Best Selling Family Games for 2010

Classic Family Board Games are topping Board Games sales this Christmas according to toy retailer Toys ‘R’ Us.

Traditional Family Game Scrabble is set to be just one of this years biggest selling ‘Family Board Game’ this Christmas along with Bop It! and the original Monopoly.

Scrabble, sold in over 121 countries and in 29 different language versions, has sold over 150 million sets since its launch 63 years ago.

Earlier this year, the makers of Scrabble made a bid to make the game more appealing to a younger generation when they changed the game ’rules’ allowing proper nouns to be legitimately cited.  This includes the use of  today’s modern yet obscure names with high scoring opportunities like chart topping singer ‘Jay-Z’ (23points) who may be known by a younger generation.

Now, the original Scrabble priced at £14.65 appears in the toy retailers top 15 Family Board Games along with usual favourite’s Cluedo and Pictionary.

“Bop It”, “Twist it”, “Pull it” became everyday words in 1996 when the first Bop it! arrived at Toys ‘R’ Us. Since then, the game of reaction skill has gone from strength to strength with several editions being launched into the marketplace.

The latest edition of Bop It! with a voice command microphone appears in the Toys ‘R’ Us Best Selling Board Games and Games listing.

Monopoly named after the economic concept of monopoly – the domination of a market by a single entity – launched its UK version 75 years ago.  Worldwide, it has been played by more than one billion people; making it the most played board game in the world.

There are many different versions of Monopoly at Toys ‘R’ Us, including Here and Now, Boutique and Spongebob, but it is the Original Monopoly and the brand new Monopoly Revolution that are making it to the Top 15 Family Board Games.

And they’re not the only old time classics to appear on the list; Wooden Chess and Wooden Draughts also appear along with classic family card game Uno and the mental and physical building game Jenga.

New Board game The Cube is set to be this season’s biggest selling game based on a TV show.  The Cube presented by ITV’s This morning presenter Phillip Schofield is a nerve-wracking game show which tests contestants’ skill and determination to the maximum. As per the TV Show the electronic challenging board game looks deceptively simple, but the player only has nine lives to complete the challenges.

Mike Coogan, spokesman for Toys R Us, said: “Classic, traditional board games are a phenomenon for 2010. This season we have seen people of all ages buying Board Games. They really do have mass appeal”.

“Over the years, we have witnessed a strong development of younger family members replacing traditional family board games with the gaming consoles like the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.  However this year, sales of Board Games seem to be indicating that families are reverting back to a traditionalism at Christmas time”.

“Whether this is an attempt to bring the whole family together or just a simple yet classic game for the more senior members of the family to enjoy remains a mystery”.

BEST SELLING FAMILY BOARD GAMES AND GAMES FOR 2010 (In Alphabetical Order)

Bop It!
Cluedo
Cranium WOW
Jenga
Monopoly
Monopoly Revolution
Pictionary Family
Pictureka
Scrabble
The Cube
The Logo Board Game
Uno
Wood Chess
Wood Draughts
Yahtzee

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Christmas toy price war heats up

Parents might be able to get as excited about Christmas this year as their children.  That’s because there seems to be a real toy price war gearing up just in time for the holidays.  Some supermarkets, apparently preparing to do battle with toy stores, are offering dramatic price reductions on some of the predicted best sellers for this season.

Sainsbury’s is calling everyone out with a toy sale of 50% off running for this week.  This isn’t just 50% off some cheap unheard of generic toy brands.  It is reported that the supermarket chain will offer at least 5 of the favourite 12 toys of Christmas 2010.

Tesco and Asda responded with promises of toy price reductions of 50% to 60%, although neither store said when this was going to happen and, upon last checking, they were still selling the favourite 12 toys for just a little under suggested retail prices.

Pink stinks for little girls

A new pressure group led by Emma and Abi Moore titled the ‘Pinkstinks’ campaign is asking parents to boycott any shops that sell pink clothes and pink toys for girls.

The twins, who have about three thousand supporters on Facebook, claim that young girls are being brainwashed by companies that target them in particular with pink items such as dresses and pink toy fairy wings.

Additionally, the group claims that the media is too focused on WAGs, sexy pop stars, and stick thin models which is making young girls look towards unrealistic role models.

The group identified the Early Learning Centre as one of the largest offenders of creating specifically pink toys.

The ‘Pinkstinks’ campaign believes that while boys toys embrace every avenue from educational to adventure to science, girls toys are much more limited to simply being pretty.

Who’s been playing with the kids toys?

A new research study found that on average a parent spends about a month of their own life playing their children’s toys, on their own.

The study claims that parents spend about 22 minutes a day playing with toys like dolls, bricks, and games, while their children are not playing.

This equates to about two and a half hours a week or five days a year.  Thus, during the seven years that a child is ages four to eleven the parent will play on their own for about a month ten days.

The study also found that parents get angry, although they may not show it, when a child decides to play with the toy they are currently toying with.

Out of the parents surveyed, half stated they preferred Lego with the other half admitting they enjoyed puzzles and games.

The survey included 2,000 parents and was conducted by the Early Learning Centre which additionally found that 25% of parents purchased new toys out of their own boredom and not their child’s.