According to my Itoys contacts @ the Toy Fair in Feb, they were holding off on the design , waiting to see just how well MDP would do on the air. Had the show tanked, they would have gone with the original version graphics and no tie-in.

^ So they've updated the Password game. Makes sense with MDP. The amazon site had a purple display packaged with a snapshot of Allen. I'll get the updated version, I've always liked word games.

I suspect you won't have a choice in the matter.

Amazon dropped the price of the 3 versions of The Price is Right which will be released in 2 weeks, each by $7. The PC version is now $13, the DS is $23, and the Wii is $33.

Is there going to be any difference from the retail and PC Download versions, any added content? Because a little bird told me that MSN Games might be having a sale over the long weekend that would beat that price...

There will be. More contestant characters and higher-quality videos. The PC version ships on DVD, so those might be full-quality clips. Plus, the DVD version features a single player "on the show" mode - not available in the download. (All this information came from the G-R Ludia posters.)

Has anyone chimed in lately on the box version of MG Crosswords? Bought it last week. Pretty much what you'd expect for the price. Laminated game board w/crayon (same layout for all games), 3 decks of game cards - easy, medium, hard - each card in a deck has it's specific location on the board, such as "15 across." Each card has 20 clues. What you do is determine which number game you are playing - for example, if you're playing game #6 with the easy deck, you read clue number six each time a card is drawn. You go through the whole deck in each game. The only really cheesy part is that each player takes their choice of a colored laminated card that serves as your signal device. When you want to answer, you toss your card toward the center of the board. That might work ok if you're playing the spoiler version, but I'd just as soon have clickers or some other device for all non-spoiler players. Over all, very workable. And yes - I'll have to put the new Endless MDP on the birthday list. It looks absolutely fantastic!

Except when you have a bunch of players on two tiers, it'll be hard enough to figure out who signaled first, let alone first and second, and then among the different classifications. By using cards in a bowl, the rule from Twitch works: The bowl never lies. If your card is at the bottom of the pile, you get to go first. (The 1970s versions of Sale of the Century had a similar thing where the players would signal their intent to answer by tossing a tiddly wink into a plastic container.)

Yes, that's why I think it's tacky. If one player gives his card a good snap and it's airborne longer than it takes another player to just plunk his on the board, who should get the chance to answer - the one who tossed first or the one whose card landed first? Just don't like it. Not to mention the potential for smudging and smearing the material written on the game board. But, hey - everybody's trying to cut costs.

There's a party game called Take Your Best Shot where the questions are all multiple choice, in red, yellow, and (I think) blue. Everyone gets a set of plastic balls according to their player number (Player 1 takes the 1-balls, for example) and you toss 'em in a funnel, basically, to answer. The earliest right answers get the most points, and yeah, sometimes someone swirls around and someone goes straight down and gets credit ahead of the guy who actually answered first, and that's fine.

Ya just have to accept that they're not gonna put a lockout system in the box at that price point, and it is what it is.

Has anyone tried the new Press your luck hand held game or the Password Handheld game? If so, where did you find it?

Just thought you'd like to know, I spotted the handheld Press Your Luck, and Password games at Meijer (Midwestern store) yesterday. $14.99 each. Password game is styled after the old version, and both games are the same small size as the Itoys handheld Family Feud.

After reading this, I stopped in my local Meijer store, and saw both games.

On the Password game package, the little television graphic in the bottom left corner, shows a "snowy," screen, and the phrase, "Plays like the show," instead of showing a photo of Allen Ludden.

The Press Your Luck game shows the LCD screen looking more like the "letterbox," effect of widescreen television broadcasts, and in the upper and lower black borders is nine boxes each, showing either dollar signs, the word "Prize," "Big Bucks," or a Whammy. I noticed one box showed "$$" which makes me think it may be like the "Double Your $$," space on the show. Really different from the prototypes shown on Amazon.com

I"d also seen Techno Source's tabletop electronic AYSTAFG game. The design is similar to IToys 1 VS 100 tabletop, with a standup board, and a wireless remote control (which looks like a chalkboard eraser). The category grid shown on the illuminating LCD screen is just like that on their handheld version. Up to four people can play at the same time. BTW, the price was $29.99!

Also while at Meijer, I noticed next to the Family Feud and DOND DVD games from Imagination Games, an open spot, which I was hoping was reserved for their Lingo DVD game. Nope, it was for a different DVD game from them, based on America's Funniest Home Videos (darn!)

Rules: Players toss the DVD remote from one person to another. First player to "accidentally" throw the DVD remote into another player's crotch wins.

Been meaning to mention this for a while now.

