Spider-Man: Surprize Ink Game Book 1 (Giddy-Up)

Background

This activity book is part of a series of quirky Spider-Man fun books produced by "Elmer's Products, Inc.". Their line-up includes these two "Spider-Man: Surprize Ink Book" products - Book 1 (blue) and Book 2 (yellow).

Of course, Elmer's Products "Giddy-Up" line isn't the only "magic pen" offering to hit the market this year. The guys at Lee Magic Pen (creators of the classic "Yes & Know" series) are also pushing their line of magic pen, puzzle and game books.

Story Details

Each book itself is 6" x 11" in size, though the plastic hanger/pen-holder firmly attached to the top adds another inch in each direction. The plastic hanger requires some rather brutal destruction to remove when you first go to access the book. An adult with scissors is definitely advised, lest you end up mangling the book in the process.

There are 24 pages in the book, printed with black and white printing on only one one side of the well-bleached white paper stock. Each page features a maze, or a coded-sentence, or a word-finder, or a "fill-in-the-boxes but don't encounter the villain" kind of game. All (or nearly all) use the Color-Change Marker pen. There are no "test your knowledge" quizzes, all the games are luck/skill rather than knowledge.

General Comments

Unlike the Spider-Man: "Water Wow Doodle Book" (Giddy-Up, 2008) book where the color fades as it dries, this book is a one-shot. Once colored in, the page stays colored in. I guess that's no different from your average coloring book, but at US$10 for 24 non-reusable pages, that's a bit more than you'll usually pay for a coloring book.

However, there's a pen included, and the gimmick of the appearing symbols will doubtless appeal to many. In general the presentation is good, the paper is decent quality, and the whole package is probably a pretty safe bet to amuse a young teen or pre-teen in the backseat of a car or in an airplane seat for an hour or more.

Overall Rating

Not cheap, but well presented, this would doubtless make a nice gift. Three and a half webs.

Footnote

As well as the "Book 1" and "Book 2" versions, there is also a "3 Book Travel Pack" which includes cut-down 16 page versions of the yellow and blue books (the original full versions are 24 pages), along with a red version.

The yellow and blue versions are the only ones I have seen available for sale separately in the hard-molded plastic packaging with a pen. But given the red version exists in the travel pack, it is possible that it is also available separately.