Out now in Japan is Super Mario Uno from Mattel (¥1,064). “Includes special Mario rule,” whatever that means. Also available delivered to the United States for $62, shipping included.

[via Nintendo News]

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A new Disney Pixar movie means of course lots of opportunities to play along with licensed games at home.

Closest to its inspiration is the Finding Dory See Search Game from Spin Master ($25). The board in this one represents the ocean floor but in order to see what’s there players will have to look through diving goggles with special lenses. After drawing a card, players all at the same time search with their goggles to find the matching symbol.

Spin Master subsidiary Cardinal Industries has a Finding Dory Floor Memory Match Game ($16) and a Finding Dory Pop-Up Game ($15). Also the Finding Dory Shell Collecting Game ($17) in which players use Dory fishing poles to try and grab shells as they snap open and closed while spinning around the pool.

Hasbro has Finding Dory Guess Who ($15) and Finding Dory Operation ($20). On its way is a Finding Dory Monopoly Junior ($15).

Also shipping soon is Finding Dory Spot It ($13) from Asmodee.

From Mattel there’s Finding Dory Uno ($6).

Outside the U.S., Ravensburger’s put out Finding Dory Surprise Slides (£12), a spin-and-move game in which sections of the occasionally flip to vary the path. Ravensburger also has a Finding Dory Memory game (£4).

Finding Dory Don’t Wake Hank (£20) from Bandai is a kind-of balance game. The goal is to place pieces on Hank’s tentacles until they collapse.

More matching games, but appropriately waterproof, are available from Cartamundi, Finding Dory Pairs (£11), and Jumbo, Finding Dory Bath Memo Game.

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By now you’ve probably heard the news that Mattel is entering the 3D printing market with the Thingmaker. The $300 printer is aimed at making it easy to choose items to print and getting them printed. Well now you can pre-order the Thingmaker from Amazon, making it so you can have it to play with as soon as possible.

What’s almost as cool as 3D printing? 3D scanning physical items to be replicated with a 3D printer. Hasbro has a patent out for a device that makes 3D scanning simple using a rotating base and a smartphone. While probably not as precise as the recently Kickstarted Eora 3D, it’ll probably be much more affordable.

Wrapping up, here’s a list of some great looking products you can snag off Wargame Vault and print yourself:

Printable Scenery:

Citadel Tower
Winterdale Blacksmith
Winter dale Bridge Cottage
Winterdale Gnarly Tree Pack
Dungeon Caverns

Fat Dragon Games:

DRAGONLOCK: Dungeon Expansion Set 1
DRAGONLOCK: Dungeon Expansion Set 2
DRAGONLOCK MINIATURES: Lizardfolk Set

Via Ludibunda:

3D Gallows

Prices vary on these, but it’s worth it in general since you can print as much as you’d like one you have the files.

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Mattel’s fourth quarter gross sales were 3 percent higher in 2015, absent the impact of currency exchange rates, compared to the same period in the previous year. Full-year gross sales were up 1 percent in constant-currency terms, buoyed by 7 percent growth in Fisher-Price and a 22 percent rise from Hot Wheels. Mattel’s entertainment business, which includes both the digital and tabletop games categories, grew 16 percent.

A recently announced “strategic partnership” will see Stronghold Games handling all English-language games of eggerspiele in North America.

The two Toys “R” Us stores in Ireland are shutting down just 6 months after opening.

Queen Games has begun providing its games direct to distributors in North America, ending its distribution arrangement with Asmodee NA. Queen Games will use Ship Naked for fulfillment, with Hit Point Sales also providing an alternate sales vehicle.

For its part, Asmodee has acquired Nordic and Dutch distributor Bersgala Enigma and is renaming the company to just “Enigma”.

Patch Products of Beloit, Wisconsin has acquired STEM and construction toy company, Roominate. Patch also changed its name to Playmonster.

Spin Master has acquired the Etch A Sketch and Doodle Sketch brands, including all related patents, trademarks, tooling, and inventory, from The Ohio Art Company.

Bay Tek Games has purchased Skee Ball.