IToys has released Password in both forms, Classic and MDP....the LCD game is exactly the same, but the packaging is different.

One of them has a slowly rotting corpse on the packaging promoting the game, and the other has Allen Ludden.

/Kidding about Allen..he's not on the Classic package.

Toysrus.com is now showing a new AYSTAFG card game--Disney edition, for $12.99! Here's what it looks like:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3183059

A couple of different sources indicate that a similar game, with an ESPN theme, is also coming soon!

ESPN 5th Grader? Would this be the type of question we'll see in the 2nd Grade Mathematics stack:

"Jimmy has 2 balls and Johnny has 2 balls. Combined, how many balls do they have?"

That's also a 2nd Grade Math question in the Spice Network version of 5th Grader.

After their visit to Neverland; none.

[quote name='tvwxman' date='Sep 6 2008, 09:10 AM' post='196221']
[quote name='jukeboxhero' post='195838' date='Sep 2 2008, 12:52 PM']

IToys has released Password in both forms, Classic and MDP....the LCD game is exactly the same, but the packaging is different.

One of them has a slowly rotting corpse on the packaging promoting the game, and the other has Allen Ludden. [/quote]

Kathie Lee would probably have a good laugh over that,

iWin.com released a new version of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader. It has numerous game modes, and the graphics are better than the ones in the previous release/CD Rom version.

PROS
-Game uses the lighting and camera angles the show does, so it feels more like a broadcast, right down to the intro.
-Ability to ask the class their specialty subjects

MEH
-The voice acting- It's there, and it could be much better, but it's better than none at all.
-Multiple choice questions (You only type in the answer to the MDQ). Would it have been so hard to make typing answers an option?

CONS
-Jeff Foxworthy's voice work. It's not bad, but it's annoying. Since there's no commercial break to cut to, he does his commercial break inflections when telling you if there's a right or wrong answer (That question IS....incorrect!).

Overall, much better than the last release. It's worth checking out the trial if you have an extra hour on your hands.

For those interested:

Amazon and Gamestop have the Ubisoft TPIR game listed as being released on 9/16 for under $20.

Has anyone heard anything on the Power of 10 hand held game? Are they going through with that?

http://www.irwintoy.com/ - click "products", "licensed games", you will find information on the Press Your Luck handheld including a pdf of the manual.

The only info I've heard is that iToys is licensed to produce such a game, and had one "in development," back in February, during the annual Toy Fair in N.Y.C. Whether or not they will be releasing it is not confirmed, but since the show is not in production, I don't think it will.

Meanwhile, here's a link I found to a product not mentioned before--Bingo America DVD game:

https://www.boardgamesexpress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=6524



ADDED ON 9/23/08: The same website is now also listing the LINGO DVD game, but no specific date of release! Here's a link to it:

https://www.boardgamesexpress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=6425

The page has been updated, so now when you click "products," then click "television show games," & you'll see all the titles listed, plus a new one to the list from iToys--"Wheel of Fortune!" As of now, when you click that, you just see the message, "coming soon!"

If anyone is interested, you can find the rules for the IToys electronic handheld version of Password (or more accurately Million Dollar Password) here. I was looking for them for a little while when I stumbled upon it (since the Password link in the "Television Shows" portion of the site was busted.

(I hope I am not doing this incorrectly...)


URL: http://www.irwintoy.com/pdfs/MDPW_HH_Rules_07-2008-BIL.pdf

The new Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? game, subtitled Make the Grade!, is available for the PC. I saw it at the local Micro Center for $20 this afternoon. Please, no pushing or cutting ahead in the lines while waiting for it.

http://www.itoys.ca/toys/FamilyFeud/

Without going through 83 pages of posts...how is this one? Any good, and I haven't found it anywhere.

I have it, thanks to my contacts through Itoys....but I've never opened it to see. I know that sounds wierd, but when you get hundreds of games sent to you every year, you don't play them all.

I'm sure those who signed that petition demanding Tiger Electronics release a PYL handheld some years back must be thrilled! LOL

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

There's a new Family Feud mobile game out at glu.com, and it's actually very good. Instead of entering answers, you choose from a bank of answers, like the old electronic game, or the wedigtv.com Family Fortunes game.

The graphics are pretty good for a mobile game, and you can even create your own avatar. As long as you have Java, you can give the game a try at the site.

I can see me and my friends passing the phone around for a few games during a car ride. Definitely worth the $10 so I can have my Feud fix anywhere.

Wow... I found something odd. Here's a Family Feud audio CD for "hours of road trip fun!"

