We're unlikely to see the veritable amount of tat that surrounded the Royal wedding last year, we're hoping that celebratory and commemorative kit will all attempt to be as classy as this chess set (over optimistic perhaps). Each piece is handpainted, it truly is a glorious piece of kit that's certain to find favour with those who refer to parts of their abodes with terms such as East and West wing. It'll set you back almost £300 HERE for those interested parties.
We've been treated to a fair few Scalextric licences over the years, James bond ones were pretty good, Toy Story didn;t float our slot-car racing boat, this pair of beauties has us grinning from ear to ear. Why we've had to wait for so long to get Star Wars and Scalexctric to tema up Darth only knows, and frankly we don;t give a Yoda because it's finally happening - Exactly when we're no sure. So, we have the Micro 1:64 scale Death Star Attack set with a Lord Vader Tie Fighter battling a Luke Skywalker X-Wing, the spaceships have working ...
It took us a while getting around to building our LEGO Technic Bucket Truck, that’s cherry picker to most of us or elevated platform to those perhaps allergic to cherries or very posh indeed. It’s the machine used to rig up local Christmas lights or fix street lights, very clever vehicles they are too. Just like its real life ride this Bucket Truck has a set of gears to raise and rotate the platform on the back, two more gears let you deploy the outriggers at the side of the vehicle to keep it stable when the platform is fully ...
In our scramble to put as many crossover category toys to the test this year (think Skylanders, Wappydog, Angry Bird plush etc) we'd somehow almost missed this plumber based box of racing good ness. The Mario Kart Battle pack features a Mario and Yoshi sat in their rides and an assortment of track accessories for you to establish where your hairpins and chicances should be placed. whilst you race the lights on the nift RC unit have lights which each represent an action you'd find on the console version, Mushroom: Gives a speed boost Green Shell: Sends your opponent hurtling backwards Lightning: Sends ...
The upper class fox was at his very best in the eighties, close to the cuff humour for kids TV, often ridiculing his guests and co-hosts, quality Telly. Now you can own your own Basil Brush handpuppet, give him a squeeze and he'll let out his grin inducing laugh topped off with a legendary "Boom Boom" at the end. At just £12.99 seems like a no-brainer.
We have seen a few 3D puzzlesover the past months, these new ones from Wrebbit (we’ll get to the bottom of that name creation soon) are these landmark builds, each one a 750 piece plus affair, not easy by any means but deeply satisfying when finished. From the Taj Mahal to Big Ben there’s a few to choose from and are about the biggest in their class, and priced between £20-£40 when launched in June over at Amazon.
The smash Apple iOS and Android Fruit ninjas comes to life with this fab bit of fruit lopping fun. The real life version of the game see’s you take hold of one mini ninja sword and attack the 20 pieces of plastic fruit. Pick up a mission card and select your target fruit then get chopping. This is definitely the year of the “appcessorie” and this is definitely the place to discover the latest on release. London Toy Fair press releases so far have us a list of almost 20 to share with you next week. If you’re a fan of the app, but not so much this game then perhaps a real life Fruitg Ninja plush is for you, complete with squelchy sound FX. BUY!
We’re unlikely to see the veritable amount of tat that surrounded the Royal wedding last year, we’re hoping that celebratory and commemorative kit will all attempt to be as classy as this chess set (over optimistic perhaps). Each piece is handpainted, it truly is a glorious piece of kit that’s certain to find favour with those who refer to parts of their abodes with terms such as East and West wing. It’ll set you back almost £300 HERE for those interested parties.
There can be little worse than the dissatisfaction associated with pulling a sub-standard Xmas cracker. Most of the time the banging bit has to be pulled seperately as it slipped out of your cheap crepe paper number during the tug-of-war process and then, whoever is victorious, wishes they weren’t – spyglass, plastic charms, dic good-for-nothing apart from top prize at a choking hazard competition. Now this selection is different altogether, “now this collection is…..” no stop that. From the Jumbo 4-in-1 cracker featuring classic Hasbro games and six legally required hats it’ll need those lower branches if you put it on the tree, then there are the single game crackers including Scrabble,Twister, Cluedo and Monopoly which each contain surprises (and of course hats) and when all are opened you can play variants on the original classic board games. All of them are available this way – Happy cracking and good luck with the Twister version if you play post xmas-lunch!
Utterly pointless toy of the year prize is awarded to this, Air Table Tennis. Toy you’re most likely to consider buying this week or sticking down as an entry on your Santa List award goes to this, Air Table Tennis. With no ball needed, it’ll not get lost, with no table needed you can satisfy your Ping Pong whims wherever and whenever you want. FLick the switch and make your serve, and marvel at the satisfying “clonk” sound eminating from the bat, then the sound of the ball hitting a table thats not there, the opponent (that’s the one, that’s not there) returns the shot “tock” and now it gets tricky, this isn’t just a sound efffects machine! You must now judge the speed of their shot from the time it takes to bounce on your side of the table and match the timing with a return hit and another, deeply satisfying “thwock” as you return the ball, and repeat – Your virtual opponent varies the speed of the return, this is getting addictive now and we’re only reading about it. This way please.
