Just a friendly reminder for Coolest Gadgets readers who have kids ages 3 and up: Christmas is less than three months away. You should also know that Wild Planet’s Stomp 1-2-3 might be a good gift to have under the tree.

1-2-3 Stomp is an amazingly simple game that includes a base plus numbers 1-10. These numbers look a lot like the magnetic ones found on a refrigerator door, but there is no magnet, and they are made for the 1-2-3 Stomp base. The game begins when the player stomps on the green button explicitly marked “Stomp”, and then the numbers go flying in ten different directions.

The base vocally says what number it wants on its base, and the player better find the right number and put it in its place. There is a musical tone that sounds once the number is put in place, and its on to the next number.

Read the rest of this entry »

For several years, Leap Frog has put out an assortment of electronics entertainment geared towards children, and the Zippity is the most original.

Leap Frog, makers of the Leapster, Leapster 2, and Didj describes the Zippity as a “high-energy learning system that gets preschoolers dancing, jumping, playing and learning with Disney characters”, but you probably can’t see how from the picture to the left. I had a chance to try it out, and an adult would see the Zippity as essentially a touch sensitive mat with a very large joystick sticking out of it.

This mat is completely wireless, and requires four C batteries. The mat requires a transmitter that hooks up to your television with the red, white, and yellow ports, and also requires four C batteries.

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you watched enough horror movies, especially those involving zombies, to be prepared for a zombie apocalypse? Well, just in case the undead start walking about one of these days (with you sleeping soundly throughout the events that led to such a catastrophe), you’ll surely be pleased to know then that all the practice and tactical training that you and your buds went through with the Zombie Shooting Gallery would have paid off.

Take aim with the included laser assault rifle and blast the zombies as they pop up from the windows of the dark mansion. Too slow and they dine on the human hostages inside. Remember, practice hard…not much time before the real hell spawn arrive to feast on flesh of the living.

Powered by 9 AA batteries, the $34.99 Zombie Shooting Gallery will come with an electronic and mechanical shooting gallery which lets you practice your undead killing skills by using the included assault rifle which shoots a laser that can be detected by the zombie targets. Should you miss, the zombie will devour a human hostage represented by a red silhouette in an upper window. As time progresses, zombies get faster and faster, so hold your nerve and make sure your high score on the LED display stays!

Are you the cerebral type who have a love for popular pop culture? Then you might want to consider the Super Mario Chess Set – this game won’t come with changed rules in any way, and no, you aren’t allowed to stomp on opposing pawns but will have to stick to traditional chess rules instead. One shocking thing is this – Luigi acts as the queen, talk about weird! This is despite the fact that Princess Peach is still hanging around on the board. Ah well, guess strange days are ahead of us – no wonder Mario can’t really seem to start a relationship with Princess Peach in all the games we’ve played so far. The Super Mario Chess Set is going for $39.99.

I’ve been wanting to get me one of these Air Hogs remote control vehicles for quite a while. For some reason, the kid in me just loves the idea of an RC vehicle that can literally drive up the wall.

This spider car is able to accomplish this amazing feat with some sort of vacuum suction, and it can even drive on the ceiling, so I’m told.

The company has taken another step in remote control vehicles by enabling them to follow a laser pointer. Have you ever had fun with your cat by making him or her chase the glowing dot from the laser pointer? It looks like this Air Hog follows the same principle.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is something for those who have a soft affinity towards model trainsets, ranging from highly detailed trains to intricately designed track systems that span an entire room. Of course, some of us were not that fortunate to have a dream setup and had to settle for something much smaller that was limited by the table size (and daddy’s budget), but if you’re holding down a stable job now, the Skyrail Glow in the Dark Rollercoaster is certainly worth checking out.

You don’t get to ride in them, but you do get to design and build wild rides. Perhaps you’ll build the track (as shown in the instructions) with three loops; maybe you’ll build the one where the marbles jump from one track to another; maybe you’ll become a master fast enough to design your own crazy rides, and put the marbles through the G-force-iest ride ever. Or maybe you’ll actually let you kids play with the Skyrail Glow in the Dark Rollercoaster. Maybe.

Each $34.99 purchase of this set will come with a building guide that includes diagrams for a set with more pieces, which means you’ll have to fork out double the amount for another set to get the relevant pieces which augments the original 150 pieces. Don’t go losing special glow in the dark marbles as you can’t just buy these in any walk-in store.

If you are into arts and crafts, then you probably have at least one hot glue gun around the house. I never really thought about using a hot glue gun to make fake spiderwebs before, but it would appear that some company has re-packaged their hot glue guns for just such a purpose.

Obviously, this type of marketing is designed for Halloween, and if you need realistic webbing for your spooky party on October 31st, the Electronic Webcaster Gun is for you.

The package of twenty gluesticks can cover about 350 square feet, or one 12 x 15 foot room. The webs come in three types. You can choose Clear, which glows blue under black light. Neon Yellow, which glows yellow under black light, or simply choose Glow in the Dark.

Read the rest of this entry »

There are always too many Lego-related products on the market these days, and it and would appear that two mini-figurine (mini-fig) related ones are making the news today.

The first looks like it is an official Lego product, a Lego LED Lantern. The 8.8 inch tall Lego mini-fig hangs from a handle and can swing from there. It uses four white LED lights, and is powered by four AA batteries.

The second are not official Lego products, but they really ought to be. These are flash drives shaped like mini-figs, and some of them are Star Wars characters like Darth Vader, Yoda, or an Imperial Stormtrooper. They also have some that are shaped like other Lego mini-figs like Spongebob Squarepants and even some bricks. Unlike the Lego Lantern, they come in all shapes and sizes, not to mention memory.

If you want either of these products, you’ll have to go to separate places. The first is on the Perpetual Kid site for $19.99. The other is on the Etsy site at varying prices based on memory. The 2GB is for $45.95, the 4GB is for $69.95, and 4GB high speed for $79.95. There is even a 16GB version for $99.95.

Read the rest of this entry »