Rio Grande Games has announced an agreement to produce English language versions of some of the best games created by the German company Selecta-Spielzeug.  For over 30 years Selecta has been producing high quality games for a younger audience.  The durable games feature wooden components festooned with colorful designs using child-safe water-based primary colors.

Rio Grande will begin releasing English language versions of Selecta Games in February with Piratissimo, Fruitirelli, Giro Giloppo, Viva Topo, and Mago Magino.  Piratissimo, which debuted in 2005, is an exciting pirate adventure board game for the entire family (ages 6 and up).  It provides plenty of action and takes only 30 minutes to play.

Viva Topo, which won the 2003 Kinderspiel des Jahres (Children's Game of the Year), is a delightful board game for players ages 4 and up.  Players take on the role of mice (using cute color-coded 3-D wooden mouse tokens) and attempt to earn cheese by reaching goals on the game board, but players must manage risk and reward carefully because a cat is lurking, ready to grab the first unlucky mouse that overreaches.

Reiner Knizia designed Mago Magino (2004), an exciting board game for players ages 5 and up.  A witch has stolen crystals from the wizard Mago Magino and players have to help him recover them, but the witch is dangerous -- she can turn the players into small frogs if they are not careful.