indoor fun

I thought I'd give you a few ideas for the days when spring showers make it impossible to have fun outdoors. Our buyers have come up with some cool new games this year.

One of my favorites is this plug and play kickboxing game. To get ready to fight, all you have to do is plug it in to your TV, DVD player or VCR, strap the kick sensors onto your legs and slip the "gloves" onto your hands. The game uses real-time body motion to simulate kick boxing with the virtual opponent. But maybe boxing isn't your bag. Our virtual baseball game lets you play baseball indoors. The console connects to your TV and the wireless bat shows the power of your swing while the run pad shows how fast you run. My nephew loves both games. I do, too. They're fun and they're a great indoor exercise.

For less taxing activities our touch screen video poker or touch screen chess games are perfect. The poker game is a lot like the machines found in casinos right down to the sounds, automated scorekeeping and flashing lights when you hit the jackpot. It has seven different games so you never get bored. If you like to play chess and want to get better, there's no better way than our touch screen game. It's so sophisticated it's almost unbeatable. It has 56 levels so you can start at the beginning and hone your skills. Play against the computer, with a friend or use it to solve chess problems. Or for a lower-tech chess game, our South Park chess set has all your favorite characters including Chef (King), Big Gay Al (Queen), Cartman (Knight), and Kenny (pawn, of course.)

My nephew's favorite of our new board games is Gremlins. Just like the movie, you battle Stripe and his horde of Gremlins for control of Kingston Falls. It has hilarious weapon cards to use against the Gremlin tokes, like a snack tray or the Peltzer juicer. And the "Feeding After Midnight" event card can send everyone back to start or cause more gremlin tokens to appear.Of course, there are the old favorites, too. Our tabletop versions of the Space Invaders™ & Frogger™ arcade games are just like you remember with multi-level play and authentic sounds and graphics. And a new twist on old arcade favorite is this Mario Kart Race Set where you race Nintendo® characters, Mario and Donkey Kong against each other on a slot car track.

I like to play pool, but I don't have room for a full-sized table in my house so I got one of these mini pool tables. It really does play like the real thing. It's a lot more sturdy than most tabletop models so it doesn't tilt. The wood grain finish, felt top and ball return makes it feel like a real pool table. Finally, for a more relaxing but still challenging game, we have the world's largest jigsaw puzzle. With 24,000 pieces that make up an incredibly detailed picture, titled "Life," it's more than enough to keep you busy on a rainy spring day. It comes in 4 packets of 6,000 pieces that you can assemble separately and then connect in sections, or you can make it really challenging and mix all 24,000 pieces together and piece them together as a whole.

Happy gaming!

I'll see you next week,
Bobby