Away with the dice, old-fashioned playing pieces, laying out cards and lenghty set-ups the App Player is the multi talented board game that’ll be your new compendium. This “i” device and Android compatible game lets you use one board to power four totally different games, with more to come in the future we’re told. Play Humm Bugg (take it in turns to hum well known tunes against the clock), Masquerade for a game of charades, Great Big Trivia the general knowledge quiz or Tension, a collection of quick fire mental challenges. You keep score using the cross-shaped board all you have to do after hittong the buy button is await the arrival of the box and then get along to the relevant app store, download game(s) that take your fancy, adust settings (timer period, sound effects etc) then simply start playing and the virtual game cards appear on the screen. £19.99 of your hard-earned HERE
We’ve accidentally uncovered this classic as we compile our annual list of Boxing Day Boredom busters, games that’ll (hopefully) do away with differing generations squabbling over which repeats to watch whilst chewing on turkey sandwiches. Called Booby Trap the premise is pretty simple, load up the multi-coloured piece of different sizes into the spring loaded chamber and begin the removal of each – Yank one out without careful consideration or in fact too fast and the pieces will fly. Yours for £14.99 here
We will be honest here. Upon opening the box for our Appmates toy we were thrown into a dilemma. New exciting toy we want to play with vs preserve the screen of the beloved tablet computer. Perhaps not surprisingly the urge to play won.
The way it works is simple. Download the free Cars 2 Appmates app, grab your little model cars and get playing.
You have to hold the side windows to operate your vehicle, but then you simple move it across the screen and the background moves along with you from a birds eye view, while you complete the various levels.
There are a range of options too which you can win as you progress through the game such as different tyres, headlights and weapons. And with the cast of cars to play with you can explore different parts of the game depending on your character of choice.
While our only concern is that the fiddly aspect of keeping hold of the side windows to make the car work might prove a touch too much for tiny hands, we’re pretty certain that whether you’re worried about scratches on your screen or not, you’re not going to be seeing it any time too soon if the young’uns get ahold of it.
Have a looksee at the Cars 2 appMATes demo here
Often referred to as one of the world’s biggest car-parks the M25, love or loathe it (anyone who does love it do let us know) imagine how bad things could’ve been without this 127 mile loop around London. Celebrating, although we don’t know of any parties, it’s 25th anniversary this weekend we’ve found M25 the boardgame, never a huge seller in the 80′s but as a retro purchase we think it looks rather fun. The aim? To get around the M25 shaped(ish) board, your passage impaired by others and challeges along your route include lip-reading what other drivers are trying to say to you, gesture in the form of a mime what you may think of a player’s driving or draw a phrase which you may feel describes other drivers on the M25 – £20 on ebay, beware this seeler also had Home and Away the boardgame and other rarities from the 80′s, you could end up leaving here rather light of wallet – You have been warned
Since back in June (thanks Tesco) we’ve been inundated with top tens (lots of them), fab fifteens (fewer of those), eclectic eights, super sixes etc etc……then yesterday, the one which the media come out in force to see, is the annual Toy Retailers Associations announcement of their Dream Dozen. It’s an eclectic round up of 12 toys across many categories that the organisation, which represents 75% of Toy retailers in the UK, reckon are going to be the hottest property this Yule, so, laydees and gentlemen without further ado, here they are :
Doggie Doo, John Adams, RRP £22.99
Fijit Friends, Mattel, RRP £54.99
Fireman Sam Pontypandy Rescue Set, Character, RRP £29.99
Kidizoom Twist, Vtech, RRP £49.99
LeapPad Explorer, Leapfrog Toys, RRP £79.99
Lets Rock Elmo, Hasbro, RRP £69.99
Milky the Bunny, Flair, £59.99
Monster High Lagoona’s Hydration Station, Mattel, £39.99
Moshling Tree House, Vivid, RRP £18.99
Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster, Hasbro, RRP £44.99
Ninjago Fire Temple, Lego, RRP £91.99
Star Wars Ultimate Force Tech Lightsaber Assortment, Hasbro, RRP £39.99
This year there were two new award categories, the Kid’s choice and Mum’s choice awards, tested and voted by the people who really matter, read on for those results :
Subscribe to our newsletter
Use the form below to search the site:
Still not finding what you're looking for? Drop a comment on a post or contact us so we can take care of it!
A few highly recommended friends...
All entries, chronologically...
