to-learn play uses just the utensils already on the table and is fun for the entire family.

Heck, anything that keeps my kids from doing armpit farts over dinner gets a thumbs-up from me.

Test Your Memory Ability with Cool, Funky Patterns

Carmen — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:06:00 GMT

The idea of matching shapes together is not a new one - it's been around for years. Children learn about perception and experience visual development; necessary skills for life. Many versions of The Matching Game exist, and most of them are pretty commercial - featuring Disney or Nickelodeon Characters and the like. They do get the job done, but they aren't so easy on the eyes. How many different "Doras" can you look at, anyway?

The Muistipeli Matching Game, is a vertiable visual feast, with wild colors and patterns. One of the great benefits of The Matching Game is that adults and kids play on the same level - with no advantage given to the adult. Made of laminated cardboard, this $23 game is one that your child will want to play again and again, and one you can look at repeatedly and not grow weary of seeing.