The Toy Man® 2017 Product Guide - Evaluation Report Summaries (ERS) / Reviews

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Product Reviews / Evaluation Report Summaries (ERS)

Induction Certificate Number:	74020120106-547
Induction Date:	January 06, 2012
Certificate License Status:	Active

Product: Tsuro - The Game of the Path

MSRP: $29.99

Company URL: http://www.calliopegames.com

Rating:

Tsuro - The Game of the Path

by: Rev. James G.W. Fisher - Editor / Product Evaluation Expert

Evaluation Report Summary (ERS) Date: 01/06/2012

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path is a tile laying game we found to be quite easy to learn. The gamePlay™ is simple. The tiles show paths and on your turn you must lay a tile next to your pawn. If the path leads you into another person’s pawn or off the board you lose. The last player on the board wins! It can't be much more simple than that.

[ Please refer to A-2-Z Company Index for contact information.]

Product Type	Release Year	Primary Usage	Target Age / Max. Weight	Target Gender
Family Board & Table Top Games	2011	Consumer/Education	8 years +	Female/Male

Evaluation Report Summary (ERS) - Index

Safety / Quality Classification | About Our New Inductee | Additional Details
Independent Evaluator Reports | Consumer Hands-On Evaluation | Evaluation Scores and Summary

Evaluation Report Summary (ERS)
Category Rating Scores

Category rating scores are based on scale from 1 to 5. Rating score must be 3 or higher to pass in each evaluation category.

Creative Agenda	Ease of Use	funQuotient™	Marketability	Skill Development	Overall Visual Appeal
5	5	5	5	4.5	5

Final product / service rating is averaged from the sum total of ALL applicable evaluation category scores. Only scores of "3" or higher are published.

There are a total of 357 evaluation categories which are used in our evaluation process.
(NOTE: Not all categories are applicable to any one product or online service.)

Only 6 of the evaluation category rating scores for this New Inductee's evaluation are featured for public view.

Critical Evaluation Information

These icons represent important attributes with which this product / service is associated, contributes to, or encourages development of. Select any of the unique icons below to learn more about the specific attribute it represents.

Trade Industry Sales Types

Wholesale

Retail

Reseller

Online

Safety / Quality Classifications

CE Marked	UL Approved	JPMA Certified
	(Not Applicable)	(Not Applicable)

ASTM Compliant	eco-Friendly	eco-Conscious

CPSIA TÜV EU

Independent Lab Tested

Independent Lab Name

STR

LeadSafe™ - Surface Coatings/Paint

LeadSafe™ - Content / Substrates

PhthalatesSafe™

BPASafe™

Soluble Heavy Metals

Mechanical/Physical

(Not Applicable)

Flammability - Solids/Textiles

Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials

iWatchDog™ Approved

(Complies with ICCS™ Certification Standards)

UPC Code / ISBN#	Manufacturer SKU	Age Grading
845866000203	CLP020	Labeled/Appropriate

Manufactured In	Safety Hazard/Warnings
China	WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD--Small parts Not for children under 3 yrs.

About Our New Inductee

Before you buy a product, it's generally common practice to be familiar with what it does, the branding, and other details. We feel that the same rule applies to our "New Inductees" we announce each week, so this section is titled "About Our New Inductee." The information in this section will provide you with a quick yet accurate glance of what the product or service is all about..

One of the more "unique" products ever to be with inducted into The Toy Man® Product Guide is a fascinating new tile based board game called Tsuro - The Game Of The Path. Nothing special in the title of this game but the game itself both in visual appeal and gamePlay™ create a new experience altogether.

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path is a fast paced game where no one is ever bored stiff, waiting for the next game to play again. The game is a perfect example of simplicity combined with visual appeal like no other game we have seen to date.

How To Play

To begin each game, each of the players is dealt three unique tiles. These tiles are placed on the game board to create the path that their pawn will follow. The gamePlay™ proceeds with each of the players first placing their stone any of the start marks, in the outer perimeter of the game board grid.

The first player begins by selecting one of the tiles in their hand and placing it on the open square next to their stone. The player then moves his/her stone to one of the open ends on the tile they have placed. The remaining players do likewise in succession. As the game progresses, each active player will draw one card from the stack of path tiles to replace the tile he/she has placed on the game board.

