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Price: $29.99 USD

Grades K and up. Europe's 2003 game of the year! Develops logic and spacial perception while kids learn to be tactical. Players take turns placing pieces on their board, each starting from their corner. Each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners! The goal is to get rid of all your pieces. The game ends when all players are blocked from laying down any more of their pieces. Includes one gameboard with 400 squares, 84 game pieces in four bright translucent colors, and an instruction guide.

Fun for both kids and adults, Blokus is a strategy board game that challenges spatial thinking. Bright colors and simple rules make it ideal for ages five and up, but adults will certainly be engrossed by this unique and challenging game.

Not Your Average Board Game
Blokus encourages creative thinking and has received a Mensa award for promoting healthy brain activity. The goal of this game is for players to fit all of their pieces onto the board. When placing a piece it may not lie adjacent to the player's other pieces, but must be placed touching at least one corner of their pieces already on the board. The player who gets rid of all of their tiles first is the winner and strategic thinking helps as you block moves from your opponent. Blokus sometimes comes to an end because there are no more possible moves.

Four players make this abstract game especially fast and exciting; however, it can be just as fun for two or three players. Blokus has come up with a number of different ways to play the game to make it more thrilling when playing with less than four players. Draft Blokus allows a player to use more than one color and Reverse Blokus reverses the entire game so that the person who places the least amount of tiles on the board is the winner. It can even be played in a solitaire version when one player attempts to place all of their pieces in a single sitting. A game of Blokus typically lasts a 30 minutes. As a practical feature, raised edges on the board help keep the tiles in place and allow convenient clean-up. This game includes 84 pieces in four vibrant colors, an instruction guide, and one gameboard with 400 squares.

Blokus is simple to understand, but the game's complexity is revealed shortly after everyone begins to play. It can be addictive, even for those not normally into abstract games. Blokus is a catalyst for spatial thinking, as players form images in their mind before placing the pieces on the board. Children and adults can play together for hours of competitive family fun. As Europe's 2003 Game of the Year, Blokus is adored by many and even played in professional tournaments.

What's in the Box
84 pieces in four colors, gameboard with 400 squares, and an instruction guide.

Once a piece has been placed on the board it can't be moved, so plan your moves carefully.

Adding to the game's challenges, each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners.

Publisher: Educational Insights

Carnival Games

Price: $39.99 USD

Carnival Games brings home all the excitement and fanfare of a day at the carnival. All the fun and games of a day at a carnival is yours -- without spending a lot of money or dealing with annoying crowds. Play fun multi-player games and collect prizes, just like at a real carnival.

Step right up! All the fun and excitement of your favorite Carnival Games is coming to Wii this summer. It’s the perfect multi-player game for moms, dads and kids of all ages. Are you ready to rack up the points in a game of classic Alley Ball? Got the muscle to ring the bell in Test of Strength? Been practicing your accuracy for the famed Milk Bottle Throw? Ready to get wet in the Dunk Tank? If yes, then join the action as your Wii remote transforms from a sledgehammer to a frog flinger. Master all the classic carnival games and the ultimate prize could be yours – the virtual goldfish in a bag!

Features:

Over 20 family-friendly games including: Frog Leap, Clown Splash, Ring Toss, Dunk Tank, Day at the Races, Lucky Cups, Hoops, Shooting Gallery, Hole-in-One, Nerves of Steel and even The Great Swami, the mysterious fortune teller
Advanced game physics combined with innovative Wii controller actions
Win over 250 virtual carnival prizes like goldfish, pirate swords and giant stuffed animals!
Have fun personalizing your in-game characters with wearable rewards like the famous Viking horns and "Bling" necklace

Publisher: Take 2

The Big Book of Brain Games: 1,000 PlayThinks of Art, Mathematics & Science

Price: $22.95 USD

About the original 1000 PlayThinks,Will Shortz of The New York Times said it best: “The most wide-ranging, visually appealing, entertaining, gigantic collection of brainteasers since Sam Loyd’s Cyclopedia of Puzzles almost a century ago.” Inside The Big Book of Brain Games, you will find an obsessive collection of 1,000 challenges, puzzles, riddles, illusions—originals as well as must-do classics—it’s like salted peanuts for the brain. With jampacked pages and a full-color illustration for each entry, the book, opened anywhere, is a call to action. (And it’s guaranteed to make you smarter.) Twelve basic categories include Geometry, Patterns, Numbers, Logic and Probability, and Perception. An easy-to-read key at the top of each game ranks its difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10, while indices in the back cross-reference the puzzles. (You’ll find the answers back there, too.)

