I’ve always liked chess but never been very good at it. While the basics are easy to pick up, the ability to scrutinize every situation on the board and think several turns in advance has always eluded me. The biggest obstacle to improving one’s chess game is that it requires an opponent of a very specific skill level. An opponent too easy won’t teach you anything, and an opponent too advanced makes for a very painful game.
Solitaire Chess, however, provides 60 different solo-play puzzles, increasing in difficulty to take you from beginner to expert. The puzzles teach you to think in sets of moves by putting arrangements of pieces on a quarter chunk of a chess board and asking you to remove one piece at a time until only one remains.
The puzzle cards stow in the base, along with two of each chess piece (but just one King and Queen) for easy storage. It’s designed for ages 8 and up and runs for $20 at Thinkgeek or $15 at Amazon.
I actually rather enjoy those spherical mazes that have become popular as of late. But once you successfully solve them by navigating the metal ball through the twists, turns and other obstacles, there’s not a lot of replay value left. Unless you manage to turn it into a competition with other people. Like the Maze Racer does.
While the course isn’t fully 3D like the ones that snake their way around the inside of those plastic spheres, it still measures over 3.28 feet long (1 meter+) with plenty of obstacles to pose a suitable challenge. But completing the maze is less about the feeling of accomplishment, and more about beating the clock since the Maze Racer’s got an electronic timer built in. Now hopefully the timer is somehow integrated in a way so that it automatically stops and starts the clock when the ball leaves the starting point/ends up at the finish line. Because when you’re trying to beat a friend’s time, every last second counts. Available from Firebox for ~$24. (£14.99)
Those of you with kids are probably getting tired of trying to hunt down the latest iteration of Sesame Street’s Elmo every December. But I’m happy to report that things will be different this Christmas. Not only will you be hunting down the new ‘Let’s Rock Elmo’ toy, but also the various instruments he’s now able to interact with. Which are of course sold separately.
Out of the box Elmo’s able to rock out with his included tambourine, microphone and drums, which he’ll automatically recognize when placed in his hands. Once he’s mastered those he can move onto a guitar and even a keyboard. And since he’s so talented Elmo even has a unique song for every instrument he’s given, which you can guarantee will be stuck in your head after the first day. Kids can of course play along too using his instruments, that is if you manage to find him when he goes on sale in the Fall for $69.99.
And as an added bit of corporate trivia: Rock On Elmo is apparently the first Elmo toy to be available under the Hasbro brand who recently won the Sesame Street license from their rival Mattel, who’s represented the property for the past 15 years.
You might recall that not too long ago M.I.C. gadget was marketing a Steve Jobs figurine, complete with an iPhone in his hand, that Apple kindly asked them to stop selling. So it’s not surprising that trying to hunt down the company behind this remarkably detailed, 1/6 scale 12-inch version of Steve is no easy task. I’ve found mentions of the figure, which features a detailed head sculpt of Mr. Jobs (or Wes Craven) on various toy blogs and forums, but everyone seems pretty mum about who’s actually producing it. Obviously they want to be able to get their hands on one before Apple’s legal team puts the smack down on it.
For just $160 (appropriately priced for the Apple community) the figure comes accurately dressed with New Balance 992 sneakers, a black turtleneck and blue jeans. As well as a slew of accessories including an iMac with Magic Mouse and keyboard, an iPhone 4, an iPad 2 and a desk and chair. Oh, and one more thing… that price doesn’t include shipping.
Ever wonder what makes an astromech droid tick? The latest version of Hasbro’s classic Operation game has been given a Star Wars makeover, but instead of poking around inside an alien life form like Yoda or Chewbacca, you use your amateur surgeon skills on R2-D2. The game hasn’t popped up on any of the official Hasbro websites just yet, so details on exactly what maladies are plaguing Artoo are still unknown. But here’s to hoping you don’t actually have to deal with C-3PO as a nurse. Available in September for $26.99, but you can pre-order it now from Toywiz.
I’m a big advocate of toys that stimulate a child’s imagination. So Naama Agassi’s clever Branch Holder brought a smile to my face. It’s a simple piece of flexible moulded rubber with holes at either end so it can be slipped onto a tree branch, making it look more like a sword. It also serves as a functional fingerguard, which isn’t a bad idea given my scarred knuckles reflect the wounds from a childhood spent tree branch duelling. Sadly, I see no indication that the Branch Holder is actually available for sale anywhere.
Beyblades came along well after my trips to the store started with a stroll down the toy aisles. But I get the idea. You spin them up real good like, launch them into a plastic bowl and let physics and gravity do their thing until a ‘last top standing’ winner is declared. But now, Takara Tomy has found a way to take some of the randomness out of who wins a Beyblade battle. Their new Super Control Beyblades can actually be controlled via an IR remote, letting combatants accelerate, reverse and even stop their Beyblades in the middle of the arena. It’s all accomplished by an electric motor inside the top which increases, decreases or even cancels out their spin, making them move and react more like they do in the anime TV series.
It’s hard to fault any product that incorporates the Star Wars Universe’s most lovable astromech droid. But something tells me this R2-D2 themed planetarium from Sega Toys isn’t quite scientifically accurate. It still looks like a fun way to light up a kid’s room, just as long as you’re ok when they ask you why they can’t see the Death Star looming overheard when they stare up at the real night sky. Available in Japan sometime in September for under $87 (¥7,000).
There hasn’t been a real innovation in water gun technology since the Super Soaker was introduced 21 years ago! (And cue feelings of being old.) And while I’m hesitant to officially refer to them as water guns, these Xploderz toy firearms certainly bring something new to the table. They look like Nerf guns, but work more like paintball guns. However, instead of blasting your target with paintballs that leave stains and bruises, the Xploderz fire little non-toxic balls of a superabsorbent polymer made of acrylic acid, sodium hydroxide, coloring and water. They’re safe to eat, though it’s not recommended, and can be disposed of in a garden since the material was originally designed to help crops absorb and store moisture.
The ammo starts off as little pellets that you need to soak in warm water for about 4 hours so they absorb enough water and expand to be large enough to be fired by the guns. It also means they’re softer and won’t hurt as much when they hit their target, which will most likely be another person. The pellets can be grown right inside the swappable ammo clips too, so you never have to touch them before they’re fired at distances of up to 85 feet. The two models pictured above, the sniper-like XRanger 2000 and the XStormer 1000 will cost you $39.99 and $29.99 respectively. While ammo refill packs, which include an empty clip, appear to run about $5.99.
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