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Games-Go-Famil...473&sr=1-11

This isn't the first time a FF game was on a cell. A few years back, Mobliss had a decent one. The thing is, the rankings/ratings broke and they never fixed it. Also, my carrier ended up dropping it anyhow(Verizon). I forget how I deleted it(or maybe disabled to make room for another application or phone upgrade even), but when I went to re download it, they didn't have it listed. It was no longer carried by them, on any Verizon phone.

Anyhow, I'm dl'ing this one and I'll see how it is.

And also glu released a mobile "Concentration" game with some of the looks based on 50's era but still had some elements of "Classic Concentration" (takes and bonus round). The game is also co-created by FreezeTag (the ones who did the PC Version awhile back!)

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but Apple sells an Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? game on its App Store. Made by Capcom, priced at $7.99. It's compatible with iPhone and iPod touch (version 2.0+).

I downloaded it last weekend. It's not too bad; pretty barebones game. Not a lot of questions (I got a repeat after 5 playings). The game moves MUCH faster than the show, so you can see that a normal game of 5th Grader should take just a few minutes.

I was browsing in area stores today, and found a few things worth noting:

Kohls department store in my area is starting to roll out it's yearly stock of full-size and travel-size games in tin boxes. The only new one, so far this year, is Cardinal's "The Moment of Truth" card game. This version DOES NOT include the "lie detector."

KB Toys had the 1 VS 100 electronic tabletop game, in TWO forms! First was the original design, with a wireless remote for locking in answers, and the open-slot for expansion cartridges. The other version, in a smaller sized box, had no wireless remote (the buttons were built-in to the stand-up console), and there was NO slot for expandability! The price on each was the same--$29.99!

While in Barnes and Noble, I found ESPN Jeopardy! in a smaller square-shaped box, and featured "100 additional answers and questions," which sounds to me like there is just ONE additional game included!)

Still no sign of the Million Dollar Password home game, which Endless Games' site still mentions as coming in September, which just passed.

Hm, I just snagged it at $1.99. If you want it, get it now!

The FF audio games CD is very intriguing. I'd love to see a demonstration of how it plays so I can get a better idea of how it plays. This is the first such thing I heard of. The only other game that might fit this format is J! but it mighr come off as rather awkward.

Also for iPhone/iPod touch:

"Take It Or Leave It", a DoND clone. The Lite version is available for free, which offers gameplay with only 6 boxes. Full version promises 20 boxes in play, but has not yet been submitted.

It probably plays exactly like the first DVD game only without visuals. (i.e. narrator reads the question, cue think music, narrator reads answers)

This week a Fall Toy Show was held in Dallas, TX. The site www.playthings.com has reported on new products coming in 2009, but only TWO game show related:

Endless Games will debut its Million Dollar Password game next month, with a DVD version planned for 2009!

Jakks Pacific has a Plug & Play version of The Price Is Right on the 2009 product list (though it's been several years since they obtained rights to Fremantle Media properties).

Endless Games' "Million Dollar Password," is starting to turn up on certain websites, so I imagine the game will pop-up in stores very soon!

Meanwhile, Toys R Us has added to their shelves a combination box set of EG's "Password," "Match Game," and "Newlywed Game," DVD editions for around $60, which is about the same combined average price for the games bought individually.

Anyone bought/played the new "Lingo" DVD game yet?

"Deal or No Deal: Million Dollar Mission" by Digital Bridges Limited/I-Play has been released for the iPhone and iPod touch. Sells for $4.99.

As with most App Store releases, it requires firmware 2.0 or higher.

Download at your own risk, however. It does nothing but crash for me (iPod touch, firmware 2.1).

EDIT: The new version was released, which doesn't crash anymore. But, um...it's pretty bad.

While browsing to see what home games have been made in other countries (paricularly UK), I saw this, which I thought would be nice, if maybe next year a similar one come out here in the U.S.:

http://www.ugames.com/uk/images/lgBOX-00445.jpg

Continuing the theme of "UK games that should be in the US", here's my vote.

Good lord and butter, why? That show is one of the most pile-of-crap non-games I have ever seen.

Even more than what has been foisted upon US viewers in the past 3 years? (See US game with Endemol's name attached besides 1 vs. 100.) Outside of the Prisoner's Dilemma end game, Golden Balls is not worse than Set for Life.

High praise indeed.

Oh, if anybody needs new questions for their home versions of Family Feud, go to endlessgames.com and download the instruction manuals for their Feud games (3rd Edition and Travel Tin). Seems somebody forgot to leave out the part of the manual that includes all of the content. :)

Which I *also* didn't make it through an episode of. You prove my point. :)

How the heck do you even get to the *page* for Travel Tin? As usual, the navigation on their site is crappe.