Pop Up Pirate

Pop Up Pirate! promises hours of amusement. After all, who doesn't like to see a pirate get shot out of a barrel? The game is simple. The unlucky pirate is pushed into the top of a brown plastic barrel, readying the spring mechanism for his eventual launch. Players then take turns pushing colorful plastic swords into holes on the side of the barrel, one by one until finally someone releases the spring and sends the poor little pirate on his way. Whoever makes the pirate pop loses, until the next round at any rate. The game includes a blue plastic base, the brown barrel (the sort that pirates would use for grog), and 24 plastic swords--six each of yellow, red, green, and blue. There's also lots of stickers of birds, smiling sharks, and even an ogling octopus, although they don't stay stuck very well. The pirate himself has a big black mustache and wears an eye patch and a purple plastic scarf over his head. Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind getting jounced around so much, since he also has a gigantic, if somewhat cautious, grin. --David Morel