One of the biggest challenges of the game comes from avoiding the creation of a path that inevitably leads your stone into another player's stone or off the game board and out of the game. Sound's too easy? Don't pass judgement too quickly here. Many who played Tsuro - Game Of The Path found the game to provide far more challenge and excitement than they had expected.

How To Win

Of course every player's objective is to win the game and doing so is so simple. Just have your stone be the last one on the board and you win...if you can.

NOTE: This is merely a sketchy outline of how to play the game. There are more important details that are contained in the rules/instructions sheet.
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Additional Details & Perspectives

While it's great for some people who just want a cursory glance at what a New Inductee is all about, there are many others who have a greater appetite for more information. This section is titled "Additional Details & Perspectives". and will provide you with additional details and perspectives associated with the product or service being featured here.

From the very start of the game, Tsuro triggers instinctual motivation to succeed. What creates the greatest challenge is the balance of a fast-paced game combined with the need to observe the other players gamePlay™ simultaneously.

Each turn for a player may be but a few few seconds of activity, yet those few seconds can determine whether you will block an opponent's potential gainful advances, make a strategic advance, or end up out of the game.

Taking a different approach in presentation of a product is seldom done in our evaluation report summaries yet Tsuro - The Game Of The Path itself is a different approach in its own right which has instilled the desire to follow suit in the semblance created here.

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path is a game that literally screams V-I-S-U-A-L A-P-P-E-A-L !! From the very first glance at the box, one's visual senses are literally wowed and dazzled. Best of all, that's nothing in comparison to the contents with the box itself!

What you have here is a literal work of art merging Japanese cultural art with creative and simple gamePlay™. From the game box to every component within it, precise detail and creative design is apparent just as is seen within Japanese art itself. The two are symbiotic in the marketability of this game.

The Game Board

The Tsuro - The Game Of The Path game board itself is a masterpiece that for many of our players proved to be a distraction that cost them a game. The game board has a thin line 6 x 6 equal sized grid which encompasses the entire game board with the masterfully created image of a Phoenix beneath it. Each of the tiles are placed within this grid resulting in the creation of the path for each of the players to move each of their stones along their progressively developing paths.

The deciding element of chance in the game comes from how the path of each player can interconnect. This can easily create the path to win or result in your stone's path going off the game board! The many elements of Tsuro - The Game Of The Path from the instructions, (online and the ornate tri-fold sheet within the game box), the highly detailed stones, and highly detailed art design of the game board have been so strategically woven together to create a seemingly simple game that in actuality wows the senses and encourages repetitive gamePlay™.

An Undeniable Fact

One fact that is undeniable is that Tsuro - The Game Of The Path will help each player create their own path to a greater level of cognitive development, fine tuning of social interaction skills, and time of just plain FUN recreational activity with a productive end.
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Independent Evaluator Reports

In this section we have called upon the assistance of top industry professionals to evaluate the product in this evaluation summary. These scholars form their own opinions from extensive analysis and produce detailed, in-depth reports connected with their own personal study and evaluation of the products submitted for independent evaluation.

The information to follow is comprised of excerpts from the independent evaluator reports that have been paraphrased, posted verbatim, or a combination of both in order to encapsulate an accurate presentation of the primary details conveyed in each report. This approach provides a completely independent perspective in the evaluation each product.

Initial Report Outline

PRODUCT : The Tsuro - The Game of the Path

PLATFORM:
Table Top Tile Board Game

CONTRIBUTION: Active Thought Processing

TARGET AGE: 8 years+

This Week's Independent Evaluators

Professor of Organization and Strategy, Ph.D.
Director Pre-emptive Solution Development Studies

"Tsuro - The Game of the Path is a tile-based tabletop game which pushes the players into developing greater creative strategies to improve and have a hopeful desire to win with each game. The creative agenda of Tsuro - The Game of the Path demonstrates recognition of the significance of experience, active thought processing, and executive cognitive functioning in learning and reflective reasoning.

"The probability of the same sequence of game play re-occurring promptly is almost non-existent. This precludes any deficiency of one process of cognitive function triggering a domino effect for further same processes with each tile which is laid on the board."

"With each game played, exploration pattern of each and every facet of the game board grid and peripheral details was common. The game proved to be not only entertaining, but was found to influence development of desire for the challenge. The game presents a recurrent and constantly evolving activity that assures competitive strategy skill development."

