Cardinal Games (a Spin Master subsidiary) and Looney Labs are partnering in the production of licensed card games. The first two, summer 2019 releases, will be Marvel Fluxx and Jumanji Fluxx. Both companies will produce versions of the games. Cardinal’s will be priced at $15 MSRP for the mass-market outlets. Looney Labs’ will be priced at $20 for hobby and specialty retail, and will come with seven bonus cards.

 

Mattel has signed a 3 year licensing deal covering the Despicable Me franchise. The company will produce a range of toys and games in time for the theatrical premier of the Minions sequel in 2020.

Far Out Toys has signed on kid-reviewer Ryan ToysReview for two licensed action games Splash Out and Head Splat. Both are due at retail in March.

University Games has acquired a license for games based on the Mog Man series of youth books by Dav Pilkey.

USAopoly has signed an agreement with Games Workshop to produce licensed versions of the latter’s Talisman board game. The agreement grants USAopoly international distribution rights for co-branded games. Two are planned for this year, though the specific properties have not yet been revealed.

Weta Workshop announced plans for a District 9 board game via Kickstarter project launching in late March.

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Just as Toy Fair was starting, the news went out that Ravensburger, Wonder Forge, and BRIO were all being reorganized under a new Ravensburger North America division. Most of what we saw at the show game-wise is starting to be listed under the Wonder Forge brand line, but there were quite a few games that were coming out with a Ravensburger logo on them. Several items featuring Minions and other characters from the Despicable Me movie franchise were found in both brand lines.

On the Ravensburger side, Despicable Me Labyrinth (Spring, $32) is a themed version of their popular Labyrinth game line. The Despicable Me-themed Eye Found It! (Fall, $26) joins that game’s line with a six-foot board and a card game version (Fall, $6). Those last two were so new, that even though they had them for display at the show, they were waiting for the licensor’s artwork approval, so no photos as of yet!

Wonder Forge’s Despicable Me showings included Linked Up (a Fall Target exclusive, $15), where you place plastic “link” bars connecting character images on a tight board; Battle Matching (Summer, under $10), a cute take on a memory/picture matching game; and Surprise Slides (Summer, price TBD), a spin and move game that’s a bit like Snakes & Ladders if you could move snakes and ladders around during the game.

Wonder Forge’s other items this year mainly featured Disney properties. The Elena of Avalor Flight of the Jaquins game (Fall, $20) features sculpts of Jaquins, a player-assembled palace, and bilingual cards. The game also has different modes of play to scale for age ranges: your kindergartener can play with your fourth-grader, each with different objectives, to complete first. Mickey and the Roadster Racers Bump ‘n’ Race (a Spring Toys R Us exclusive, $20) features a very simple game element with four small cars representing racers from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a sloped playing surface, and movable barriers to bounce off of.

The trivia-with-images game line Pictopia has two new entries, a smaller sized Marvel Cinematic Universe-themed Pictopia game (soon) and a big box Harry Potter edition (Summer). Each game has similar game play with trivia questions on the back of a card that features four images. The Harry Potter game contains questions about all of the movies, including Fantastic Beasts.

Back on the Ravensburger side of the booth, we find Krazy Wordz (Spring, $20). Create words out of your letter tiles, and then players choose which word sounds like it would fit the definition on the term cards in the center of the table. Does a “Garbuna” sound more like an Australian marsupial or a brand of chocolate bar to you?

The tenth anniversary editions of Notre Dame and In The Year of the Dragon are coming! (Availability date and retail prices TBD.) Both games will come with expansions included.

 

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USAopoly is paring together a few of its existing licenses with a new one from Czech Games Edition to publish Disney, Disney Pixar, and Marvel versions of Codenames. The first two to hit retail will be Codenames Disney Family Edition and Codenames Marvel Edition this coming fall priced at $25.

In announcing the new games, USAopoly’s John Davis said, “We’re particularly enthusiastic about the artwork, as it includes a great mix of characters and locations that Disney, Disney•Pixar and Marvel fans will appreciate,” which I gather means we’re looking at licensed versions of Codenames: Pictures.

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WizKids has just announce that Marvel’s Iron Man and War Machine will be joining Dice Masters in February.

The Iron Man and War Machine Starter Set will be the first annual starter set that will not be linked to a larger release.  The set will contain characters like Iron Man, War Machine, Howard Stark, and Rescue. It will also has versions of Iron Man’s armor never seen before in Dice Masters along with new takes on 8 Marvel Dice Masters heroes!

The Starter Set includes:

• 44  dice
• 38 cards
• Two dice bags
• Dice Masters rulebook

Marvel Dice Masters: Iron Man and War Machine Starter Set will retail for $19.99.

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Hitting shelves in February for $19.99, Legendary: Marvel: Noir will have you playing though the Marvel Noir storyline. The game will feature 5 new heroes, 2 Villain groups, 2 New Masterminds and 4 new schemes. Players will be able to use the Noir versions of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Angel.

Marvel: Noir will be the 12th expansion to Legendary: Marvel, and will contain 100 new cards with Noir artwork.

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USAopoly is pairing Steve Jackson Games’ Munchkin with a Marvel license for a game that has superheros killing monsters and grabbing treasure… well, probably not. But USAopoly does say that Munchkin: Marvel Edition “comes complete with new monsters (villains), allies (heroes) and custom S.H.I.E.L.D. Identification Cards,” so I gather the company’s figured out some way to merge the two, mechanically if not thematically.

USAopoly plans to ship Munchkin: Marvel Edition next April at an as-yet unspecified retail price.

