Party games were the focus at Playmonster this year, along with some cute spin-offs of earlier kids games.

Relative Insanity ($25 retail, available now) is a party game written by comedian Jeff Foxworthy. It applies the now-familiar structure of one-player-the-judge and applies it to joke writing with 100 Setup cards and 400 Punch Line cards.

In Dictitious ($25, now) everyone votes on player-submitted definitions for fake words.

Utter Nonsense ($25, now), available in Family and Naughty editions, is a game of accents and special voices in the one-player-the-judge, party-game category. These were previously independently published and Target exclusives but were recently acquired by Playmonster [interesting, considering the company also sells Accentuate].

Chrono Bomb! Night Vision ($30, fall) takes the company’s previously released spy-themed activity game of dodging laser security systems (actually strings tied to timers) and adds UV goggles so kids can play in the dark.

Pass the Pup is a combination of hot-potato and action game. Press the dog’s paw to start the music. Whomever is holding the pup when the music stops must do what it says on the next action card.

Already in-print but now getting a refresh is Don’t Rock the Boat ($22, now), a balancing challenge with pirate penguins. In this new version, the individual penguin figures will represent distinct characters and have different weights.

As a follow-up to the absolutely fantastic Yeti in My Spaghetti, this year Playmonster has Yeti, Set, Go! ($22, summer). Each player gets a yeti and by bopping them on the head, kicks meatballs up the mountain. Points are totaled depending on where the meatballs land. Though not a licensed product, expect some cross-promotion with the movie, Smallfoot, scheduled for September.

And finally, not games but still very cool, Playmonster is adding two more machines to the Marbleocity line, Chaos Mountain and Archimedes Screw ($25 each, spring). They can be hand-cranked or motorized and linked to other elements of the series.

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For me, the highlight of Patch’s booth this year—a highlight of the show even—was Chrono Bomb (July, $25 in box or $35 in case). It’s one of those games that has kids playing through the house, turning rooms in to part of the story.

With Chrono Bomb, strings attached to sensors are meant to imitate those laser-detection systems you see in all the spy action movies. Kids are supposed to stretch those strings across halls and doors making a sort-of obstacle course for their friends. Then object cards are spread through the course, a mission is chosen (indicating the specific objects that need to be retrieved), and a timer set.

In addition to simply playing the Chrono Bomb game, I could definitely see kids challenging each other with tougher courses or using the devices as an alarm system against their younger siblings entering their rooms.

Yeti in My Spaghetti (August, $18) has a certain similarity to Pick-up Sticks. Players take turns pulling noodles and hoping that the yeti won’t drop in to the bowl.

For children starting at 2 years, Patch is launching the Smart Start line in July. Sparky ($25) teaches shapes and colors with a cute light-up insect. When someone presses the button on top, Sparky says a shape and his tail lights a matching color. Cheese Dip ($20) is a letter recognition and spelling game. Children use the tails of their mouse pieces to pick up letters made with holes like Swiss cheese. Puppy Up ($25) is for numbers, which it teaches with a scale. On one side go a number of puppy figures, on the other matching numerals.

5 Second Rule Junior (fall, $20) includes a board for scoring, as well as questions easier for kids (for example, “Name three things dipped in ketchup”).

Stack Attack (July, $12) combines dice, fast-play, and dexterity elements. Players, all at the same time, stack their dice on a single tower. To place a die, though, it has to be showing a number either one more or one less than the last die at the top. Points are scored for dice that remain should the tower fall and for getting rid of all one’s dice.

A travel version of The Game of Things (March, $10) will include 107 new cards.

All In (fall, $25) is a get-to-know-you type game. Players wager on whether a fact about the reader is true or false. That wager, though, need not be all for one or the other. Each player must bet all his chips but can hedge by distributing them between true and false. The winner—because getting to know people is only fun if it’s a competitive process—is the last player with chips remaining.

You Bet Your Ass (fall, $25) plays the same as All In but features risque questions and donkey betting tokens.

In the Perplexus line of three-dimensional mazes, fall will see release of a micro series featuring thematic designs, including Q-Bot and Drakko (both $10). Also a Star Wars Perplexus Death Star ($40).

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