Author: Ivan Moscovich

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company

Quiddler

Price: $14.99 USD

The challenge of Quiddler is to arrange your entire hand into words. Draw and discard in turn. Try to use those high point letters, but don't get caught with them uncombined! Quiddler is fast paced because you can play using everyday words. A bonus is given for the most words in each round (so little words can help you win), as well as for the longest word. Quiddler is a delightful challenge for both rookies and word game lovers. Quiddler is for up to eight players.

The rules are brutal, but the rewards are worth it in this card game that works a bit like Scrabble. Although there is a solitary version of the game for one player, you can play with up to eight. Cards containing letters of the alphabet and special combinations of letters are dealt in increasing number each time the dealer completes a round. Once you've collected your share, you can discard and pick up a new card with each turn. The object is to turn all the letters in your possession into dictionary-proof words while leaving one stray card as a final discard. You want to be the first to accomplish the goal, of course, but there is a scoring system that makes the play competitive for everyone. One nice element is the cards themselves: the letter design is based on beautiful artwork from Celtic manuscripts. This card game is a 1999 Parents' Choice Silver Award winner. --Tom Keogh

Publisher: SET Enterprises Inc.

Futurama: Bender's Game

Price: $29.99 USD

With fuel prices skyrocketing, the Planet Express crew sets off on a dangerous mission: to infiltrate the world's only dark-matter mine, source of all spaceship fuel. But deep beneath the surface lies a far stranger place... a medieval land of dragons and sorcery and intoxicated knights who look suspiciously like Bender. So park your hover-car and saddle up your unicorn for Futurama's grandest adventure yet: BENDER'S GAME!

At once a merciless skewering of all things fanboy and an extremely satisfying addition to the Futurama franchise, Bender's Game is among the best of the animated series' feature length adventures. The game in question is Dungeons and Dragons, and Bender wants in--only robots aren't programmed with the necessary imagination. Naturally, Bender's plans to develop one go completely awry and land him in an android asylum. The role-playing plotline later re-emerges--in typically convoluted Futurama fashion--via a subplot involving Professor Farnsworth's conversion of dark matter into spaceship fuel, which created a key to a very D&D-influenced universe where our hapless heroes eventually find themselves. The alternate world storyline allows for much lampooning of fantasy tropes, with Lord of the Rings receiving the lion's share of the tweaks. Seeing as how the writers have already devoted much of the movie's running time to parodying Star Wars and Star Trek (and their Lego offshoots), one might think that Bender's Game might suffer from pop-culture overload, but surprisingly, it all feels fresh and frequently funny, and the writers are wise to ground the story in their eccentric characters rather than pinballing them through an endless string of gags. The result is probably the strongest of the direct-to-DVD Futurama releases to date, and one that newcomers to the show's cracked universe can appreciate as much as longtime fans.As with previous Futurama DVD releases, the extras come fast and furious on Bender's Game: commentary by members of the cast and production team (including Matt Groening) is both informative and funny, while interviews with the writers and producers discuss, among other topics, the influence of Dungeons and Dragons on the series and the 3D models used in the feature. Aspiring animators might appreciate "How To Draw Futurama in 83 Easy Steps and the storyboard animatic for the first part of the story, while the "Genetics Lab" feature allows for some amusing Dr. Moreau-style cross-breeding of the characters. Recording session bloopers and a deleted scene offer their own laughs, but the most enjoyable extra must be the preview for the next Futurama feature, Into the Wild Green Yonder, which suggests a shocking development for one of the show's regulars. -- Paul Gaita

Beyond Futurama: Bender's Game

The Simpsons

Family Guy

King of the Hill

Stills from Futurama: Bender's Game (Click for larger image)