 

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New Marvel games from Hasbro include:

• Monopoly Avengers Edition (spring, $20)—with hero cards that grant each player unique abilities.
• Operation Marvel Super Hero Adventures Edition (fall, $20)—where players remove debris from Iron Man’s suit.
• Hands Down Marvel Super Hero Adventures Edition (spring, $10)—in which the goal is to earn the “Ruler of Justice” title by being the first to get rid of all character cards.
• Thor’s Power Hammer Game (spring, $20)—featuring an electronic toy hammer that when struck on a flat surface measures a strength score against various villains.

WizKids has coming out in April Marvel Avengers Age of Ultron HeroClix and the Marvel X-Men Mutant Revolution strategy board game.

From Wonder Forge expect:

• Marvel On the Go Dominoes (spring, $6)—which is just Dominoes but with the pips replaced by pics.
• Marvel Matching (spring, $6)—a basic matching memory game with hexagonal pieces.
• Marvel Avengers Age of Ultron Party Game (fall, $10)—in which teams compete at using paddles to keep balloons in the air.
• Marvel 6-in-1 Games (spring, $15)—which includes Dominoes, Crazy Eights, Go Fish, Four-in-a-Row, Matching, and Bingo.

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With licenses for Disney, Dr. Suess, Marvel, DC, TMNT, and Star Wars, Wonder Forge had on display 13 new games for 2014.

Dr. Suess Charades ($14, July) takes the well-known game and makes it manageable for 3 year-olds. On one side of each display card are three choices for the one player to act out, and on the other side are six choices from which the other players can guess.

Meant to be played around the house, the Disney Sky Race Action Game ($24) mimics the air race of Disney’s Planes. Display signs representing waypoints in various countries are placed in different rooms. Then the players toss foam airplanes around the established circuit. During the course of the race, flight control cards set special conditions. For example, a wind card requires players to toss their planes with opposite hand. A turbulence card means the players have to toss their planes upside-down.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Shipwreck Beach Treasure Hunt Game ($24, April) combines matching and action elements and includes components that will probably see just as much use as role-play toys. Looking through the included spyglass, children decode secret clues then run to grab matching treasures using a foam sword.

Another matching game with lots of role-play opportunities is the Doc McStuffins All Better Game ($24, April). It comes with a medical kit bag, spinner, cardboard medical instruments, and slap bracelet bandages.

Included in the Sofia the First Magical Tea Time Game ($25) are tea cup devices, which a player blows on (as if to cool the tea), spinning a piece that determines the color of treat that player is supposed to collect.

In the Disney Princess Palace Pets Pretty as a Picture Game ($13, fall), players try to complete basic puzzles of the princesses’ pets. Certain space on the spinner, though, allow them to switch puzzles with other players.

Pictopia ($24, fall) is a Disney roll-and-move trivia game that covers the whole range of Disney properties, including classic cartoons, modern animation, and even teen pop music. The game also incorporates a wagering element. Players can bet on the answers in order to move their tokens forward.

The Justice League Axis of Villains Strategy Game ($24, May) challenges players to defeat a range of villains before they blow up space mission control. This one is very card and dice driven. A six-sided die determines what type of card a player gets, while an eight-sided die is used for movement.

Marvel Avengers Slide Strike Battle Game ($13, fall) combines a Stratego-like game of hidden pieces with a sliding-block puzzle. Each piece, Marvel superheroes on one side and villains on the other, have different strength ratings for their front, left, and right edges. A die roll indicates how many slides a player may make to move pieces around the board. When a hero and villain come in contact, the winner of the battle is based on the strengths of those characters on the edges that touch. To show that the losing character is out of the game, its disc is removed from the sliding block.

In the Marvel Ultimate Spider-Man Trickshot Duel Action Game ($23, fall) players are supposed to take turns using these doohickeys to shoot plastic discs and try to knock top-like pieces from the opponents team out of a building-like pen. Supposed to take turns, I said.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Foot Clan Street Fight Game ($23, spring) has neat painted mini figures for each of the turtles and a board that varies with each game (the spaces are separate cardboard discs). In terms of play, though, it combines roll-and-move and matching.

Star Wars Spotcha! ($20, fall) is a grabbing game with small plastic pieces derived from the Star Wars universe: a speeder, C3PO’s head, Jabba the Hutt, and others. Someone drops all the pieces on the table and then the players rush to grab the ones that are lying in positions matching the players’ cards.

The Star Wars Rebel Missions Adventure Game is a cooperative, real-time, code-breaking game with an electronic device that acts as a timer and plays a soundtrack. The goal is to match the code and enter it on the device before time runs out. To collect pieces of the code, players visit Imperial installations on sabotage missions, using dice to collect the tools that will give them elements of the code.

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In announcing the June release of Dark City, Upper Deck Entertainment described this first expansion for Legendary, the Marvel deck-building game, as “darker, grittier and tougher.” The set of 350 cards will include Apocalypse and Kingpin among the 6 new villain groups and 5 new masterminds. Among the 17 new heroes with unique art, though, will be the X-Force and Marvel Knights.

Expect a $40 price tag.

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First off, scheduled for release next month is Margaret Weis Productions’ Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game. Derived from the Cortex Plus RPG system, the game is currently available for preorder.

In March we get Marvel Avengers Slap Shot Bowling from Giant Tree House:

and Marvel Avengers card games, Go Fish, Crazy 8s, and War, from Glowfly Games:

JAKKS Pacific yesterday announced its own licensing arrangement with Marvel, based on which the company will produce Marvel Super Hero Squad plush toys. The plushies will be good for cuddling, as well as unlocking content in Marvel’s online trading card game at HeroUp.com. JAKKS also plans to launch in the spring “innovative ‘Skill & Action’ based games that encourage active, physical play based on popular Marvel super heroes.”

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