My favorite game for kids at Toy Fair was Ultra Dash (June, $25), Playmonster’s version of an earlier game, Hyper Dash. It has a set of targets in different colors and a wand (which they call a “tagger”) that flashes the same colors in varying patterns. Kids, or energetic adults, are supposed to run from room to room, plugging the wand in to the matching targets. Settings allow for most targets in a fixed time, quickest time for a fixed number of targets, or for play as a team relay game.

On the silly end of things, Playmonster had Belching Mikey (June, $10), a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles version of its hot-potato game, Stinky Pig.

This year, Playmonster is also bringing back two fast-play card games previously with other publishers, 7 Ate 9 and Qwitch (available shortly, $10 each). A player’s goal in both is to get rid of their cards by discarding in series. In 7 Ate 9, the next card follows the numbers on the previous one. So for example, the 4 ± 3 card can be followed by either 1 or 7. In Qwitch, cards have numbers and letters, and the direction for the following card is set by a separate deck with + and – symbols.

For adults, Playmonster is launching two party games. Accentuate (June, $25) has players reading movie quotes in various accents. Teammates able to guess the accent or movie earn points. Go Bleep Yourself (June, $25) is about filling in the blank (or bleep) with either something funny or something that turn’s reader would likely have said.

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Nomad Games is making a Warhammer 40,000 version of Talisman Digital (PC and Mac). With Talisman: The Horus Heresy, the game is scaled up so that players are competing for control of the galaxy. It’ll feature both against-AI and online multiplayer modes at release next month.

Another 40K game, Space Hulk, is seeing release on Nintendo Wii U courtesy of HR Games.

Accentuate, the game of imitating and guessing different accents, now has an iOS version. Keep in mind, though, that the app doesn’t speak; it’s just providing quote and accent cards, so you can play on-the-go.

Square Shooters, the dice as playing cards game, is being developed as a free-to-play mobile app. A version for online casinos is also planned. Development is being performed by students at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a class project.

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In its latest episode aired Sunday night, Dragon’s Den UK funded a second board game. Peter Jones put up £45,000 for 40 percent of Accentuate, a party game of mimicking and guessing accents. In contrast to the dragons’ usual harsh attitude towards games, even those who didn’t offer to invest were generally complementary.

But the episode wasn’t without its awkward moments, ones which I think will particularly resonate with game designers. Before deciding to invest, Peter Jones initial reaction was:

You’ve invented a game that can be played without the game.

And following that, Nick Jenkins having barely played one round, offered his opinion on how the game could be improved.

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Accentuate makes a game of imitating and guessing accents. The speaker draws a pair of quotation and accent cards, attempting to read the quotation in the given accent. If the speaker’s teammates correctly guess the accent, they win a point.

Accentuate retails for £20 with 90 quotation cards and 30 accents. Currently only available in the U.K., the company is planning U.S. and German versions later this year.

[via ToyNews]

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