Playmore Games of Finland announced the closing of an Angel round of funding with €250,000 from Nolwenture Ltd. and Davigia Ltd. The investment will be used to expand the company’s distribution network for tabletop games, as well as to develop its Dized application for enhancing tabletop games with digital content.

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For the 50th anniversary of the original series Star Trek, CBS has licensed Gale Force 9 to produce hobby games, USAopoly for board games, and Spin Master for RC vehicles.

Pressman has the game license for Powerpuff Girls. Spin Master has the master toy license.

According to a press release from Rovio, the game license for the upcoming Angry Birds movie went to Hasbro, yet at Toy Fair, I saw a game at Spin Master and none at Hasbo.

Jumbo has a license to produce Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice games in Europe.

Netflix has ordered a Stretch Armstrong series from Hasbro Studios.

River Horse is working on a board game based on The Hunger Games. WizKids used to have that license.

There will be a Master of Orion board game from Hobby World.

Winning Moves UK has a new Midsomer Murders Cluedo.

Mattel has taken over the Halo toy and figure license.

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According to Bloomberg, Hasbro and Mattel have discussed a potential merger. No concrete steps are said to have been taken for a deal that would likely face significant regulatory and other hurdles. And in fact, other sources suggest the deal is definitely not going forward. But imagine the crossover potential! I’m thinking the next American Girl Girl of the Year is a competitor on the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. Or what might the attachments look like for a Monster High Mr. Potato Head?

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Inspired by the upcoming movie, Dawn of Justice, it’s a Batman v. Superman Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, $25 from Mattel.

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I may have been a little quick on the posting last week…

DreamWorks Animation signed Mattel as the master toy licensee for Dinotrux, a series coming to Netflix and featuring creatures that are half-dinosaur and half-construction vehicles.

For the How To Train Your Dragon franchise, DreamWorks Animation renewed its license with Spin Master, extending it to include the next movie in the series, How To Train Your Dragon 3 (scheduled for 2018).

Spin Master also signed on with Universal and Illumination Entertainment for The Secret Life of Pets, an animated comedy feature-film scheduled for summer 2016.

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The very popular game of Splendor, which is distributed by Asmodee, will see release in digital form this summer (Android, iOS, Steam) by another Asmodee subsidiary, Days of Wonder. The companies promise a faithful adaptation of the tabletop game, which is nominally about Renaissance merchant houses. Really though, I can see the simple but fairly abstract mechanics of this game working well as a nice distraction on a cell phone or tablet. In case you haven’t played, it works basically like this: each turn a player may either collect income, in the form of gemstones of various colors, or purchase a card, which provides either victory points, recurring income, or both.

Youdagames and Royal Jumbo recently launched Stratego Single Player (iOS and Android) with options for the classic 40 vs. 40 battle, a shorter 16 vs. 16 battle, and even a campaign mode. The skill of the computer opponent can be adjusted and there are new unit ranks available. App price is $1.99.

Battling the latest killer virus is your job as director of the New York City field office of the Department of Plague Control in Infection: Humanity’s Last Gasp (PC, Mac, iOS). The decisions you must make include where to focus research, whom to hire, and what equipment to purchase. Infection is a solitaire game based on the same title from Victory Point Games. The apps are priced $10 desktop and $5 mobile. Fourteen different virus challenges are included.

Up to five players can play live with Apples to Apples now on iOS. The game also connects to social media, so players can share their silly card combinations and challenge friends via Facebook. The basic game is free but of course there are in-app purchases.

Not a game in and of itself, Tabletopia rather is a platform, still in development, for digital publishing of board games. The system is supposed to be accessible from PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, and emphasizes replicating the function and appearance of the tabletop as closely as possible. Interested designers and publishers can sign up for beta access now.

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A new edition of the Collins Official Scrabble Words list has been issued with more than 6,500 additional entries. The new words will be legal for English-language tournament play outside North America. There the game is sold by Mattel and competitions controlled by WESPA (the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association).

Among the new words added were “lolz”, “emoji”, “cakehole”, “coqui”, “shizzle”, and “tweep” [only one of which was recognized by my spell-checker].

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