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Ph. D., E. D.
Director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Studies

* SUMMARY CODES: SN - Special Needs, AS- Asberger Syndrome

"Whether the player is child or adult, Tsuro - The Game of the Path helps to encourage problem solving and many other developmental skills through abstract symbolic and spatial reasoning, matching and sorting. The game demonstrates its greatest value in how it contributes to an individual's basic mental abilities used to think, study, and learn with each tile piece placed and the results from that action."

"Tsuro - The Game of the Path exercises the task to recall information from memory, make associations between different tiles, and maintain concentration on specific tasks to complete the game whether winner or not. In our working with our SN children, we found this to be especially true."
"The game was contributory to sensory skill and self-play development with all of our SN children, with more evident response and results with our two AS children. The diversity of combinations in which the tiles could be laid provided a stimulation of challenge which encourages a greater level of progression in our work with many of our SN children participating in this program."

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* PLEASE NOTE: At the request of our independent evaluators their names are not disclosed to protect their personal and professional privacy. Their labors are provided at no charge to assist us in providing a well-balanced and accurate product or service evaluation summary. All opinions and or statements from the independent evaluator(s) featured here do not represent the opinion of The Toy Man® Product Guide, any member or division of Epiphany Communications and the International Parenting Institute, Inc..

Consumer Hands-On Evaluation

Nothing is more powerful than hands-on experience by a consumer with a product when it is under evaluation. Based upon that fact we put a number of products we currently are slated to evaluate at the mercy of consumers in a hands-on evaluation where anything goes. The information to follow will explore the responses from the participants in our spontaneous hands-on consumer evaluation of the products available for their review.

When it comes to game at our spontaneous consumer hands-on evaluation, Tsuro - The Game Of The Path "...was the bomb!" as one of the teenagers shared in his feedback form.

Every participant that played Tsuro - The Game Of The Path walked away talking about the incredible art designs and how they'd "...not seen a fast play game be so much fun before."

Just as a limited few others we discover every so often, Tsuro - The Game Of The Path provides such a pleasure seeing it so set apart from the rest in our spontaneous hands-on evaluation products by way of its own unique traits. Visual appeal was but one of many features of the game that generated a serious amount of excitement for the players.

It seemed as though literally every participant in our evaluation of products were overwhelmed with such excitement when talking about Tsuro - The Game Of The Path with others. Many participants were so lost for words in their effort to describe the game that they became exasperated. They eventually gave up trying to describe the game, pulling the person they were talking to over to the game table to see it!

In our going over all of the video tapes, feedback forms, and other content, Tsuro - The Game Of The Path really pulled a lion's share of attention at this event. It was clearly a winner in this segment of our evaluation not just with our staff but the consumers as well.
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A Sampling Of Our Evaluation Category Ratings

The rating of a product is useless if you do not fully understand and comprehend how the ratings is reached or what the value of the rating represents. This need for clarity encouraged us to have this section titled "A Sampling Of Our Evaluation Category Ratings." To assist you in gaining a greater understanding of the evaluation category ratings we use, a small sampling of the individual category titles & rating scores from the complete product review itself for this product or service are featured here.

The categories which have been selected to be featured in this evaluation report summary for public view, specify some of the primary points of how and why each specific rating score was reached.

The Featured Category Ratings Sampling For This Evaluation Summary Are Listed Below:

CREATIVE AGENDA: Rating Level - [5]

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path was pulling strong when it comes to CREATIVE AGENDA. The creative agenda of the game delivers a guarantee of a strong narrative progression and prompt response level with its progressive learning structure. Tsuro - The Game Of The Path undoubtedly delivers a strong narrative development progression which leads to the development of creative strategy. The game moves fast and encourages a prompt response with every action.

The CREATIVE AGENDA of Tsuro - The Game Of The Path provides the challenge needed that influences the probability of recurrent game play. In every evaluation, the game was played in sets with a minimum of 4 recurrences of Play. Tsuro - The Game Of The Path pulled a perfect score of [5] Stars in this evaluation category for CREATIVE AGENDA.

Ease Of Use: Rating Level - [5]

Ease of Use was a common characteristic of Tsuro - The Game Of The Path. The ease of use and minimal learning curve made it easily adaptable to both home and educational facility use. The game proved to even be applicable for use with SN children. It is a perfect fit for both home and educational use.

