This blog is shut down

This blog is shut down, as I have other blogging interests to pursue.

I recommend you to check out my other cool blogs:

Hack the Day - boost your productivity, life hacks, computer tips and tricks, productivity and getting things done

MobiCritic - free reviews for the best mobile games of the moment: Diamond Rush, Tower Bloxx, Free Sudoku, Transport Tycoon and many others

Mes 24 Heures - les plus cool et marrantes nouvelles du web

Astrojax

One of the pretty cool toys I've bought in the last years is Astrojax.

What is Astrojax? It's a pretty nifty combination of Yoyo and juggling balls.

It's a string with three balls on it: two at the string's ends, and a middle one, sliding on it. But it's not enough. According to the producers, the balls have been computer designed, their weights and friction coefficient being conceived in order to provide a perfect balance and the greatest juggling power. The balls are about the size of ping-pong balls, they contain light leds that make up for great stroboscopic light effects if playing in the dark.

So, once again, what is so great about Astrojax? Probably not much more than the Yoyo. Still, just like it, it provides endless opportunities of fun, tricks, competitions, and generally coolness factor.

For more Astrojax tricks, take a peek over here.


There is also a forum, competitions, and I bet you can find some real Astrojax jugglers in your neighborhood if you want to.



Technorati Tags: dailytoy, astrojax, juggling, yoyo, trick, cool, toy

What about... the YO-YO?

The Yo-yo(also spelled yoyo) is one of the simplest toys around, yet one of the most exciting ones at the same time. If you don't know what it is, then briefly it's a toy made out of two wooden disks brought together by a small tube/cylinder, a long string being tied of it. Well... that's the short version. For the long one, you can always go ahead and read the cool page over at Wikipedia.

Or you can go on the official website, www.yo-yo.com , belonging to the original yo-yo manufacturers, Duncan.



Want to learn cool tricks about Yo-Yo? Then Getting ready to Yo-Yo is the place to start; you can also take a look to the very extensive yoyo tricks library over at Begin2Spin

Anyways, we guarantee you this is a great toy to play with. Children-safe, yet cool, cheap and resourceful. Enjoy!





Technorati Tags: yoyo, yo-yo, toy, game, antique, cheap, gift, christmas, children, kids

Play Doh - the toy that would not die

Play-Doh is a mixture of wheat flour, water, some petroleum distillate, salt, colourings, perfume and hardening agents. It's non-toxic, non-staining, it hardens in air and remains pliable when in a sealed container. It was invented by accident and was originally meant to be a wallpaper cleaner.

But this is not why we love it. We love it because it is the greatest toy for 3+ years old.

All kindergarten kids know it, it's the perfect toy for children wanting to model their own little toys: you can make flowers, dolls, houses and most everything else, provided you have the sculpting/modeling talent. Many plastic artists have discovered their vocation in their childhood when first playing with this little wonder. All of us, when kids, exercised our imagination by creating little play-doh masterpieces.
In case your imagination ever takes a break, the official play-doh website takes over and gives you LOTS of cool ideas. For instance, this Jack-O-Lantern:

Well.. this is about as classic this blog can get. After all, this is what this is about: cool toys, cool games, for kids and parents alike.

Want to learn more about Play-Doh? Take a peek here , here and here.

Have fun!

Technorati Tags: toy, game, model, Play-doh, play doh, kids, fun

Barbie - the queen of dolls

No other kids toy has ever been as successful as Barbie. Barbie is the legendary doll that every girl loves and most sociologists blame for infant premature puberty and our girls anorexic or bulimic obsessions. Whatever. Barbie is the most famous doll out there and she definitely deserves her place on the throne of greatest toys ever.

The legend says that the wife of one of the founders of Mattel toy company was surprised to see that her daughter liked playing with paper dolls and treat them as grown ups instead of babies. So she suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband, then later took a German doll as a model which she redesigned. She called the new doll Barbie, from her daughter Barbara. Barbie's official birthday is 9th of March 1959, though she never aged a bit. The rest is history, with Barbie dolls all over the world, custom designer made clothes and accessories, a full gang of friends, little sister, boyfriend, etc.

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. She had several boyfriends, the most famous being Ken (Ken Carson), born 1961, from whom she had a brief public breakup in 2004. Her history is well-described in the Random House novels of the 60's.

Most interesting pages online about Barbie: Barbie everything , Mattel's page, and many others. We'll get back with extra details at your request...

Technorati Tags: Barbie, doll, toy, dailytoy, children, Ken, Mattel

Monopoly - king of family games

The official Monopoly website calls this game :

"the best-selling board game in the world, sold in 80 countries and produced in over 26 languages."