Publisher: 20th Century Fox

Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel

Price: $49.99 USD

Start your engines and race with Mario and his friends with their finely tuned racing machines in Mario Kart Wii. Use 3 different control styles with the Wii Wheel included in the box. The worldwide race is on with a whole new set of tricks, tracks, and ways to play. Mario Kart Wii draws on courses and battle arenas from every game in the series - not to mention tons of new ones. The true king of the Mushroom Kingdom racing circuits will finally be crowned. Experience new tracks, enhanced Wii graphics, extraordinary gameplay and much more. Place first in Grand Prix circuits or clear skill-based missions to open up increasingly difficult and thrilling circuits. You can have multiplayer races on any open courses or battle in arenas. Now you can feel like you are Mario and steering to avoid obstacles and doing incredible stunts.

Special Powers/Weapons/Moves/Features - Shake the Wii Remote to pull off a trick that will temporarily boost your speed. When riding a bike, gain additional speed by flicking the Wii Remote up and popping a wheelie Up to 12 people via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection or up to 10 people via Wi-Fi Connection with 2 people playing locally

Drivers, start your engines!

Nintendo is bringing Mario and his friends with their finely tuned racing machines back and this time to the Nintendo Wii. With 3 different control styles and a Wii Wheel included in the box, Mario Kart Wii is bound to be the best in the series. The worldwide race is on with a whole new set of tricks, tracks, and ways to play! Place first in Grand Prix circuits or clear skill-based missions. Mario Kart Wii draws on courses and battle arenas from every game in the series not to mention tons of new ones the true king of the Mushroom Kingdom racing circuits will finally be crowned.

Wii Wheel Included!

New Intense Tracks and Tricks
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Cool new car designs
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Mario and his friends are back and ready to race once again in Mario Kart Wii! Experience new tracks, enhanced Wii graphics, extraordinary gameplay and much more! Place first in Grand Prix circuits or clear skill-based missions to open up increasingly difficult and thrilling circuits. Players can have multiplayer races on any open courses or battle in arenas. Also included with Mario Kart Wii is the Wii Wheel! Now you can feel like your Mario and steering to avoid obstacles and doing incredible stunts - in the safety of your home of course.

Game Features:

The Wii Wheel transforms the Wii Remote™ controller into a steering wheel that feels natural in anyone's hands, while the Wii Remote and Nunchuk™ controller offer a classic control style for the Mario Kart veteran. In either configuration, players can perform speed-boosting tricks with a shake of the Wii Remote.
Players can race as their favorite Nintendo character, or even as themselves! Mario Kart Wii lets players race with their personalized Mii™ characters. And racers will see other Mii characters they have created cheering from the sidelines on some race courses.
Players can compete with up to three friends in their living room. Or challenge up to 11 opponents via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in the biggest Mario Kart race yet. All tracks and modes of play are available via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and players can visit the Mario Kart Channel to compete in tournaments, check rankings, see when their friends are playing and download ghost data.
Cruise new tracks and arenas or tour classic courses from Super Mario Kart™, Mario Kart® 64, Mario Kart®: Super Circuit™, Mario Kart®: Double Dash!!™ and Mario Kart® DS. Tired of riding on four wheels? Bust out one of the new motorbikes for special tricks and techniques.

Characters
Nintendo favorites Mario™, Luigi™, Peach™, Yoshi®, Donkey Kong®, Wario™, Bowser™ and Toad™, plus a host of new faces-including your own! Get into the game and put your Mii™ character behind the wheel.

Special Powers/Weapons/Moves/Features
Whether racing around an obstacle-filled track or battling in an arena, drifting and tossing items are the keys to Mario Kart success. Players can shake the Wii Remote while launching off a ramp to pull off a trick that will temporarily boost their speed. When riding a bike, players can gain additional speed by flicking the Wii Remote up and popping a wheelie

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection:
Keeping in the tradition of Mario Kart, Nintendo has pushed multiplayer racingeven further utilizing the Wii's built in Wi-Fi Connection. There are two options for races and battles over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection: up to 12 people via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection or up to 10 people via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection with two people playing locally.

Publisher: Nintendo