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path clearly proved it met the criteria to pass this evaluation category with the greatest of ease. The literally endless number of narratives which could be developed within each game, serve as a catalyst to create plenty of recurrent competitive challenge. Tsuro - The Game Of The Path pulled a perfect score of [5] Stars in this evaluation category for Ease of Use.

funQUOTIENT™: Rating Level - [5]

funQuotient™ is an evaluation category where Tsuro - The Game Of The Path wasn't lacking. It is a perfect fit for both home and educational use in creating plenty of funQuotient™ in the experience.

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path has all of the right elements to create the strongest level of funQuotient™. The fast paced structure of the game incites plenty of excitement combined with loads of positive energy that results in nothing but a fun game experience. Tsuro - The Game Of The Path managed to grab the brass ring with a perfect score of [5] Stars in this evaluation category for funQuotient™.

MARKETABILITY: Rating Level - [5]

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path proved to be of no challenge in our evaluation of its rating in regard to MARKETABILITY. There were many variable attributes to be considered in the evaluation yet each one proved to do nothing but enhance and support everything else established prior.

We easily established that Tsuro - The Game Of The Path appeals to a vast range of age groups. To add even greater value to it, the game is a true hybrid product. We were quickly able to streamline this portion of our evaluation and establish a well founded determination in the final evaluation rating.

It was clearly established in our evaluation that once a consumer gets their first experience with Tsuro - The Game Of The Path , they most likely will not only play the game again but will share the delight of their experience with others again and again. This contributes substantially in a positive favor in the marketability rating.

The end result is that Tsuro - The Game Of The Path came through in this evaluation category with a perfect score of [5] Stars in this category for MARKETABILITY.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT: Rating Level - [4.5]

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path possesses all of the right elements to create a progressive rate of skill development and improvement for players of all ages 8 years of age and up. One of our independent evaluators expressed it so well in his own words quoted below.

"With each game played, exploration of each and every facet of the game board grid and peripheral details was common. The game proved to be not only entertaining, but was found to influence development of desire for the challenge. The game presents a recurrent and constantly evolving activity that assures competitive strategy skill development."

It is more than obvious to see that Tsuro - The Game Of The Path makes a substantial contribution to skill development in this evaluation category. Tsuro - The Game Of The Path races to the finish line with a final almost perfect score of [4.5] Stars in this category for SKILL DEVELOPMENT.

OVERALL VISUAL APPEAL: Rating Level - [5]

OVERALL VISUAL APPEAL posed a very strong challenge for us in our evaluation. It was just too easy to determine! With Tsuro - The Game Of The Path, the developers raised the bar and practically set a new standard in board game design from the visual perspective. Every element of the game proved to be stimulating to the eyes engaging your full attention.

From the Japanese inspired style of artwork to the incredible mixture in the color scheme, Tsuro - The Game Of The Path maintained the highest quality.

Tsuro - The Game Of The Path is a masterpiece of conceptual design in a board game. Tsuro - The Game Of The Path came in with a perfect score rating of [5] Stars in this category for OVERALL VISUAL APPEAL.

EVALUATION RESULTS - From evaluation for induction into "The Toy Man^® News & Reviews"

Overall Rating: 5

Seal of Approval:

Recommends Award:

eco-Recognition™ Seal:

Award of Excellence:

eChoice™ Award:

S. T. E. M. Award:

Mom Approved Award:

Award of Recognition:™

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Since 1971 The Toy Man® Seal of Approval has served as an emblem of professional recognition for a
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These products and online services are given recognition as being one of the limited few judged as having the best return on investment. This includes yet not limited to both immediate and long term benefit from use."

		*"The Toy Man^® Award of Excellence"* is awarded to inductees that have an overall Evaluation Category Rating Average, ECRA™, of [5] Stars. That is the highest level of rating available on a 1-5 scale evaluation model. The ECRA™ is based upon the overall average from all applicable evaluation categories"
		PLEASE NOTE: There are a total of 357 evaluation categories with a minimum of 231 being applicable to any one product or online service in our evaluation process with 6 being featured in the Evaluation Report Summary, ERS.

			The Toy Man ^® Award serves as an emblem of recognition for products & online services that contribute substantially to positive skill growth and/or productivity. This distinguished award is exclusive as well as unique, with the editor's signature which represents a product being selected as an
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