Rory's Story Cubes is a pocket-sized creative story generator, providing hours of imaginative play for all ages. There are infinite ways to play with Rory's Story Cubes - Try them as a party game or ice-breaker, for literacy development, speaking and listening skills, creative inspiration, a mental workout or problem solving. Anyone can become a great storyteller and there are no wrong answers. Simply roll the cubes and let the pictures spark your imagination.

Features:

• 1 or more players
• Reinforces artistic expression
• Ages 8 and up
• Playing time: 15 minutes

The game map changes every time for an endless variety of play. View larger.

Settlers of Catan engages both children and adults, garnering best-seller status in both Germany and the US. View larger.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good:Engaging strategy game that's different each time you play The Bad:Requires three or four players In a Nutshell:The Settlers of Catan is fun, easy to learn, and keeps advanced players on their toes At a Glance Ages:10 and up Requires:Three or four players

On the Road to Settlement
The game rules and almanac booklet sets out four pages of guidelines for getting started. Don't worry, the rules are straightforward and the four pages include plenty of illustrations. There's a starting map that shows a well-balanced set-up for beginners to follow and directions that allow more advanced players to lay out the map of the island at random. You'll have to pop the die-cut components of the game out of their cardboard holders before you play your first game.

The almanac portion of the booklet is laid out alphabetically, so while playing you can find answers to specific questions quickly. Useful entries remind you exactly what role pieces like the robber play, how actions like maritime trade work, and how to set up the board or finish the game.

Exploring and Developing Catan
The board consists of 19 terrain hexes surrounded by the ocean. Each type of terrain produces a different type of resource: brick, wool, ore, grain or lumber. There's also a desert hex that produces no resources. As the game progresses, players use resources to build roads along the edges of these hexes and settlements or cities on the intersections where three hexes meet. Each player begins the game with two settlements and two roads.

Each player's roll of the dice causes certain hexes to produce resources, which you collect if you have a settlement on one of them. On your turn, you'll use various combinations of the resources you've acquired to build new roads and settlements, upgrade settlements to cities, or purchase development cards. The ability to trade resources with other players adds a new level of strategy and ensures that the game includes lots of interaction between players. You can also trade without worrying about other players using an unfavorable maritime trade rate. Elements including a robber piece that lets you steal from other players and a variety of development cards add intrigue to the game.

The objective of The Settlers of Catan is to be the first one who collects 10 victory points. Each settlement is worth one victory point and each city is worth two victory points. You can also earn victory points by holding the "Longest Road" card, the "Largest Army" card, or special victory point development cards.

Best-Selling Game of the Year
It's easy to see why The Settlers of Catan has been recognized as a best-selling Game of the Year in both Germany and the U. S. We found this game to be fun and engaging for both children and adults, and the variable nature of the playing field really made us want to play again and again. When we started pausing to contemplate our opponents' strategy and factoring the probability of different dice rolls into our moves, the game sometimes took longer than expected, but we were so engrossed we didn't even notice until it was all over.

Due to the widespread popularity of the original game, several expansion sets (sold separately) are available that allow you to explore new aspects of the game or add more players. The only downside to this game is that you need to have either three or four players to play, so it's great that expansion sets are available that will allow you to add players.

Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100 At a Glance: Age:8 years and up Requirements:2 AA batteries (not included) Warranty:Warranted against manufacturer's defects Upgrade Kit: UC-30: Upgrades to SC-300 UC-40: Upgrades to SC-500 UC-60: Upgrades to SC-750 AC-SNAP: Battery replacement kit

Build 101 different electronic projects. View larger.

Electric Bombing Game View larger.

Create Working Electronic Circuits
Snap Circuits comes with over 30 pieces to create 101 different electronic projects. The pieces, which include snap wires, slide switches, an alarm circuit, a music integrated circuit, and a speaker, snap together easily on the included plastic grid--no soldering required. Each piece is numbered and color-coded to make identifying them easy. These components combine to create working circuit boards just like the ones found inside televisions, radios, and other electronic devices.

Simple, Fun Projects Let Kids Learn While They Play
With its easy-to-follow instructions, Snap Circuits gives your child a hands-on education in how electrical circuits work to run the everyday devices that they're familiar with. They'll also gain valuable lessons in building and in following instructions. The project manual includes large color illustrations and simple directions for each project.

The projects include a sound-activated switch, a musical doorbell, a voice-controlled lamp, a flying saucer, and a light police siren. With these projects, children will experiment with things like electric switches, integrated circuits, digital circuits, fuses, and the transformation of circuit sounds into other sounds.

Grow as You Go
Because the projects are arranged in order of complexity, kids can build on their skills as they progress through the manual. The lessons start out with a simple electric light and switch project that demonstrates how electricity is turned on and off with a switch. Further along, kids can put together a two-speed fan, create clap-controlled sounds, and more.

Design Your Own Circuits and Upgrade Your Kit
Once children have mastered several of the techniques introduced in this kit, they can use the components to experiment and create their own customized circuits and electronic devices. The Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100 can also be upgraded to the Snap Circuits SC-300, Snap Circuits Pro, or Snap Circuits Extreme with the purchase of a UC-30, UC-40, UC-60 upgrade kits, respectively. Kids will enjoy additional parts, manuals, and projects that'll take their kit--and their fun--to the next level.

Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100 requires two AA batteries, which are not included.

What's in the Box
Plastic snap-grid, 32 electrical components, and 1 project manual.

The "NXT" generation of buildable, programmable robots is here!
LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT is back and better than ever, with new robot models, even more customizable programming, and all-new technology including a color sensor! MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 combines the unlimited versatility of the LEGO building system with an intelligent microcomputer brick and intuitive drag-and-drop programming software. The new 2.0 toolkit features everything you need to create your first robot in 30 minutes and then tens of thousands of other robotic inventions that do what you want!

• The intelligent NXT LEGO brick features 32-bit microprocessor, a large matrix display, 4 input and 3 output ports, and Bluetooth and USB communication link
• Three interactive servo motors
• Four sensors: Ultrasonic Sensor, 2 Touch Sensors and the all-new Color Sensor
• Color Sensor has triple functionality: distinguishes colors and light settings, and functions as a lamp
• Easy-to-use software (PC and Mac) with icon-based drag-and-drop programming and 16 fun building and programming challenges All the LEGO® elements (612 pcs) you need for creating incredible robots Building instructions for 4 new amazing robots
• Personalize your robots with the Sound and Icon editors
• Share your project files with your friends with the Pack-N-Go project packager
• Batteries not included

MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Ages:10 and up Pieces:619 Requires:6 "AA"/LR6 batteries (not included)

What We Think Fun factor: Durability: Ease of assembly: Educational factor: Novelty factor: The Good: Brings LEGO to life. The Challenging: Booklet only includes instructions for one basic robot. In a Nutshell: Everything you need to build and program robots -- jump starts inventive play.

With MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, you can construct robots that see, speak, feel, and move. View larger.

Use the included software to program your robot and watch it come to life. View larger.

Build, Program, Go
Creating a MINDSTORMS robot is challenging -- but not too difficult -- with an illustrated step-by-step booklet and software showing the way. The booklet gives you instructions for building a basic "Quick Start" robot only, which is an easy introduction to the MINDSTORMS experience. This robot took our two adult testers about 30 minutes to build and 30 minutes to program. After that, they spent a lot of time just playing with their creation and testing its abilities.

Once you master the basics of MINDSTORMS, you'll need to use the included software to get instructions for more advanced creations. You can also use the MINDSTORMS web site to find instructions for many other robots, or you can create robots on your own. No matter what you choose to create, the principles are the same: just build the robot using the LEGO elements in the kit, and program it on your computer using the software. Then watch your robot come alive.

NXT Technology Brings LEGO to Life
MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 features the latest in robotic technology: an advanced programmable microcontroller, Interactive Servo Motors, smart sensors, icon-based drag-and-drop programming software, interactive challenges, and wireless Blue tooth and USB connections -- all the smart technologies you need to create your custom robot.

First, the brain of the MINDSTORMS robot is NXT, an intelligent, computer-controlled LEGO brick that features a 32-bit microprocessor, a large matrix display, input and output ports, and a speaker.

Second, three Interactive Servo Motors give you precise control over the robot and ensure that the robot moves with precision -- the built-in rotation sensor can measure one-degree steps.

Third, there are four robotic sensors. The first is the Ultrasonic Sensor, one of two sensors that gives your robot vision. You can use it to make your robot avoid obstacles, sense and measure distance, and detect movement.

And fourth of all, two Touch Sensors give your robot a sense of touch. They detect when they are being pressed or released, and you can use them to make your robot pick up things or act on command. For example, by pressing a Touch Sensor you can make your robot walk, talk, close a door, or turn off your TV.

There's also a Color Sensor that functions three ways: it distinguishes colors -- black and white, as well as a range of bright and pastel colors -- it distinguishes light settings, and it can be used as a color lamp.

And finally, the MINDSTORMS Software lets you program your robot. Use the software to create a program, and then download the program to the NXT by using the USB cable or the wireless Blue tooth connection. Mac- and PC-compatible drag-and-drop software gives you 16 building and programming challenges, from beginner to expert.

Overall, this set scores an excellent rating for its clever design elements. Our testers enjoyed the way the set brought a new level of interaction to their LEGO experience, and appreciated how easy it was to create their first robot. They also loved the way this set encourages inventive play -- all the cool hardware that makes up the set can be used to build any robot you dream up. Finally, our testers liked how this set offers a great balance of learning and fun, and encourages interest in science, computers, and engineering.

Microsoft Windows Requirements
• Windows XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 2 or newer
• Intel Pentium processor or compatible, 800 MHz minimum (1.5 GHz or better recommended)
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or newer
• Intel Pentium processor or compatible, 1 GHz minimum (1.5 GHz or better recommended)
• CD-ROM drive

Apple Macintosh Requirements
• Apple MacOS X v10.4 or v10.5
• PowerPC G3, G4, G5 processor, 600 MHz minimum
• Intel processor (1.3 GHz or better recommended)
• DVD drive

General System Requirements
• 512MB of RAM minimum
• 700MB of available hard-disk space
• XGA display (1024x768)
• 1 available USB port
• Compatible Blue tooth adapter (optional)