The Newton, Massachusetts-based Gamewright specializes in games for kids (with some offerings for children as young as 3 years old) and its newly released Boochie ($34.99), has already garnered five awards from organizations like the Parents Choice Foundation, The National Parent Center, and iParenting Media Awards.  Designed for kids 8 and up, Boochie is basically a scaled down version of the classic Bocce game, which can trace its origins back to the Roman Empire. 

 

Boochie, which uses soft balls and targets and can be played inside as well as outside, is something of a departure for Gamewright, which typically creates card games such as the upcoming Hang Four ($12.99) in which players 8 and up attempt to get the most surfing canines up on their boards.  The game, which effortlessly helps kids develop matching skills and master spatial relations, features 50 cards and 30 wooden sand dollars, which players collect in order to retrieve cards.  Hang Four is designed for 2-4 players and a typical game lasts about 20 minutes.

 

Gamewright has also created a number of board games for kids as young as 8 including the upcoming Captain Clueless: Lost in the Caribbean ($19.99) that involves geography as well as spatial relations as players take turn impersonating the feckless sea captain R.U. Clueless and navigating blindfolded through the Caribbean.  The first player to make it safely into port wins this game for 4-8 players that takes just 20 minutes to finish.