Move over Pokemon, with your boring trading cards: this game has exploding balls. Bakugan, the latest Japanese toy craze to hit the U.S., is leaving Chicago kids whining at empty shelves and their parents paying double for the toys on eBay. Bakugan is a collectible strategic card game -but so much more exciting- because since Bakugan means "exploding sphere" in Japanese, this game has gumball-sized balls that explode into creatures when you throw them. Spin......

Sure, there's an ink-stain on his face, but this 1986 White Sox Cabbage Patch Kid is freaking hilarious. He has a tooth! Sadly, the seller doesn't say what his name is, which everyone knows is the most important par of a CPK. [eBay]......

Watching the Bulls play their past couple games, we've been trying to figure out who newly acquired power forward Drew Gooden reminded us of. With his shiny chrome dome and shaggy beard, we finally realized who it was during last night's telecast: Wooly Willy! Gooden's unique coiffure reminds us of one possible face on the Wooly Willy toy we remember from our childhood. The simple game, with its iron filings under plastic atop a hairless......

Everyone knows Bratz dolls cause cancer of the AIDS. But Jammin' Jenna dolls, a slightly softer-seeming knock-off from Ty, are also poisonous. Her vinyl shoes contain an amount of lead that's illegal in Illinois, but Ty refuses to recall the toys, saying they'll stop selling new dolls to Illinois distributors but won't pull the dolls already on shelves. We guess we're not that surprised by a business wanting to sell its (dangerous) wares. But the......

Lots of Chicagoans haven't been to the Field Museum since elementary school. But guess what? It's just as fun now as it was then. And we were able to accomplish a life goal: Get all the mold-a-rama dinosaur toys from the food court. As we made our way from machine to machine, burning our hands on our newly-formed toys, a group of kids on a field trip started following us. "Are you getting the......

This shopping holiday season, we’re committed to buying our kid’s presents from local small businesses. Our new crush is Timeless Toys in Lincoln Square. This tiny store is packed with a fantastic selection of items from companies that have been heralded for their attention to safety and developmental appropriateness (and lack of Cartoon Network characters splashed all over them) like Plan Toys, Haba, Schleich and Ravensburger. We love this store's unusual and massive selection of......