The history says it was invented in 1934, by Charles B. Darrow of Germantown, Pennsylvania. When he showed it to the executives at Parker Brothers, they rejected the game due to "52 design errors"! The author kept on walking, and he eventually sold 5,000 handmade sets of the game to a Philadelphia department store. People loved it! He had to come back to Parker Brothers for mass production. The game entered history. (you should also check Wikipedia's entry to read an alternate story..)

In its first year, 1935, the MONOPOLY game was the best-selling game in America. And over its 70-year history, an estimated 750 million people have played!

• Over 200 million games have been sold worldwide.
• More than five billion little green houses have been "built" since 1935.
• A set made by my friends at Alfred Dunhill, with gold houses and silver hotels, sold for $25,000.
• The longest game in history lasted 70 straight days.
• The longest game in a bathtub lasted 99 hours!
  
  

If you've never played Monopoly, you must be a martian. Briefly, in the game players compete turn based to acquire wealth through buying, rental and trading of properties using game money and moving across the board according to the roll of the dice. The game ends when the market is dominated by a single seller(a Monopoly..).

There are several board sets and their modern redesigns, and there are strategies, books, competitions and video games with this game. But it shouldn't change the fact that this is a really cool game to play by four friends, and that it appeals grownups as well as 10-year old.



Play and enjoy!



Updates:



Since blogs are conversations, why not share with you cool links to websites or blogs talking about this great game?

• For instance, what do you think about BlogPoly? it is a funny proposal for Monopoly on Blogs.
• Or.. did you know that sooner than later you'll be able to play Monopoly with credit cards?
• Do you fancy StarWars? Apparently there is a Monopoly game with a Star Wars theme, and seems pretty cool.
  
  
• Hmm.. any other suggestions of links to add here? I'll be expecting your comments.
  
  

Magic the Gathering

I never had the chance of playing a live, cards in the hand, MTG game. But I've played its computer version and I've read quite a few things about it.



Magic the Gathering (or MTG, as it is nicknamed by the fans) was apparently the first collectible cards - dueling game. Off course, now this is an overcrowded gender, with Pokemon, Harry Potter, Duel Master and many more alike.



For all those not knowing what this is all about, here's a little intro, inspired from the short one I gave to my girlfriend, who's never heard of this kind of things before : you buy and collect a deck of cards, each card has some "abilities":

soldiers(creatures), spells, artifacts (a lot like spells, actually) and land(using land cards you can summon the other cards). The game is a duel between two players (duh... that's what duel means normally), they take turns in activating land, using it to play the creatures/spells, attack the opponent and defend against him. The most interesting thing is that winning is a matter of luck (the cards you draw and their order), strategy, and collecting skills and passion (the ones with the most powerful decks are more likely to win).



The cool part of this game is that it's best played OFFLINE. You know, several guys/girls at your home, drinking soda(or beer, if you're old enough) eating chips and summoning their spells. It's a much better way to socialize than the classical Counterstrike or World of Warcraft ones :)



More info here and, off course, at the producer's page



Don't forget also to take a look at the official Rule Book if you want to get into details. It makes a pretty instructive reading...

The Power of the Hand

Today's Cool toy is...

The PowerBall.

Nobody would have thought that spinning some ball around can actually be fun. Off course, usually toys are fun in new and unexpected ways. Powerball's official website says it's a great toy for exercising your hand and arm muscles, prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and the like. I myself have my doubts about the medical benefits of this toy. However, what I do like is the way these gyroscopic balls feel in your hand when they start getting some rotational speed (seems like somebody is pulling your arm apart), you feel like if you let go the ball it will fly away (like in those Harry Potter Quiddich games). :)

The best part of these toys is their small embedded screen that shows you the number of rotations (per hour? per minute? - who cares..) you managed to get to. This is the real gizmo: it encourages the competition, you always try to do better than your best pal, even if this means you'll be having muscle fever for the next fortnight.

Well.. all in all, this is a rather expensive little gizmo, best for children over 10 and grownups as well, and it's really fun for the first couple of months. Just make sure you keep the fun rolling and not let it get old in your old toys drawer...

Newton's craddle

A grownup's toy that I first saw in the Dallas movie (JR was having one over at his desk :D ). The cool part is that it's supposed to cure office stress. The even cooler part is that it's very annoying on your coworkers. Kewl...

Anyway, more infos on this can be still found over at wikipedia. For instance, did you know this toy is kinda recent? It was actually invented, named and produced in 1967 by an English actor.

I've had one once, a cheap Chinese rip-off that cost around 3 $. Cheap, ugly and bad. Not the kind you'd see the big CEO playing with in his office. So be careful which one you buy. Don't be too cheap, or you'll be sorry.

All in all, Newton's craddle makes a pretty nice gift for the 23-35 year old blue-collar corporate.