Local business owners on their top toys of the year

The staff at Toyworld Bunbury have dished on the top toys of this year’s holiday season, with some surprising entrants as top-sellers. Owners Rick and Harvey Baker have been flat out during their busiest time of year, and have noticed some particular trends in purchases. Businesses are noting a trend in toy purchases, with many ditching the electronic buzz and going back to basics. “Board games are really having a moment,” Rick Baker said. According to Toyworld Bunbury, Battleship and strategy game Risk are the two most frequently bought board games. Card games such as Exploding Kittens — a game funded on Kickstarter described as “a kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette” — is a best-seller for fans of table-top play. Snorta is also a hit with families, a card game about matching animal sounds to corresponding cards on the table. The top seller —according to the Baker brothers— is yet again electric scooters, with hundreds flying out the door this Christmas The owners said the toy they’re most surprised with is the Bitzee. “It’s like a 3D Tamagochi, they’re really popular,” Harvey Baker said. Outdoor toys are also a consistent best-seller, especially one that is a stable of Australian backyards. “Orbit tennis is forever popular,” he said. Controversially, the most popular girls toys are RainboCorns Mermaid Surprise. These toys and other brands like LOL Dolls may be extremely popular, however they are highly divisive online, with many disagreeing with the amount of waste they produce. The appeal of these toys is hidden pieces through the kits, each individually wrapped in its own single-use plastic bag, appealing to the popular “unboxing” trend. “My daughter likes unwrapping the present more than the doll itself, they’re so wasteful,” one user posted to Reddit. “This is why I hate LOL dolls, this kind of stuff is killing the planet,” another said.